Episode 25--Teacher Education Information Session

Interested in becoming a teacher? Join us for an on-campus information session!

Whether you want to teach pre-kindergarteners or 12th graders, our Teacher Education Program (TEP) can get you on track to certification. 

Through a commitment to social justice and urban education, TEP prepares prospective teachers to transform students and schools. You can read more about the program on their extensive website:http://www2.gse.upenn.edu/tep/.

Read through the website and want to learn more in-person?

Join the Urban Teacher Education program for an on-campus information session on Saturday, December 7 from 10am-noon ET. RSVP here. (Please note only the Teacher Education program will be represented and discussed at this event.)

Looking forward to seeing you!

Episode 24--Thanksgiving dinner at Sansom Place

Thanksgiving is coming, so there are lots of eating events going on around. Besides the Thanksgiving feast held by GSE at Houston Hall the past Thursday, my living place--Sansom Place also had a Thanksgiving dinner at ground floor. About a hundred and fifty residents showed up. The food was really good, especially the gravy chicken slices. ( I was expecting a whole turkey, since I always wanted to try authentic American turkey style. But as long as it had chicken elements, it was all good.) We also did some paper games while eating. My roommate and friends got interested in the games and got little prizes for getting all the answers right! Anyway, Who can turn down the wonderful free food ! 

Wish everyone a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 

Episode 23--Penn's international Internship Program

Last week, I attended Penn's International Internship Program (IIP) session for more information about interning abroad for a summer. As a requirement of my program, each student should complete one internship during first-year summer or second-year fall semester, fulfilling a total of 166 hours of work. Since the program does not require the students to do the internship within the United States, which means they can choose to do wherever they want, as long as the position, the type of internship is related to intercultural communications or has elements that can be applied to that field. As I talked to some of the second-year students, the internships they did in summer 2013 were situated across geographic maps: China, United States (Seattle, Philadelphia), Philippine, Uganda, etc. So there is literally no limits for us to choose which place we want to do complete the internship. As for me, I always want to explore something new, and I LOVE travelling. When I knew that Penn does provide its students the opportunity to intern abroad, I was so excited. I did some research on IIP, looking up its website and reading some of the past participants' experiences of committing themselves in an internship placed in a completely different environment. I thought they were amazing.

IIP has programs covered wide range of areas, including business, education, design, engineer, finance, medicine and etc. It partners with for-profit, non-profit and non governmental organizations. The best deal, which I think most of the students will be drawn to, is that each intern will receive an award to offset their internship-related expenses, covering their housing and air fare, funded by the University of Pennsylvania. Therefore, unlike other organizations that need applicants to afford their own expenses, IIP provides such benefits to students as long as they are chosen by the school as well as the company that they applied for the internship. As it says on the flyer that "these global opportunities allow students to apply the academic knowledge they have obtained, while enriching their overall Penn experience with diverse cultural and international exposure and valuable work experience". After the session, it deepened my understanding of what I can possibly gain from this program, and it made me more determined about applying for it during next summer. Considering that the program is for both undergraduate and graduate, the competition might be very high. In order to apply, one has to submit online application, along with resume, cover letter, two recommendation letters (with one from a professor that graded the applicant) and transcripts. So it might not be that easy to get successfully selected just like some other organizations (probably because you throw money in). But anyway, it is a great chance to have an exploration while enriching personal experiences as well as academic knowledge.

Episode 22--ICC mixer for dinner

I just had a fun time dining at Tap House, with some of the first-year and second-year ICC students. It was great to bond over with those familiar faces who are currently doing their second year, and to meet new friends that I haven't been able to get to know them in previous events. Unfortunately, only four first-year students came, including me. I guess the rest of them are struggling to get their paper done before the incoming due day. ( choosing professors is very important.) Given that most of the attendees are second-year, we talked a lot about their courses, professors, internships and their future plans. it was a great way not only to be informed of things that we'd better know before making decisions, but also to be able to draw from others' experiences and reflect on our own. And since my program is pretty small, with only 15 people in my cohort, it is easy for us to bond and have such social get-together after the school. The events that ICCers have participated included the intercultural Thanksgiving lunch at GIC, the Halloween party at GSC, with some of the second-year ICCers as staff members, and also the first blog about ICC mixer at the beginning of the semester etc. Therefore, the opportunities for ICCers to socialize and form a close cohort relationship are abundant. If you enjoy such kind of students' relationships, my program is a good one to consider.

Episode 21--76ers Games!

Hi folks! I watched my first-time NBA game last night--Philadelphia 76ers VS Toronto Raptors, and the best part of it was that it was free. The reason was that the coordinator of AVID program invited me and another AVID tutor to watch the game. I mentioned my service-learning project before. It is for my basic ICC program course. A large chunk of discussion and paper writing is based on what I learned from the service-learning project site. And luckily, as an AVID tutor working in a Penn Treaty Middle School, I got an email saying that I was invited to the game with the kids. Haha, that was an exciting piece of news.

Last night, lots of people showed up rooting for the 76ers. Unfortunately, they were beaten by the Raptors with 98 to 108. I was a bit sad because I really wanted my first NBA show to be a perfect ending with a victory!

Honestly, I am not a huge basketball fan. I did watch some of the NBA games way back when I was also in middle school, (How old was I....) and I loved Rocket! However, the passion waned as I proceeded to high school. But basketball is one of the sports that I can understand what is going on without an expert sitting on my side explaining the rules for me. ( I don't really get American football and baseball......I can almost hear somebody yelling out at me, "C'mon, you are in America. How come you don't watch the two national-celebrated sports!)

Since I am not very good at writing a sport game report, I think I will just leave it for you to read news if you are interested. But I'd love to share pictures with you guys, and I think sometimes, pictures can speak louder than words.

Episode 20--Voice of Penn / Singing Contest

Guess what? An exciting event happened yesterday night at Wu& Chen auditorium. It is a singing contest held by CSSAP (Chinese Students and Scholars Association at Penn) called "Voice of Penn". It aims at finding the best voice/ singer among Chinese community, and it is considered to be a big event to all Chinese students. Yesterday was the final contest for the 11 singers that selected from the preliminary test. About three hundreds  people were are present to enjoy the show. The show began from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm, which was pretty long for a singing contest. However, it was so great that I almost forgot about the time. Each contestant has amazing voices, and they have brought us a fabulous evening with touching songs and stunning performance. The show was made up of three rounds. On the first round, they were ranked by the scores from five judges (whom are also very professional and experienced), and only the top five were eligible to go the next round, and the contestant with the top score was exempt from the competition for the second round. On the second round, the other four contestants were paired, and the judges would give them their scores respectively according to their performance.  Then the two contestants with the higher score, along with the No.1 contestant who has been exempted from the second round were coming together to compete for the top three placements, and they were be ranked according to the votes they got from the audience. It was another event that brought Chinese students--a huge community at Penn together and had fun.

Like I said in the previous blog, it is totally common for Chinese students to feel lonely sometimes at a foreign land, in a new environment. However, organizations such as CSSAP is a comfortable zone that intends to arrange events to unite Chinese students so that we know that we are not being left out. So if you are also a Chinese, and you happen to be reading this blog, and you have put Penn GSE as one of your intended schools, and you are wondering about life at Penn, rest assure that you will be engaged in the community because you have your organization here, and you will instantly feel a strong sense of belonging and connectedness.

Episode 19--Cultural Games and Happy Hour

So, as a continuation of my previous blog(Episode 18), I am going to share with you a great evening I had in GSC center on Friday night. The event was called "cultural games and happy hour" where participants could play US games and games of other countries. You will get a passport at the entrance, and there will be eight slots for you to gain stamps. After you play a game, you will get one stamp, and players need to get six stamps in order to go the happy hour where you can have free food and drinks. I registered for this event because I thought it was a fun and interesting way to get involved and experience different cultures by playing games.

The games were held in separated tables with one host assigned to each table to give instructions. For each round, the table can hold four to five people, but people can also participate in the middle of the game. So it was pretty flexible. Unlike other games that would make me competitive, this event aimed at bringing students together and creating a relaxing atmosphere to have fun. We don't have to be the winner of the game in order to get stamps. As long as we participated, the host would be so generous to grant us a ticket. That being said, if one only get there to have drinks and food, then he will miss the whole point. There are many "real" happy hours going on on Friday night. So if the only purpose is to get beers, then this event might not be the best choice to go for. 

These are the food we got after playing games. I think the plates have assorted fruits,  vegetables and cheese. And in the bowls, we had cookies and naan with different flavored sauces. 

Pause a second. I think I have already introduced GSC (graduate student center) and its service offered to graduate students at Penn. If you go over what I wrote about it in the previous blog, you can discover its great advantage to our graduate students. 

This photo gives you a general idea of what Graduate Student Center is like on the first floor. The second floor to fourth floor are composed of rooms where students can get in and have group meetings. Students are recommended to reserve the room in advance before they come in. Also, activities like language chats are held on the first floor, just like the place in the picture. If you check out its website, you can find out the events that they have throughout the semester, and they definitely has one or two that match your interests. 

Episode 18--Thanksgiving Mixer with ICCers at Greenfield Intercultural Center

Friday has always been my favorite day, not only because it should be celebrated due to weekend, but also because I get chances to participate in lots of fun events. Today's noon, we just had a great Thanksgiving lunch at Greenfield Intercultural Center with current and second-year ICCers. The host is one of the students in my program. She is from Korean, and she is doing her Service Learning Project in GIC center. This event was created by her, and sponsored by the GIC.

One of the thing that I loved about this event was that the lunch was almost home-made (except for the turkey), and the best part was that we got to taste a combination of Korean and Chinese food. My roommate and some of TESOL students volunteered to help out before the event. I am very proud to show my roommate's dish (with picture) later. She is good cook and she did amazing job for the lunch!

When we first arrived at GIC, we did a little exploration of the whole building. It is a fantastic center for both Penn students, both undergrad or grad. Similar to Graduate Student Center (GSC) that I introduced in previous blog before, GIC is also a home for students. From the outside, it might just be a regular house that you see on the street, probably not going to grab your attention. However, remember the saying, "Never judge a book by its cover!" It totally gives off a different vibe if you step inside. The rooms spreading over three floors might be a bit compact, but they are equipped with everything you need. Students are welcomed to come here for relax, studying, meeting or just sitting on the couch. ( One thing to point out: the building is filled with super comfortable couches. They are all over the place. So I'll definitely take advantage of that when I think about a place to chill out.) Also, there is computer room for students to do their assignments, work on their papers. FREE PRINTING by the way. What sets GIC apart from GSC or library is that since few people know about this place, it is relatively quiet. Usually, it will be just yourself studying in the room without distraction from anyone. Pretty cool, huh? Besides, there are also rooms for international students or ethnic groups to hang out and have a little chat.  The rooms are not spacious, like I mentioned at the beginning. But you will get pretty comfortable using the facilities. It makes you feel like home, especially for international students away from their homes and parents.

Another reason that I want to highly recommend this center to you is that it has many events and activities throughout the whole semester. Whether you're interested in the intercultural communications, meeting different people, discussing various kinds of topics and etc, this is the right place for you to. And each semester, Penn will have some classes that are going to take place in the center room (where we had our Thanksgiving lunch) on the first floor, and those classes are actually counting as elective courses to your program. (You will get credit for that.) It is another way to form a classroom and gather students around.

The picture below is the feast that we had to celebrate Thanksgiving(in advance). ICCers and GIC staffs were coming together. Foods were all HOME-MADE! (except for the half turkey....and also beverages)

I want to insert a close-up for the dish that my roommate cooked for us. It is a traditional Chinese dish called "红烧排骨", with nicely cooked pork and potatoes. What brought out the flavor was the star anise that she put in, and that was delicious! 

This is photo capturing all the attendees. Our program professor also attended this event. She is in the front, second to the left, and also our internship advisor and peer advisors. The host is in the front, second to the right, the girl in red and black. 

Episode 17--My beautifully-planned Winter Break and Travel Tips for International Students

There is only one month away from winter break, and I just couldn't help thinking about it. I have my trip planned out way back in September. (I was checking the GSE calendar when I was still in Shanghai, and I decided to take the advantage of every holiday available at Penn to pan out some of my travel plans.) So for the upcoming break, it' ll go to the United Kingdom and Spain. Thinking about the destinations just set my pulse racing. 

For international students, one of the perks for being on F-1 status is that it allows you to go to other countries a lot more easier. For example, you don't even have to apply for a visa to go to Mexico as long as you have your valid I-20 and passport. It is much convenient to go there from US than from China, considering the VISA process and flight miles. 

For countries like UK, it may be easier to apply for travel visa if you are an F-1 student. It only took me four days to have my visa approved after I submitted my application and other documents. I am not sure how long it takes to process UK visa if applying in China, but I assume that it would be a bit longer and more complicated. So if you haven't been to another part of the English-speaking country, this is a great chance for you to have an exploration. If you have friends over there, beg them to stay there so you don't have to pay hotel fees. ( I am going to do so because my boyfriend is studying there.) 

Likewise, if you are interested in Schengen countries, don't let your student status down in the drain. I have made the visa  appointment in December, and now I am preparing to get my documents ready for application. It is almost the same as I did with my UK visa, so it is pretty clear and easy. In China, many people would choose to go group travel to Europe probably because the visa is more likely to get approved if submitted by travel agency. However, while you're here, it allows you to explore Europe without heavy-loaded itinerary, constraints of time and going somewhere with an army of tourists. The visa is easy as long as you have everything ready. So do take advantage of your US status, and it might only be valid for two years (depends on your years of program.) 

Penn does have some relatively long break for students to travel. While I am still being tortured by all the papers, I'd get pretty excited when I think about what I will be doing one month later. That is the momentum that seems to keep me going. 

Episode 16--Ph.D applicants Deadline !

Just a quick REMINDER!

The deadline to apply for all Ph.D. programs for Fall 2014 enrollment is SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2013!

This means ALL materials must be received by the admissions office by that date.

All applications received by that date are guaranteed a faculty review of all materials.

If you have not yet taken the GRE, you must do so no later than NOVEMBER 22, 2013 or your test scores will not make it to us in time.

We always recommend that you submit your application and materials earlier rather than waiting until the absolute last day!

If you have Any questions? Please email admissions@gse.upenn.edu or give us a call at (215)898-6415.

Thank you all! 

Episode 15--TESOL Conference at Penn State Abington

Yesterday, I went to a TESOL Conference with my program manager and another GA (graduate assistant) to help our Penn GSE recruit new students. Our program manager picked us up in front of GSE building at 6:15 am, meaning that I had to get up at 5:45 in the morning ! It was the first time that I got out of bed this early in Philadelphia.....and I was not totally awake at all. Good thing was when we got there, breakfast was served, and I thought a cup of coffee was in need to get rid of my sleepiness and refreshed my spirits. We helped set up a table in the publisher room where many publisher companies came and gave away their books. This conference had many seminars, speech, workshops that intended to bring insights into Teaching English as a Second Language. Some people were already teachers, or  ESL teachers and they might be interested in pursuing a master degree or Ph.D degree in the future. We were also glad to have Dr. Hondo and Dr. Paninos to help us out, talking to people who showed interests in programs that GSE offers. Given that most of the people were there to attend seminars, the publisher room was a little quiet when the seminars began, and we got a large number of people stopped by during lunch time and short intervals between two sessions of seminars.
We got free give-away, which was four boxes of books from a generous publisher, and our program manager decided to put them in the library of our Educational Linguistics Division.
When we headed back, I almost felt asleep in the car. > < Anyway, I slept in the next day and I felt sooooo good! Haha

Hope you have a good Sunday!

Episode 14--Career fair and resources

Good evening! There was just this thought that came off the top of my head, and I really wanted to share with you guys.

One of the reasons I chose Penn was that as a university of stellar reputation, it has a wide networking connection, and it offers various kinds of career fairs so that students can take the advantage to talk with many potential employers. Career Services, which provides students with different career opportunities and events, is one of the most useful on-campus resources for both undergrad and graduate students. Having studied here for three months, I had already been to three grand career fairs where an array of companies set their tables, looking for qualified candidates for the positions they offered. Each time, the focus of those events was different. For example, the recently held one caters to students /researchers who want to spend a year/semester/summer abroad studying, doing internships/volunteering or conducting research. Attendees were able to gain more information from talking to one or two representatives about the programs, and receive further emails or updates if registered on the spot. But I remembered the first career fair that I attended at Penn was more formal and perhaps more oriented to senior students or second-year graduates who are about to seek for jobs. Most of the attendees were wearing suits, and that even did not occur to me until I entered the gate, seeing all people dressing up like professionals. I went there just because i wanted to get a feel for it. I was curious about what career fair was like at Penn. It was a fantastic event and I guaranteed that next year, i would be wearing formal attires, too.

I will be talking about Penn Career Services later, because it offers more than what I just mentioned, and I am pretty sure that writing them down takes several long paragraphs. If you are curious, you can go to its homepage and have a little taste of what it is like: http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/

Looking forward to the weekend already! ( But I am going to spend one of the days doing assignments.......sad....)

Episode 13--Ways to get involved in Penn GSE

Hey everyone ! It is Wednesday already. We are half way through this week.
Yesterday, I took a prospective student who is interested in my program to a campus tour. During the walk, she asked me if there was any way to get more involved in GSE as well as Philadelphia. I was thinking that this might be the question that lots of students would be asking. So I decided to write this blog to give a brief introduction on the ways to be engaged in the new community.

We have student organizations as well as university organizations. For all the graudate students, GAPSA is the most influential university organization at Penn that intends to offer a wide variety of activities, events, and parties for graduate students from twelve schools. I have touched on this organization in my previous blog, but I don't mind doing an intro again. The abbreviation GAPSA stands for Graduate and Professional Student Assembly. It is widely funded, and has interaction with administrative officials and university officials. I have personally attended several events that GAPSA held, and those were really great, such as the Great Gatsby Party, Halloween Party and Happy Hour. Some of the events were free as long as you were an early bird, registering the event way in ahead of others. Others will be charged, but the price is reasonable. So don't while away your precious time here sitting in front the computer playing games. Active participation in such events will allow you to mingle with students from other departments and help you expand your network. For more information, please check out its website http://gapsa.upenn.edu
Do not miss out on anything interesting when you're at Penn.

For Chinese students, (I know there are some reading my blogs) you might be interested in CSSAP, which is Chinese Students and Scholars Association at Penn. It is where Chinese students unite and congregate, planning great events. Some of the recent events CSSAP has created include trip to Premium Outlets (shopping), Penn Voice (singing contest), Single Party (socializing and dating) and etc. It strives to foster stronger bonding among Chinese students at Penn and bring dynamic vibe to Chinese students' community.  For CSSAP's homepage, please go to http://cssap.org/ By the way, its interface is also very user-friendly, with Chinese characters as guidelines.

One of the most important student organizations in GSE is GSE Student Government (GSESG). It is composed by representatives from each division in GSE and other sub-student organizations.  In addition, it provides funds to other student organizations.

Besides those organizations that I mentioned above, there are many others to consider. Most of the organizations are listed here: http://www.gse.upenn.edu/students/orgs. At the beginning of the semester/year, these organizations will be recruiting new members. You will get many emails saying "complete the application" or "send your application to us" from those organizations. So if you really want to expand your interests and have more interactions with other students, don't hesitate to apply. That's the way for you to get involved and make your life here meaningful.

Wait for the next update! See you pretty soon!

Episode 12--The hardest moment ever

Good evening, everyone! I hope that you all had a wonderful Monday to kick off this week.

I just read an article on some of the hardest things you will have to experience after living abroad. A couple of points really tugged at my heartstrings as I reflected upon my transition from leaving China to living in Philadelphia. I am not sure how you'd feel when you are away from your home country. But for me, the initial thought was that it would be fun and exciting to have overseas experience, especially when you knew that you would be spending quite a long time studying at an Ivy League school, and that gave me the competitive edge when I think about what others ( friends in China) are doing. I used to have smug on my face when I tried to build the whole blueprint of my future. However, three months almost past, and that thought seemed to be drifting away, not because it was something that I could not achieve, but because a mix of feelings crept in and it sort of messed up my mind as I struggled to find my niche.  With that being said, I was comfortable with the state I am in. But there are times when I kept questioning myself, " Do I overrated my capability to adapt to a new environment? How come I still feel a little alienated or distanced ?" I have not spoken to anyone about this deep-down feeling, but I remember talking to my roommate over dinner several times about this "missing home" subject, and I was quite taken aback by her remarks that she'd really miss home, parents, and everything, and she'd like to fly back to China if the winter break was longer. I haven't reached the point where the eagerness to come back home almost became a dominant longingness. (I tended to attribute this feature to zodiac signs.) However, she did mention that everything just seemed different here, even for the pears and persimmons from the grocery store, which I totally align myself with her after living here for a couple of months.

The article hit a point that I feel most resonated with. It says that you realize that "you are not really sure what 'home' is anymore because you are not sure you fit into the shape of the puzzle piece that you left behind ".  I mean, even if I am now living in a dorm where I try to elaborate with all the familiar stuff that I used to have in China, and cook Chinese dishes every meal, this is still not the exact same thing as living in China. Also, about the language thing, the article is right about how people began to mess up their speech patterns and apply the same syntax because their brain is still functioning in the second language. This is what I am experiencing. One time I was calling someone asking a question, and a certain word in my home country dialect  just popped up at the end of the sentence. I was so surprised by myself and for that second, I couldn't believe that I did that.  At that time, it dawned on me that no matter how fluently I speak English, the first language is always going to be there, holding sway, shaping my mind. I think it is an on-going issue that I need to deal with as long as I set foot on a foreign land. And I think that is one of the things I need to negotiate with my inner self as I continued my progression.

I figure that most of the international students will probably feel the same, or at least similar. But don't be intimidated by what I just said. It is just a transition period that one has to go through. Stay positive and keep your head up !

See you around!

In case you want to see the article:
http://thoughtcatalog.com/chelsea-fagan/2013/10/the-23-hardest-things-about-moving-home-after-living-abroad/

Episode 11--Salsa dance class at Med School

Hi all ! Just a quick heads-up: I will be updating my posts more often, probably on a two-day basis. 

I just had a fun Salsa class last Friday night. It was in a classroom at Medicine School.(which was kind of strange...anyway) The class turned out to be a little different than I thought. About 20 students participated in the class, with a diverse cultural background. For the beginner's level, learners first stood in four lines, with two being the leaders, and the other two being the followers. We were practicing some basic steps of Salsa. After we became familiar with the foot steps, we were then asked to form a big circle. What was amazing about the dance class was the we didn't have a fixed leader/partner to practice with. We were constantly switching to the next partner in that big circle, and every one got the chance to dance with others several time. This way of instructing Salsa definitely encouraged interaction among leaners and helped learners be more engaged in the environment without any pressure. Dancing is supposed to be fun, free and joyful. That's the reason I like dancing. 
In addition, the teacher was cool in a way that he used some Spanish to give instructions, which was another benefit to me because I barely knew Spanish (except for the sentence "Hola, Senor ! Como esta ? )  Come  and I did pick up some Spanish words after the class. The Salsa dance is a five-week course on every Friday night. It now becomes something that I am looking forward to each week. 

Episode 10--Fitness Center at Penn

Hi all! Hope you're well !

I know some of you guys might be interested in recreation services that Penn offers, and I am also quite aware that going to the gym has become a part of daily life for lots of the students. So for this week's topic, I want to talk about that so that you will have a general idea of what fitness center at Penn provides and how you get benefits from it.

Honestly, I haven't used those facilities offered there, but I have been taking Hip Hop Dance classes in there, and it's been great. I used to be member of dance crew back in Shanghai. When I moved to Philadelphia, I always wanted to find a place to keep on dancing so that my dance move would't get rusty. ( Well, it certainly did and I need to practice...!!) Then I learned that the fitness center offers Hip Hop class, and I was so excited. I will talk more about the various classes that the center offers later.

The picture below captures the contour of the fitness center. The official name is called " David Pottruck Health and Fitness Center" , which is located at 3701 Walnut Street, just a five-minute walk from graduate students on-campus building. It is just OPPOSITE to GSE building, so really close, right?

The David Pottruck Health and Fitness Center has 4 floors, with facilities, equipments, pool, spinning , yoga and dance classes spreading out. Therefore, it takes a little bit of time to figure out which floor has the things that you want to do. If you want to pay a short visit just to see the inside of the building, the day pass for each person is 15 dollars.

The fitness centers have a good number of equipment of cardio machines, such as treadmills, rowing machines, ellipticals. Also, the facilities in the weightlifting room are pretty comprehensive. It has every piece of equipment that you need to work out your body.

The inside is really neat, spacious and user-friendly. It has juice bar in case you forget to bring your own water bottle. And the locker rooms are very safe and standard. The center only has the annual membership for students and public. The cost will be somewhat fluctuated because of the rate. Last time I checked, it was 292 dollars for one year, which means that you can take the advantage of everything, come at anytime and stay for whenever you want to except for those dance classes. For example, the cost of my Hip Hop dance is 45 dollars for 6 week-course, and 30 dollars if you have membership card. That means even if you are a membership, you still have to pay 30 dollars if you want to take dance classes. But for other facilities, you are okay to use it.

In addition, there are some other activities that you might need to pay extra money to get in. Like climbing wall or golf stimulator. And the center also offers some adventurous sports outside for students to participate. Those activities will be on the poster at the main entrance or on the website ( I believe ).

If you are interested in the fitness center, please click the link to check out what the center has to offer. http://www.upenn.edu/recreation/facilities/pottruck.html
I am sure it has enough information for you to go through.
Also, please check out the Upenn Recreation website for more benefits. http://www.upenn.edu/recreation/

Have a good weekend!
See you next week!