Moving In!

Yesterday, my mom and I took our first car trip to University Park from Philadelphia. This was particularly exciting because our primary method of transport for any distance over one hour for as long as I can remember, has been the airplane. My mom and I are simply not the "car trip" type. But, you do what you have to do, and my mom and I sucessfully brought with us a few things, bought quite a few other things and before we knew it were relaxing with glasses of wine looking back at a job well done in my very first apartment that is completely mine.

Yesterday can be classified as one of the days I have waited my whole life for. It was the day I moved into my college apartment. I have only been home from studying abroad in Italy for two weeks, which in my opinion has been the perfect amount of time to devour a saisfying selection of fresh pretzels from various local factories amongst other flavors of Philadelphia before leaving me to feel restless. I have recouped and am eager and ready for my next adventure.

In a stroke of irony my mother and I found ourselves driving home from our very first "road trip" in an ice storm. As we were out shopping this morning, a winter storm advisory warning came on the radio warning of the ice storm moving in to the region.
Around 4 Pm, as we were leaving, my mom said, "I have to tell you sometime really important. I am hungry." The way she said it made me laugh immediately. I knew that meant absolutely no McDonalds...she was in the mood for something filling and delicious. Looking around, and thinking of the few places I saw on our travels, nothing really came to mind. Our next decision was absolutely life changing. We stopped at Sheetz to get gas and ended up with what I would consider the best fast food sandwich of my entire life. I have never, ever had a sandwich from a fast food restaurant or anywhere else cheap as good as the sandwich I had today. In all honesty, I don't really even remember how we ended up with them, as my mom couldn't really operate the automated ordering machine, and kept randomly selecting things. We had basically the same type of sandwich with slightly different toppings, but what I think made it so great, as I often do, was the bread, and the condiments. My mom can put together some good sandwiches.
We had grilled chicken breast on a whole grain ciabatta, with--get ready for this-- mayonaise and mustard, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and a couple black olives. IT WAS DELICIOUS! We also shared a chili macaroni and cheese. I love these kind of days.

This is the second time I have been to University Park and also the second time I did not get to make it "on campus". The area is really huge, and my first impression is much easier to navigate with a car. This is a little disappointing to me because I really do not like to drive and was hoping to leave my car at home. I always think you meet more people taking the bus or other public transportation, but I don't think it will be easy enough for me to get to the grocery store without a car. Even so, I am going to try to do it for a month or so, before I know I will give in and beg someone to drive the car up for me. To be perfectly honest, I might really want the car just so I can go to the Sheetz gas station and order some more of those sandwiches.