Do I Regret Staying in Philadelphia?

The short answer is no.

Here’s the long answer, but be prepared that this is a long one. I’ve broken it down into a few talking points though to make it easier to get through <3

School

School was the thing that ultimately made my decision. It was Drexel University vs Old Dominion University, and to some, that choice is obvious. To me, it felt sort of impossible. I was lucky enough to find a group of girls who were starting a service sorority called Omega Phi Alpha at Old Dominion. We had meetings every week about recruitment and becoming a chapter and I was even elected to be an officer. During quarantine, I had moved back to my parent’s house and really never left it, so having a zoom call and a group of likeminded women to chat with all the time was awesome. We even had movie nights sometimes and they even offered me advice for moving down which I’ll mention in a little bit.

I had friends already at that school who I could talk to about anything. I know people who go to or went to Drexel, but not really on that same level. I thought Old Dominion University was going to be my ticket out of Philadelphia and onto something new. Quarantine had a huge influence though. I wanted to be close to my family more than anything. I wanted my parents to be 30 minutes away, not 5 or 6 hours. I wanted to be able to come home on the weekends still. And a lot of this does have to do with where my apartment is, but it has to do with the school as well.

Drexel has a co-op program which means that March-September, I’m not taking classes. Instead, I’m working a full time (hopefully paid) job somewhere. There are a million connections within Philadelphia for my co-ops, including where my mom works, but there are also opportunities all over the country and even internationally. I couldn’t pass that up. COVID is making me nervous about my co ops but I’m already pushing for my second one to be in London so I can travel all over Europe and even see my family in Italy. My mom has been dying to go to Ireland, and this would be the perfect chance to go. Even if I don’t go to London, it’s the opportunity to go out and see more of the country or the world without making a permanent change to my life.

So I chose Drexel over ODU. I’m a marketing major hoping to tack on business analytics as a co-major. This quarter, one of my classes focuses on preparing for my co-op in March (oh my gosh that’s really only 6 months away holy moly) which is absolutely insane to me. And I know I’m roped in for three years, but an entire year of work experience under my belt in exchange doesn’t sound too bad to me.

Friends

My best friend is someone I met at community college, and she has another year to complete before going after her bachelor’s degree. When I told her I was leaving for Norfolk, we came up with a system to send each other care packages and stuff, but she and I are random! We’re the type of people who see a 90-minute break between classes and take a bus to Center City to go shopping. She’ll text me when she’s near my apartment and I’ll run down to meet her. Being 6 hours away cuts off that spontaneity completely and I didn’t want to lose that.

Like I mentioned, ODU gave me a sorority of new people, but that doesn’t mean that I’d just willingly abandon the people I know here. It would have been really hard. Looking back, ODU is open for on-campus classes, we’ll see how long that lasts, but I still would’ve been too scared for my family to really just go out and make friends, so I would’ve been very lonely. I have just a handful of Drexel friends now, but classes haven’t even started! I have clubs I want to join and maybe a traditional sorority to rush here, and I just feel safer knowing that I can do that virtually or socially distanced without having 18 hours of sitting in classes with other people every week.

Family

My family is my entire world and existence, don’t get me started because I’ll talk about them forever. Home base for us Upstate NY, a 3.5 hour drive from here. It can easily be done on a Friday after classes or work, and I can even take SEPTA to my parent’s house to pick up a car if I needed to for some reason. It’s easy. That’s the bottom line. Coming home from ODU would’ve been an absolute nightmare. I can’t drive 9 hours for a weekend at home. I would have to stop in Philadelphia anyway and that turns it into two half days wasted in driving. I missed the Fourth of July with my family by my own choice, but it would’ve been a million times harder if I’d been in Virginia. I rely on my family for so much, so being able to get to them is a must.

My Apartment

Guys, I love my apartment. Just check out my @nerdyartistprints Instagram and you can watch me ramble about it every day. I live in an absolutely gorgeous neighborhood that I wouldn’t have ever believed that I’d live in. I’m a 15-minute walk from campus (I like walking through even though buildings are closed because it’s just so pretty!), I’m right in the action of Center City, and my view is so nice out my windows that it’s actually a little bit distracting when I’m working on things lol. I knew it was mine the second I toured, and I’ve spent the last three months nesting in here, making it my home. I can’t speak for the future but right now, this feels like the first place I’d actually want to renew a lease.

Norfolk is an interesting place, but the basic idea of it was that I would absolutely need a car and a parking pass because I didn’t want to live near campus. Downtown apartments are comparable in niceness to where I am now but significantly more expensive. Everything I saw in the photos was so new, which isn’t really my style. My dream home has an all-white updated marble kitchen, but it also has character and a story. My current apartment has so much character and I love it to bits. It’s just a cozy wonderland. Just the fact that I’d have to drive everywhere in Norfolk was a little bit disheartening. I love not having to think about a car here, a parking spot, things getting stolen from it, etc. I just grab my stuff and I go. And if I can’t walk, I can figure out public transit.

Again, there is nothing wrong with Norfolk, but I do think that if I’d been there, I wouldn’t have been as happy as I am in my current apartment. I really love it here and I know this city, and with COVID, I wouldn’t have felt as confident exploring around and enjoying the outside, which is my next and final point.

My City

Philadelphia is home. It has been since I moved into my first actual apartment in August 2018. It was a shitty studio apartment but the location was awesome. I took the subway to work every single day. I walked everywhere else. I know the neighborhoods here, I know where I like going out to relax or at night or to a restaurant. I love absolutely everything about living here. It’s big enough that it has neighborhoods with their own unique vibes, but it’s not so big that I don’t get to experience them all on a regular basis. Every time I go out, I fall in love with something new and it makes it hard to want to leave.

Norfolk is nice, it’s small, but I don’t know it. And you might argue that I could get to know it, and I would agree, but think about the context. COVID is scary and I wouldn’t have felt as safe wandering around exploring, trying random coffee shops, going out to sit in a park or to get take out, etc. I wouldn’t have been able to get to know it, at least to the extent that I wanted to. I’m pretty confident that classes will be online for the spring (or winter if you go to Drexel lol), so it would’ve been an entire year of me not getting to know where I live.

Overall Thoughts

Philadelphia is where I need to be and Drexel is an amazing opportunity that I still kind of can’t believe is real if I’m being completely honest. There are so many things I can do with my three years here and I hope I have many more in Philadelphia. I sometimes feel sad seeing Omega Phi Alpha posts on Instagram and sometimes I wonder how things would’ve been different, but there are so many good things about Philadelphia and Drexel and I couldn’t give up that opportunity. I’m only 21, I have a lot of life to live, and I can travel or move somewhere else later on in life. But for right now, Philadelphia is home.