The city of Philadelphia is an incredibly special place to me. The city has always held some level of significance in my life, even before attending school and living here. Growing up in suburbs just outside of Philadelphia, the city always seemed like a massive, sprawling, and quite frankly, scary place to me when I was younger. I never really went anywhere besides the Franklin Institute or the Zoo Before high school. It wasn’t until the summer after my freshman year of high school that I ventured into the city without a parent. I would only ever go to a few different places for the remainder of my time in high school. Each of these times I felt like I was learning more and more about this completely different world that seemed so inaccessible to me as a younger kid. I gained confidence about knowing how to use public transportation, the location of the few places I’d visited, and small little details I had picked up here and there.
When it came time to apply for colleges and decide where I wanted to go, Temple was not my first option. Upon visiting the University of Pittsburgh with my family years prior, I had fallen in love with that City. Or so I thought. I applied to the University of Pittsburgh and had decided it was my top choice and I had to go there. After all, I had claimed to love it all these years. Obviously, I had applied to Temple because it was cheaper, 30 minutes from my house, and everyone from my high school applied there. I didn’t really know much about the school, nor did I care. But when all I received from the University of Pittsburgh was admission to its smaller, side campuses, I said “what? I’m not going to school in the middle of nowhere. Guess I have to check if Temple accepted me.” And thank God they had. After opening their acceptance email, I quickly committed and began preparing for college. Little did I know it at the time, but not getting accepted to UPitt main campus was the best thing that ever happened to me. Going to school and experiencing life in the city of Philadelphia over the last 3 years has been the most life-changing and amazing chapter of my life. The city has helped me find out for myself who I am, it has allowed me to grow as a person in extraordinary ways, and afforded me experiences I know I could have never had if I didn’t live and go to school in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is full of rich cultures and character, and despite its problems, which are many, I will always love Philadelphia for what it has given me.
Freshman year. a big deal. After graduating high school, “overcoming covid”, and having what was the best summer of my life at that point, I was eager and ready to finally go to college. I had spent the summer getting to know and becoming close with my future roommate, Stephan Callahan, A mutual from my high school and my soon to be best friend. As the summer was coming to a close, I was counting down the days until I could move into my dorm. Before I knew it, the day came. I woke up early, moved all my things, which had been packed the night before, from the living room floor into our minivan, and off we went. When I first arrived at Temple I had that same feeling of entering a big, new world that had something hidden around every corner. Except this time, I wasn’t scared or intimidated. I was ready and eager to explore and learn all that the city could offer me.
Ironically, I really didn’t do much physical exploring until my sophomore year. But I did begin to explore my personality and who I wanted to be without even realizing it. Obviously, I was nervous about making new friends. I hadn’t done that in years. Thank God Steve and our other good friend from high school Abby, were there to help me through it. We got to know our other two roommates, Max and Alex, now very good friends of ours. I started doing new things AKA smoking weed, going to parties consistently, and hanging out with people every night! This was actually a big change for me, as I would never hang out with friends on a school night before college. After a few weeks we had a friend group. From the first night I got to Temple, until about the end of October, every Friday and Saturday we were going out to any place we could and staying up well past 3:00 a.m., just because we could. We were experiencing and loving the newfound freedom of college as all freshmen do.
Eventually, I calmed down. I made a routine and spent lots of my time in the dorm. When I think about the most defining part of my freshman year of college, without a doubt it is me barging into my friend’s room on the fourth floor of Whitehall every night around 8:00 p.m. to hang out, smoke weed, and do whatever. Second to that would be going on adventures with said friends. It could be taking the Temple shuttle to football games on Sunday mornings, hopping on the train and going to Chinatown for the first time, or as simple as just going to a random, unenjoyable party on a Friday night.
I didn’t realize it until the school year had ended, but freshman year was really all about me figuring out what I liked and didn’t like. From Friends, activities, classes, music, food and more generally how to use my time. I loved my freshman year while it was going on. But by the end, I was definitely ready for whatever came next. Ever since it ended, I have had mixed feelings about that year. It has always felt weird to me, to the point where I cringe every time I think about it. It was a time of so much transition, trial and error, and lots of memories that make me shake my head a little bit. Regardless, it gave me a taste of freedom and decision making unlike anything before it, and it connected me to the city in a new way. I didn’t realize how much appreciation I had gained for both college and the city. When I moved home for the summer, I missed everything about college not even a month in. “Philadelphia, Philadelphia, I want to be in the city.” was always in my head. The thought of returning to Temple was omnipresent.
After a few months of a part-time job, hanging out with friends and family, and the ending of a romantic situation that proved to be a helpful lesson, I got my wish. I was finally going back to school. I felt much more mature than a year previous, and doubly excited. This year was different. I was moving into a house. Almost unlimited freedom, no rules about what you can or cannot do in your place of residence as long as you aren’t an asshole. I had never felt more like an adult. I was moving in with some of my closest friends. Steve, now my best friend, Max, Abby, and two of our closest friends from freshman year, Sierra and Emma. Of all the experiences of college and living in Philly, moving into our house just before sophomore year of college has been the single most impactful development in my life. My own room, a whole house to make my own. we could finally have however many people over whenever we wanted. The beginning of sophomore year showed me who my real friends are and afforded me the chance to truly pick who to spend my time with. Sophomore year was when I chose my major and had confidence with it, as I lacked that before. I became more confident in myself as well. I got a job less than a month into the school year which I kept until the next summer. I made more friends and met more people throughout that year which I hadn’t anticipated. Several of my favorite memories of my college experience were made in the first semester of my sophomore year. I was having a blast.
Then January came around. Just weeks into the second semester of sophomore year, I fell into the biggest depressive episode of my life. From the end of January, through February and March, into the beginning of April, my mental health was the lowest it’s ever been. I developed incredibly unhealthy habits. I had never experienced stress and anxiety of that magnitude. I couldn’t have cared less for my school work and fell behind without shame in every class. I made little money from this job, and it became commonplace for me to spend what money I had on weed instead of the food I needed. I desperately grasped at relationships, both platonic and more than platonic in hopes of feeling better to no avail. I stopped running and rock climbing, two hobbies of mine that often help with stress. I isolated myself physically and emotionally. The pain and angst seemed endless.
Despite this, I am incredibly grateful for those horrible few months. I learned so much about myself through that experience and it really shaped me. The events and people that either helped or hurt me during those few months had such a strong impact on the person I became by the end. Every year of college has changed me and helped me learn more about myself, but none were like my sophomore year.
And Philadelphia helped me emerge on the other side of those feelings. By my 20th birthday, after those horrible months, I was more eager than ever for what the future held for me. And boy, was it sweet. From mid-April until November, I was the happiest I’ve ever been. On top of the world. It was my first summer in Philadelphia and I enjoyed that to the maximum. I went to new places, went to old places and did new things, and kept busy in the best way possible.
I thought I loved Philadelphia before then, but after spending a summer in Philadelphia I was enamored. I was obsessed. I was going out every day and night. To Rittenhouse Square. To the Art Museum. To the Schuylkill River trail. To explore abandoned buildings with an old friend. To help move friends from an old apartment to a new one. No matter what, when or where, I was doing something. And none of the things could have happened anywhere else. Every single one of these beautiful memories would not have been possible without the city of Philadelphia. These locations that are associated with these memories are so integral to how amazing and perfect the experiences were. I couldn’t have gone on a date to the Philadelphia Art Museum and spent hours walking around and talking with my soon-to-be girlfriend if I wasn’t in Philadelphia. I may never even met her. I couldn’t have brought a close friend visiting from out of state to the Belmont Plateau if I wasn’t in Philadelphia. I couldn’t have gone climbing outdoors with friends in the Wissahickon if I wasn’t in Philadelphia.
I will be forever grateful to Temple University for existing. I often heard that college was the most transformative time of life for lots of people. You become a real adult, you grow up, you learn how to be on your own and many more things about college we’re often told to me. College is one of those things that you can’t really understand until you experience it. All of those things that were told to me I realized are true after spending years at Temple University. If Philadelphia is the where, College is the what and the why. This place will always be special to me. The friends I have made in my time at Temple will stick with me forever. College in general has provided a place for me to challenge things I was either taught to believe or genuinely believed about the world and myself. I have learned a lot about myself, both good and bad, that I never would have considered before coming to college. A lot of that learning came through my relationship with my girlfriend, Rachel.
Rachel and I started dating in late July of 2023. we had been spending time together for about 3 months at that point. Being in a relationship has shown me that I have come very far in some aspects of my life, and virtually nowhere in other aspects of my life. One month into our relationship, our junior year of college began. and just like the year before, I began this school year feeling better than I ever had. The self-confidence our relationship brought me was miles beyond anything I had before. Junior year was a blast. leaving class and going to hang out with my girlfriend was incredibly fun. My social life was flourishing, and I would be going to hang out with friends almost every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Rachel and I would stay up late Into the night watching TV or just talking. On the 30th of every month, we celebrated our relationship by eating at fancy restaurants, or cheap ones together. But as we joyfully Celebrated more time together, The largest test we had yet to face in our relationship was approaching.
Rachel had signed up to study abroad in Rome for the spring semester of our junior year before we even knew each other. After spending what felt like almost every moment of the past 7 months together, on January 8th, 2024, we were forced to live over 4,000 miles away from each other with a 6-hour time difference. Despite having faith in one another, we were both so scared. Doing long distance tested us in every way and it was painful. However, just like the year before, during the hardest point, I changed. I sought out therapy as I knew what holding in negative emotions would bring. I proved to myself that I can be a good student and work through the feelings of stress and the want to procrastinate. I started going to the library for hours every night for months straight. I was taking 18 credits, something I had never done before, and I consistently grinded out my work until May, earning the best GPA of my scholastic career. And in the end, my reward was being reunited with Rachel.
Unfortunately, our reunion was cut short. 2 weeks after she got back to America, I left for Rome to do a 6-week study abroad session. Those 6 weeks were a whirlwind. I don’t think I’ve ever had more fun in such a short amount of time in my life. Every day felt like a new adventure, and I was lucky enough to visit some of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. I could write a whole paper about that trip alone. College has been one whirlwind after another, and whether good or bad, I always come out on the other side having learned something. This study abroad session was no different. Doing long-distance again was still hard and annoying after being reunited. Through sharing experiences with my friends, I feel I learned how to be a better friend. I learned how I love and things I need to do and not do in my relationship with Rachel. I learned that I love Europe for its natural beauty, but that it also has its flaws, and nothing is perfect.
After returning from Rome, the rest of my summer was calm. I spent almost all of my time with Rachel and I got a new job. Initially, it was hard for me to accept that this summer wouldn’t be exactly like the previous one. but after some time I came to realize that now is now and trying to project nostalgia onto the present doesn’t work. I turned my gaze toward senior year with anticipation and anxiety.
Senior year. A big deal. Before I knew it, the first day of class had arrived. With mixed emotions, I readied myself and went to class. The fear of having to graduate and transition to life beyond college was overwhelming at first. The semester has moved much quicker than I thought it would. Already it is November, and my penultimate semester of college will be over in about 3 weeks.
As I sit here and write this, I am no longer overwhelmed with the fear of graduating. This thought still lingers in the back of my mind, but I don’t know if I would call it fear anymore. It’s inevitable, it has to happen. It’s the natural end to this cycle. At this moment, I am stuck between not wanting to accept that I won’t be a college student in a few short months, and looking forward to the rest of my life and figuring out what I will do with my life. Sometimes I feel like I know exactly what I want. Often, I feel I know less about life than I did coming into college. But there is one thing I know for sure; going to college has completely changed the person I am. The last three and a half years have opened my eyes and mind in ways that I would have never experienced had I not gone to college. The location of my college experience is equally important to my growth as an individual. The city of Philadelphia is a unique place. The culture and personality of this city are rich and diverse. Being in Philadelphia has greatly enhanced my college experience and I believe it has turned what could have been a generic four years of school into a once in a lifetime chapter of my life.