If you go to a city school, there's almost always a handful of things that only you would understand as opposed to someone who goes to a college far away or in the middle of practically nowhere. I'm here to lay out the most obvious things only us city students will understand based off of where we go to school.
1) Sirens are constantly wailing. Whether it's when you wake up in the morning, walking to and from your classes, studying in the library, or getting ready for bed at the end of the day, you always almost hear sirens. Whether it's a cop car or an ambulance, you get so used to it that after a while it's as common as birds chirping.
2) Crosswalks become a big deal. You're never not crossing the street without a crosswalk present. There's no way you'd risk running across a busy city street off of Chestnut or Market without a crosswalk, given how crazy fast the cars speed down the road or make those sharp turns.
3) Your judgment becomes a lot more important to you. Going off of the crosswalk point, you also internally argue with yourself whether you have enough time to make it across or not once the countdown from 10 starts.
4) You get used to your neighborhood weirdos. It's a city, so it's no secret you're going to run into some odd looking people at every corner of your campus. Luckily you get used to it after a few weeks to a month.
5) You burn more calories walking than you do at the actual gym. It's the city. Meaning you walk...everywhere. Rain or shine, snow or sleet, your left and right leg are your number one ways of transportation.
6) Time management becomes a big deal. City commute is by far the worst, therefore you have to make sure you wake up the second your alarm goes off and follow your morning routine to a tee if you want to get out and past the hustle and bustle of the rest of the city goers to get to class in time.
7) Alert text messages are completely normal. Phone goes off? Armed robbery at 34th and Chestnut? A stabbing on Market? Come on, what else is new? *Delete*
8) Strange smells. After smelling it a number of times, you get used to the horrible stench that constantly wafts from the grates and sewers you walk by on the daily, and just in the air in general.
9) Obnoxious noises. You hear people screaming and yelling curse words, but you also get an earful of drivers honking their horns constantly. At times, it seems like those cars are doing it just to make sure their horns are still working.
10) You never run out of things to do. Nothing going on around campus? Want to escape the college life for just a day and get a taste of adult life? Just walk straight down Chestnut or Market towards City Hall and you're smack dab in Center City. Restaurants on every corner, coffee shops and clothing stores on every street, the words "I'm bored" are not acceptable.
11) You never walk alone. It's constantly imbedded in our heads by school emails, campus security, and Drexel police that it is not ideal to be walking around campus alone. It's the city, you get all kinds of things that could come at you from left and right. It's always important to have a buddy with you at all times to ensure your safety.
Well, there you have it. 11 ways city students know they go to a city college. Whether you attend Drexel, University of Penn, Temple, or University of the Arts, these reasons apply to each and all four schools.
It's no secret that city life can suck from time to time, but it's also the best experience you could ever get in your youth. It's something I especially take pride in and realize how lucky I am whenever I have those beautiful skyscrapers in plain view when just casually walking from class to class. Cheers to city life!
