Post #13

 My time in Baltimore has been an absolute blast. If you asked me to leave a note to the person who will inevitably follow in my foot steps, this is what I would say: Enjoy it. It goes faster than you can imagine. 

    The first thing I always recommend to people coming to Baltimore for the first time is the harbor. It has some of the best food on the East coast in my opinion. The bars in the harbor are decent too. It's different from what I'm used to since I grew up in the New Jersey/New York area. 

    Obviously, I would also recommend trying crabs smothered in Old Bay and butter. If you look back at the rest of my blog posts, Maryland crabs are mentioned a few too many times. There's plenty of restaurants where these can be procured, but the best ones I've ever had aren't even from Baltimore. 

    I can remember finding the best crabs I've ever tasted all the way out on St Michael's on the Eastern shore. Though it's a far trip, I certainly recommend it. Plus the thing about Baltimore is that you can get sick of it very quickly if you're not in the right spot.

    If this person who I'm leaving a note for plans on staying in Loyola housing, I have one piece of advice for them. Run. Though I love Loyola and everything it has taught me, the on campus housing has a terrible black mold problem. There's plenty of other places to live off campus that don't have that problem.

    A restaurant I would recommend going to is The Food Market. It boasts a large menu with plenty of different options for everyone. It also sits right in the heart of Hampden, which is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Baltimore. 

    As you begin to prepare for living in Baltimore, it's important to keep your wits about you. During my short four years here, I've witnessed stuff that I will never witness anywhere else. For example, a Chinese restaurant being held up at gun point. Also, a group of men chasing down and throwing another much smaller man into a dumpster. Why they were doing that, I do not know. 

    I would also tell a person to stick with a friend group. Since Baltimore can be dangerous in the wrong neighborhoods, there's strength in numbers. Especially if you plan on going out to experience the night life in Towson or Baltimore. 

At the end of the day, the most important thing is the people who you surround yourself with. If you hang out with people at Loyola who do nothing but waste their lives away, then you're setting yourself up for failure. Not to mention, Loyola can be quite cliquey.

As I get closer and closer to the end of this blog, the one thing I realize I forgot to mention is to not be a total sheep. There's a lot of them in college, and they're followers with no personality simply because their too afraid to be on their own. If you don't agree with the group mentality, then it's important to break off and make sure you don't end up another brick in the wall.