Juniors help students hit Manayunk

Junior Class President Sarah Gleit had an opportunity this weekend to do something few college students get to do -- show her fellow Penn students her old high school stomping grounds in Manayunk. Gleit, a College junior from nearby Bala Cynwyd, helped organize Saturday's "Manayunk Shop 'N' Dine," a day-long outing to the Philadelphia suburb near where she grew up. "So many people at Penn have never seen it, and it's the best place in Philly for the nightlife," she said. During the event -- which lasted from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. -- free buses carried students between 40th and Spruce streets and Manayunk, where they received discounts at several stores and restaurants. At 40th and Spruce streets, crowds of students jockeyed for position to get on the buses -- and one bus had to be emptied at the order of a concerned bus driver who said too many people were on board. "It's an exciting place," said College senior Konrad Gruson, who was celebrating the birthday of his friend, Wharton and Engineering senior Shawn Borisoff. "There's a lot of people walking around in nice clothes, and there's expensive cars on the street. I just wish it was a little easier to get a dinner reservation." Several students said the trip provided a romantic setting for couples to indulge in the "small town" atmosphere Manayunk offers. "It is a romantic and very classy place," College junior Dale Yoo and Engineering junior Pear Musikabhumma said as they waited for a bus back to campus. "It's a nice place to just take a walk with somebody." The Junior Class Board sponsored the trip, but the event --Ewhich Gleit said was designed to foster junior class unity and expose Penn students to other parts of the city -- was open to all students. Such unity was readily apparent Saturday night when students converged on Manayunk's Arroyo Grille for a late-night party. The party, which lasted from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., included free music and snacks, drink specials and discounted food. "It's the first event done as a class that I've gone to," College junior Heidi Pechter said. "These are the people I'm going to graduate with and will share the association of being Penn's Class of '99 with forever." Gleit said she had hoped the trip would encourage such feelings. "We'll always be the Class of '99, and, when you meet somebody down the road from your class, something like this can give you a common experience." Students aren't the only ones who will remember the night, however, as several area merchants reported higher-than-average business as a result of the event. Julie Weiss of Mainly Shoes, for example, said sales had been booming all day. "A lot of college students have been in," she said. "They love to buy shoes."