The Lazy Volunteer: New Jersey: Free to enter, $4 to leave.

Let's get this straight-- I am NOT on the Jersey shore. Nor have I met any guidos. I am across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, I have a beautiful view of the bridge and skyline from my top floor bedroom in the row house my team lives in. On Mondays we go to trivia night at The Pop Shop (recently featured on the Food Network). Tuesdays are free jazz concert nights on the waterfront. Wednesdays are salsa lessons/$1 taco and WiFi night at The Victor pub near the stadium. Thursdays....are GRE study nights... and Fridays are lounge in the first floor air conditioning and have absurd conversations with your teammates night.

Camden, New Jersey, home of the highest crime rate in the U.S., idyllic? Indubitably!
Sure, someone was arrested outside our house the second night we were there and maybe you can't walk a block without having to avoid the needles littering the sidewalk and yeah, it might be nice if my room didn't have the lingering smell of urine in the floorboards that intensifies after baking in the hundred degree heat on the 3rd floor all day, but hey-It still beats Louisiana, the scars from which I still bear physically and emotionally. But city life in the Northeast has begun to work its healing magic and my soul feels whole and renewed after one week here.
The truth of the matter is that it was love at first sight when we pulled into our neighborhood. Driving into Camden affords a gorgeous view of Philadelphia and even the deteriorated streets and the boarded up windows leading up to our new home felt comfortable. A couple of blocks down leads us to the bridge to Philly which is completely walkable. Not a neighborhood you'd traverse at night, but between cabs and public transportation(!), I'm not too concerned. (though I bet my mom will be once she looks up some of the stats on Camden...Is homicide usually on the top 5 list of causes of death for a city?) Let's see if an arrogant notion of my own invincibility is enough to get me through this round alive, at the very least it should be fodder for some good stories. (Bar + WiFi = weekly blog posts! Stay tuned.)