Unless you have this poster on your wall, you’re more than likely sick of frat parties.

After all, there are only so many nights of overcrowded rooms, cheap beer, and off-key renditions of “Don’t Stop Believing”/”Living on a Prayer” that one can take. You can go to that off campus party of that friend of a friend, but the shadiness generated by the location and the party inhabitants is enough to cause an eclipse.

The natural reaction to this is to become jaded regarding your social life. Yet this is akin to complaining about being broke while that check you forgot to cash lies on your desk. 

I don’t know if you guys realize this, but Philly is actually kind of cool. I just found out last Friday when I went down to South Street with two friends.

It was one of the few times that I’d actually ventured in the down town area. My lack of exposure could be partly attributed to the negative rep that Philly has amongst the Penn population. We live in our bubble because the outside world is supposedly dangerous. 

Despite this, Philly actually does have many wortwhile things to offer, South Street included.

It was a gradual process, realizing just how awesome South Street was. It started out with the diversity: black, white, young, and old all travelling the narrow sidewalks. Then there was the variety in night life . But the turning point came when we randomly passed the Theater of the Living Arts and saw that Ice Cube was the top billing.

Now I know to many of you he’s just a guy who stars in crappy kid flicks, but to a hip hop head such as myself, he’s a certified rap legend. Not only was Cube performing, but thanks to student discounts, tickets were only $15. This just boggled my mind. No expensive Ticketmaster reservations and four-hour waits. All it took were $15 and a PennCard for me to see one of my favorite rappers live.

So maybe seeing Mr. Cube in concert really isn’t your thing, but seriously, South Street has something for just about anyone. And it’s only a small facet of a city that we Penn students often take for granted. 

So quit crying about how there’s nothing fun to do on campus anymore and explore Philly. You might be surprised by what you discover.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 22nd, 2008 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.