OP-ED: How My One Trip to Fishtown Made Me a Philly Expert

Penn is great and all, but have you ever stopped and thought, “Hey, maybe there’s more to Philly?" I’ll admit, I was once naïve too. The idea would have never occurred to me before my best friends and I made a trip to a Fishtown beer garden.

I was expecting Philadelphia to be dirty and full of unsophisticates, especially North Philly based off the things I’ve heard, but it’s as they say: you don’t really know a city until you get to know a city.

Fishtown is vibrant, and rugged, and made me feel like I was a little bit sceney. Like, a beer garden, come on! How many Penn students have been to one of those?

I can honestly say I feel more cultured. I saw art throughout the streets, little craft shops run by women wearing Yves Saint Laurent, and a Lululemon in an old tenement building.

The character of this city never ceases to astound me.

I firmly believe that every Penn student should Uber down to Fishtown and get to know the city they are living in. I’ll definitely be going back. I mean, I have to. I have a spot reserved in a hot yoga class next Saturday morning with Nancy. It’s in this abandoned factory with lots of exposed brick, which is just so East Kensington! All the buildings there just have such character.

Yelp also says that there is a really good brunch place nearby that’s on these abandoned subway tracks. They mainly focus on egg dishes and also serve bottomless mimosas.

Fishtown is just full of Easter eggs like these that I’m now dying to explore. I can definitely say that my sense of adventure has increased. Who knows, maybe I’ll take Septa there next time. The subway, not the bus, though.