Just over a year ago, around the fall of 2015, I had no idea where I wanted to go to college. I knew I wanted to go for art, specifically graphic design, but I wasn’t sure exactly where I wanted to end up. I’m originally from New Jersey, and at this point I was pretty confident I wanted to stay in state for school. After looking at a few schools, some of which I liked, I decided to take a look outside of New Jersey. I visited schools in both New York and Philadelphia, specifically art schools. Prior to this, I had only been to Philadelphia once before to visit the zoo when I was a lot younger. Upon my return, I absolutely fell in love with not only one of the schools, but the city Philadelphia is so much different than many of the places I’ve been, in a good way. I love the urban environment, but it’s not constantly chaotic like other cities. There’s plenty to do, tons of history which I’m a big fan of, and most importantly a wide variety of art, ranging from street art to museum masterpieces.

I ended up deciding I wanted to go to school here in Philadelphia, where I was assigned three roommates. I figured I would have at least one visual arts based roommate, but that isn’t how it turned out. My roommates consist of a drummer, a bassist, and a costume/stage designer, and I actually love it. This cassette tape of Footloose reminds me of my roommates and a few other friends I’ve made here at school in Philadelphia. Over the past few months, musicals have been playing constantly in my dorm, including but not limited to: Across the Universe (one of my favorites), Jesus Christ Superstar, Grease, and Footloose. I’ve seen Grease in full five times in the past four months, but I don’t mind. It’s fun, I love my roommates, I love art school, and I love the atmosphere Philadelphia creates and the experience it has given me so far.