University 101 is not pointless

Traditional homework to me usually consists of reading or comprehension exercises and rarely requires me to venture away from my desk. But upon arriving as a student at Drexel, and attending my Univ101 class, I was forced out my conventional shell and shoved into a brand new city as part of my homework assignment. I was encouraged to go see new things and experience them for the first time as a student of the world instead of just an eighteen year old girl from New York. So as per my homework i set out with a subway map, fifteen dollars, my cultural passport, and a mission to see and learn something new. 

As a girl from New York, I was skeptical at first to see what I could possibly experience in a City much smaller than mine that I hadn't already been accustomed to. But of course, I spoke too soon. I sat down with the subway map ashamed of myself. I knew where I was, but I had no idea as to how to get where I was going. The stubborn New Yorker in me refused to take out the subway map at first, but the scarred teenager in me over ruled and I reluctantly gave into my defeat of having a great sense of direction. And within the next few moments something would occur to me. Philadelphia was making me street dumb. I already had a good sense of how to navigate through a city. But that was when I knew where I was going and where to avoid. But in this new city I was certainly clueless. Until a man I named Chuckles stepped into my life. My first instinct was to walk away and walk away fast. but something told me to just give him a chance. Well it turns out that he used to work for septa and knew every route by heart. I had chosen the right homeless man to not ignore.  

My cultural passport forced me into a new city to discover new things and in the process made me discover new things about myself and the people that populate Philadelphia. I learned that while my first instinct is usually the smartest one, it won't always get me where I need to go. I have learned to take the New Yorker in me and tone her down a bit and not be so bitter.  It turns out being street dumb in the city of brotherly love will actually make you smarter.