Making the decision to attend Temple University was undoubtedly one of the best decisions I have ever made. Before leaving my home New York for the City of Brotherly Love, I couldn’t help but feel anxious and scared. Can you blame me?
I was leaving everything I ever knew and moving to a city where I knew absolutely nobody.
I also knew that I would have to adjust myself accordingly to the culture of Philadelphia. I have always been a sports lover, and moving to Philadelphia meant leaving behind my beloved New York Mets. All my favorite sports teams would no longer be a train ride away. I thought I would have to find other hobbies besides attending sporting events. Yes, Philadelphia has an array of professional sports teams and Temple has many athletic programs, but it just wasn’t the same.
Where I am from, Temple University is practically unheard of. Most of my peers from high school either attended local colleges, went to a state school in upstate New York or, like me, went to an unheard of school in a different state. Two other girls that I knew from high school applied to Temple, but they both looked down upon the school and considered it a last choice.
Since my high school experience wasn’t the best, going to a school where I did not know anybody else would be a good thing. Yet, at the same time, I would have to start from scratch and make all new friends on my own. I knew this would be a challenge, but it was one I was willing to take.
After I moved into my freshman dorm room at Temple, I realized that everybody was trying to become friends with anybody they could. Making friends wouldn’t be as hard as I originally thought. During the first week at Temple, I became friends with the majority of girls on my floor due to the fact that we all loved things like brunch, face masks and Netflix .
However, a different encounter I had during my first week at Temple University foreshadowed how I would make friends during the rest of college.
In the midst of my baseball withdrawals, I decided it was time to go to a Phillies game. One of the days of that first week, Temple offered free tickets to the Phillies game that night to the first 100 students who showed up to Temple’s Student Center basement.
Since I couldn’t convince any of my newly made female friends to go with me, I ventured to the Student Center on my own. Once I got there, the line for free tickets was out the door. The entire basement was filled with college students in Phillies gear eager to get to the game.
I spent a half hour in that room among all of those Phillies fans. I, surprisingly, made many friends, most of them being guys who were amazed by my baseball knowledge. Finally, when they started handing out tickets, I grew anxious. Standing with my two new guy friends, we began to realize we probably would not get free tickets for this game.
Unfortunately, our suspicions were confirmed.
One of the guys went home but the other stayed with me. We talked about how disappointed we were to not be attending the game until we checked ticket prices. Tickets were cheap enough that we could go to the game together, without the handout.
We attended the game together and we are still friends to this day. After that experience, I realized making friends won’t be so hard. I could bond with people through my love of watching and following sports, but not playing them. Since then, I have done just that.
To this day, I spend most of my free time hanging out with my male friends either discussing trade rumors or watching a game. I may not be considered a “tomboy” because of my stereotypical girly interests such as brunch and face masks and because I have never played sports. Yet, I am dedicated to following and watching sports, while being considered “one of the boys,” and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
