What do Senator Joe Biden, The Kooks, New Jersey’s casino capital Atlantic City, and Mexican Independence Day have in common? No, it’s not the latest political scandal to rock America; instead I got to experience them all this week.
The week began with a cheap ticket to watch the Kooks at Philly’s Electric Factory – where the lack of sticky floors, dodgy corners, or a crammed bar meant it didn’t feel like any gig I’d ever been to before. The Kooks are not well-known here and there were only a couple of hundred people at the concert - if my arms had been ten feet long I could have touched the lead singer.
After an exhausting night out dancing to the Kooks, what I probably should have done was rest the next day. What I actually did was trek across rural Pennsylvania to watch Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden speak in a field surrounded by hayricks, pumpkins, and orchards. It took over an hour to get to the event, in the back of a cab driven by a staunch Republican who told us that it was the leftist media that was making the economy go bust (this on the day of the Lehman Brothers collapse). When we got to the event, he seemed to be oblivious to the signs lauding Biden, and wished us ‘happy pumpkin picking’, attributing the crowds of thousands all standing in one field to the good weather and ‘that Friday feeling’ (it was a Tuesday).
Obviously, I am totally partisan, but Biden was an excellent speaker, succinctly dismantling the McCain-Palin policies and appealing to those who have been most affected by the economic downturn. The journey back from the rally was a little hair-raising as we had to hike to the nearest train station, but another Obama-Biden supporter took pity on us and drove us some of the way.
With some of our newfound friends, two other exchange students (Imane and Patrick) and myself went on Saturday to celebrate Mexican Independence at Swarthmore – a local college. Haverford and Swat (as Swarthmore is nicknamed) enjoy a friendly rivalry, and many Haverford students sport ‘Swat Sucks’ t-shirts from previous sports events, but I’m friends with a couple of Swatties (I can’t believe I just typed that) and they’re nice normal people. Swat’s reputation, however, is of a college for swots who have no fun and can’t really talk to girls, and Mexican Independence sort of confirmed the stereotype. For most of the time we were there, Imane and I were the only girls in the room, and every time we tried to strike up conversation, the guys would mumble and freeze up. We found it funny, and the group from Haverford spent the night drinking Mexican beers and being taught about Mexico’s difficult but glorious history by Leo, our Mexican ISRP.
After getting to bed much too late (thanks to the beers), Imane, Annie (a transfer student) and I decided to get up early and go to the beach at Atlantic City, New Jersey. Our train was pulling out of the station as we ran to catch it, and so we didn’t arrive until after 1pm. We enjoyed exploring the fantastically trashy boardwalk (imagine Blackpool, but more so) and grabbed a greasy lunch before having to head back to catch the train home. Which we also missed. And I had a newspaper deadline to make. Argh. Luckily, my editor was very understanding (thanks Mike!), and when we eventually arrived home I managed to knock the piece out in time.
This week also saw early morning fire alarms (after Pollock, I pretty much know the drill), the addition to my drinking-game repertoire of flipcup, and the discovery that there are make-your-own waffle machines at breakfast (eat your heart out, JMC).
And now, I’m going to recover.
