Holiday happenings in Philadelphia

Good afternoon. I'm in a much better state of mind this week since (most of) my finals are done.  I'm not yet ready to post the "I'm finished with finals!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Facebook status, but I'll get there eventually.  Tonight is the holiday party for the Higher Ed department, so I'm excited for that.  I'm also really happy that the place is 3 blocks from my apartment...when I was walking to work this morning, it seemed that there was some sort of "wintery mix" on the horizon.  

In honor of the winter/holiday season, I decided to post some links to events going on in the Philadelphia area.  

Ice skating at Penn's Landing
Philadelphia's version of ice skating at Rockefeller Center.  They convert a large parking lot at Penn's Landing into an ice skating rink.  Penn's Landing is right on the waterfront with gorgeous views of the city.  It'll be chilly, so bring your gloves, scarves, and earmuffs.

http://www.delawareriverwaterfront.com/places/blue-cross-riverrink

The Christmas Village in Philadelphia
From what I've heard and can tell from their website, this is set up like a traditional German Christmas market.  It takes place at Love Park (where the famous "LOVE" statue is, on 15th and Arch Streets in Center City).  Vendors from all over the world come to sell food, beverages, and crafts, and they also have live music and performances on some nights.

http://www.visitphilly.com/shopping/philadelphia/christmas-village-in-philadelphia/

Holiday lights!
Regardless of which (if any) winter holiday you celebrate, viewing holiday lights is sure to bring cheer to even the Grinchiest of Grinches (I just made that up).  Here is a link to the top places to view holiday lights both in and around Philadelphia.  

http://www.visitphilly.com/articles/philadelphia/top-holiday-lights-attractions-in-philadelphia/

Fireworks on New Year's Eve
Speaking of viewing brightly colored things, here is a list of the top places to watch fireworks on New Year's Eve!
http://www.visitphilly.com/articles/philadelphia/where-to-watch-new-years-fireworks/

Mummers Parade
The Mummers Parade is an annual tradition that takes place in Philadelphia on New Year's Day.  Since I don't know much about it, I copied and pasted some text from their website.  It sounds like a lot of fun:  An annual tradition, the Mummers Parade features 10,000 men and women dressed in colorfully lavish costumes as they twirl, sashay, pirouette and strut up one of the city’s main streets. An unforgettably wild ritual, the parade and subsequent performances are all family-friendly and fun for everyone.

http://www.visitphilly.com/events/philadelphia/the-mummers-parade/

A note about dining/going out in Philadelphia on New Year's Eve:
If you're planning to spend New Year's Eve in the city and this is your first time doing so (like me), I wanted to share some advice I got from friends who have lived here for a while.  

They recommended figuring out what you and your family/friends want to do ahead of time, and then buy tickets/make reservations ASAP.  Many of the fancier restaurants will have "prix fixe" menus on New Year's Eve, which means that they charge a flat rate of about $50-$75 and you can choose from a selection of entrees.  There are some places that don't do this, but regardless of where you choose to eat, everywhere will be crowded so it's best to book in advance.  In terms of places to go out after dinner, most bars and clubs will charge a cover fee, so my friends have recommended doing research ahead of time and finding a place to commit to.  

Hope this helps!  I'll write more over break :)

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Finals are here!  Needless to say, I'm less than thrilled that I have to write about 40 pages in the next ten days.  However, the fact that winter break is SO CLOSE is what is getting me through all of this.  Oh, and coffee.  Lots of caffeine.  I have to start my paper-writing really early and make a schedule for myself because I can't handle all-nighters or marathon writing sessions.  It's also tough because this is the season for holiday parties and celebrations, so I'm trying to finish my work somewhat early so I can actually participate in some of those things!  Grad school is definitely a lot tougher than undergrad in terms of having free time.  It might also be that the Higher Ed program is only 1 year, so we have 5 classes and then work 20 hours per week.  It saves a lot of money, but it's an intense year!  At this point I'm really ready to start working full-time, but I'm trying not to let my grades slip.  Next semester's course load will be a little bit easier though.  So now to power through the next 10 days!  Here are some cute pictures that I'm using to motivate myself:

Will anyone be in the Chicago area on Tuesday, 12/10 or NYC area Thursday, 12/12?!?

Hello everyone!  Hope you are enjoying the start of the holiday season (if I were on my iPhone right now I would add the snowman and snowflake emojis).  I wanted to share some information about two very exciting events that we have coming up next week for prospective students!

The Dean of GSE, Andy Porter, our Vice Dean, Alexis Wolson, and our new Director of Admissions, Natalie Herring will be traveling next week, so we are planning to have Holiday Reception/Meet the Dean events in both Chicago and NYC.  It will be a great opportunity to meet leaders from GSE, find out more about our degrees and programs, network, and enjoy some delicious food.  As a graduate student, I know that winter break is a popular time to work on applications, so this is the perfect time to celebrate the holidays and fall in love with Penn GSE =)  You can register/RSVP for these events by visiting our events page:  http://www.gse.upenn.edu/admissions_financial/events#off_campus

Here are the details for each event:

Chicago
Tuesday, December 10th, 6-8PM
Gleacher Center at the University of Chicago
450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive
Room 420 (South Lounge)

New York City
Thursday, December 12th, 6-8PM
Grand Hyatt New York
Park Avenue at Grand Central
Uris Room

I've been working on planning these events and I definitely recommend going.  I'm putting together the catering menus right now and getting hungry just thinking about it!

Teacher Education Program Information Session!

Interested in becoming a teacher? Join us for an on-campus information session!

Whether you want to teach pre-kindergarteners or 12th graders, our Teacher Education Program (TEP) can get you on track to certification. 

Through a commitment to social justice and urban education, TEP prepares prospective teachers to transform students and schools. You can read more about the program on their extensive website: http://www2.gse.upenn.edu/tep/.

Read through the website and want to learn more in-person?

Join the Urban Teacher Education program for an on-campus information session on Saturday, December 7 from 10am-noon ET. RSVP here. (Please note only the Teacher Education program will be represented and discussed at this event.)

Hope to see you there!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Good morning!  I am very excited for the upcoming Thanksgiving break, as I'm sure many of you are.  A lot of my fellow Higher Ed cohort members are traveling for Thanksgiving, so I'm a bit worried about them considering this inclement weather we seem to be having today/tomorrow.  My parents live in New Jersey only an hour away from Philadelphia, but I'm not going home until Thursday morning because I want to stay here and get some work done.  Finals begin as soon as we get back to school on December 2nd.  Eeeek.

I know this is going to sound cheesy and may even seem like a shameless plug for Penn GSE, but I assure you that it is genuine:  in the spirit of being thankful, I wanted to say that I am so thankful for the opportunity to study at Penn GSE this year.  Last year I was working in Miami, but teaching wasn't for me and I was so far away from my family and friends, so I was very unhappy.  I can't even express how happy I am to be in the northeast this year and able to have this short break from school to catch up with everyone back home =)

Meeting people in a new city

This week I've been doing a lot of thinking about my plans for next year.  Since people from my cohort are from all over the country (and the world, for that matter), our "next steps" vary among those who wish to start working, those who are applying to Ph.D. programs, and those who are unsure of what they want to do.  Location is also a deciding factor, as some of us want to stay in/around Philly, and others want to move back to where they are from originally, or even explore new areas/countries.  

Right now I'm definitely going to work for a few years before thinking about more schooling.  I also want to stay in the area since my whole family and most of my friends are in New Jersey, or at least the northeast area.  However, that all depends on the job search, and I know that I may need to move and/or adjust my preferences depending on what happens after graduation.  

Anyway, I was thinking about the difficulty adjusting to a new city in general, since even if I stay in Philly, most of the people who I've met will no longer be here.  And, even though I've been living here since August, the time commitment of school and work have kept me from making many friends outside of the GSE community.  I've heard of a few different ways to meet new people that could be helpful.  I've never really tried any of them, but I wanted to post their websites and a bit of info about each of the three.

Meetup

Meetup is a collection of networking groups present in most major cities.  "Meetups" are social outings that people sign up for and attend to meet new friends with similar interests.  It is divided into different interest groups--for example, they have ones for fitness, politics, sports, outdoorsy things, etc.  

Grouper  

The way I would describe Grouper is online dating for groups of people.  They match up 3 girls and 3 guys based on questions that you answer.  You meet at a bar or restaurant and Grouper takes care of the reservation and the first round of drinks (each person pays $20 to sign up, so that includes the first drink and a service charge).  I could see how Grouper would be a good way to meet friends, maybe something more.  But it does seem like it could be awkward, depending on the group yours is matched up with.  It's also very easy for plans to fall through, since you're working off of 6 different schedules.  

Philly Sport and Social Club

I included this link because I have friends who have joined kickball leagues and other sports teams in various cities.  I'm not especially good at team sports, but it would be a fun way to get exercise and meet people.  This is something that I would try after reviewing the rules of kickball (bad memories from elementary school).

Study Tips for Grad School

Happy belated Hump Day!  I'm slowly emerging from the dark caverns of paper-writing.  I've had 6 papers due within the last week, one of which was a 20-page research paper worth 35% of our grade.  As of now, I have written and submitted 4 of the 6 (including the research paper) so I'm feeling a little better. After this week's struggles, I decided to make this blog post about grad school study tips.  I don't consider myself an expert in this area by any means, but I have decent study habits and I worked at the tutoring center at my undergrad so this was something that we taught the students.  I will say that grad school study habits are very different from undergrad, the biggest difference being that in grad school, procrastination is a luxury that is to be enjoyed with much caution.

Study Tip #1:  Look at your syllabuses (syllabi?) as soon as you receive them and make a calendar of your assignments.  Sometimes professors change due dates, but at least you can plan ahead.  That way during the weeks where 6 assignments are due, you can start some of them during weeks when your workload is lighter. 

Study Tip #2:  Don't pull all-nighters!  Maybe I'm just a baby, but I cannot function after getting no sleep.  In undergrad it may have been possible to do this before a big exam or paper and then sleep all day, but with my GA and other classes, I can't afford to be groggy any day of the week.  Regardless of your schedule, all-nighters in grad school are not a good idea.  None of us are 18 years old anymore and can get by on 2 hours of sleeping on a library table followed by chugging sugar-free Red Bull (I never could do this, but props to those who can).  

Study Tip #3:  Plan out your writing and set page goals for each day.  Again, this might be a personal thing, but I cannot sit down and write 20 pages in one day.  I'd drive myself insane and the pages would all contain terrible writing, with a mini-panic attack occurring between pages 10 and 12.  Especially for long papers, it's much less stressful to start earlier and write a few pages each day.  Ideally, I like to reserve the night before for proofreading and no additional writing, but that's not always possible.

That's all I've got!  I know that all of us have different schedules, lifestyles, and preferences, but these tips really help me.  Now I'll get back to work...I have a short paper due tomorrow and then a midterm for my law class due at the end of the weekend.