It's move-in day at Hill College House. Parents wander around the lobby in clear, plastic panchos and freshly creased Penn caps.
Students wheel in orange, washing machine-sized carts packed with Yaffa blocks and television sets.
Crepe paper and balloons decorate the atrium. Music blares.
Handmade signs form the scene's backdrop. Cutout letters taped to pieces of orange and yellow construction paper hang from the balcony. They spell out, "Welcome Home."
But for Justine Mumaw, one of about 500 freshmen moving into Hill, this is not home.
Not yet, anyway.
*
For Mumaw, home is about 2,400 miles away in Phoenix. There, she lives on a horse farm with her father, Tom, a utilities lawyer, and her sister, Marilyn, a University of Arizona sophomore.
Mumaw remembers primarily growing up in the office of her mother's veterinary practice.
"My crib was always in the operating room," she says. "I was always playing with the animals."
In addition, Mumaw had cats, dogs, rabbits and horses of her own.
Her dad speculates that her mother's passion for nature pushed Mumaw in the direction of the sciences. She has already declared herself a math major.
Mumaw concedes that her mother probably did influence her.
Her mother died of cancer when Mumaw was in ninth grade. Mumaw admits that, at the time, she wanted to follow in her mom's footsteps and take over her veterinary practice. But eventually she decided she needed to make her own career decisions.
"I just decided that I wanted to find my own path," Mumaw says.
That attitude brought her to Philadelphia this fall.
After spending her entire life in Arizona, Mumaw was ready for a change. She picked the school she knew would be most different from her high school experience -- Penn.
Penn provides the college campus Mumaw had always pictured for herself. It has the diverse, urban environment that Phoenix lacks. And it has extensive student activity groups that schools on the West Coast just don't offer.
So Mumaw made the decision, against her family's wishes, to travel far away from home to attend college, hoping Penn would be the place for her.
*
Last Thursday, Mumaw's dad accompanied her across the country and into the chaos of Hill College House. On move-in day, the two work side-by-side, getting Mumaw settled.
After spending the morning in traffic jams and shopping lines, they return to her tiny room in the basement of Hill. It barely accommodates two beds and two desks. The barred window faces a black iron fence.
"I guess I expected it [would be] nicer," Mumaw admits. "But you always expect them nicer than they are... it doesn't bother me."
She shrugs it off and plunges in. Dressed in her favorite jeans and wearing her brown hair in a ponytail, she's ready to work. Her dad follows her lead.
"Should we unpack?" Mumaw asks.
"Yeah -- I guess WE will," he replies.
Mumaw folds the clothes piled on her bed, while her father fumbles with her cordless phone.
As Mumaw's four drawers fill up, her dad teases her for packing too many clothes. Mumaw teases herself for packing the wrong clothes. The two have fun together. They make a cute team.
But when Mumaw leaves the room to e-mail her peer-advisor, her father sits in her wooden desk chair and stares out the window. Sweat seeps through his blue, silk shirt.
"Justine's always been her own person since she was a tiny kid," he remembers. "She's always kind of marched to a different drummer."
"I've been through this before," he reassures himself.
But then he admits, "It's just a long way away."
*
By late-afternoon Mumaw's space begins to resemble a bedroom. The Mumaws head to the New Student Orientation program.
Mumaw walks right by her father's side, unlike many freshmen who walk yards in front of their parents.
Often Mumaw's dad reaches over and puts his arm around his daughter, pulling her against his body. It's hard to imagine that, in only a day, the two will be living thousands of miles apart.
They arrive at the Perelman Quadrangle later for a reception -- a drink and a few cookies. Not enough for a meal, especially after a day of unpacking. So Mumaw's father decides to spend $12.50 to have dinner in the Hill cafeteria with his daughter.
But after dinner, the Mumaws must go their separate ways. They hug in the lobby but do not say goodbye. They will postpone that moment for one more day.
Once her dad leaves, Mumaw chats with her roommate, Martha Kienzle. They are already planning outings to restaurants and excursions to New York. They have signed up to take the same freshmen seminar this semester -- "Superstition and Erudition: Life in the Middle Ages."
The two join their suitemates at the Hill College House welcome followed by their first suite meeting. Mumaw moves confidently through the crowds, introducing herself to everyone she can.
At the suite meeting, Mumaw meets her GA, Jessica Hildahl, who graduated from the Air Force Academy and refers to their suite as a "flight." She warns the students about fire regulations and alcohol policies.
After, the suite plays a quick round of Move Your Butt -- a combination of musical chairs and Never-Have-I-Ever. Mumaw meets Greg with the cowboy hat and Lindsey with the headband.
These are the people she will live with this year -- not her sister and her pets.
At the end of the meeting Hildahl explains the Hill House motto, "Habitare in Unam," -- "Living as One."
*
By 9 p.m. the meetings are over, and the introductions have been made.
Mumaw's room is dark. She didn't have room to bring a lamp on the plane.
Her dad is alone in a Best Western on 22nd Street.
But Mumaw is fine.
She is out with her suitemates competing in the Hill College House Scavenger Hunt -- taking pictures in the bookstore and sliding down the Button.
She is learning a new campus, making some new friends and forging a new path.
There is something reassuring and even inspirational about the way she has proceeded through the day -- enjoying the last few hours with her father, not allowing herself to be fazed by the harsh realities of her new living space.
She will be OK here.
Welcome home, Justine Mumaw. The DP's photos of Justine moving in are available here. About this Series Each year, a new set of freshmen enters the University full of energy, enthusiasm — and nerves. Ready to meet new people and experience new things, these college novices are embarking upon a life-altering course. And this year, The Daily Pennsylvanian decided to follow three freshmen along for the ride. You will mee Justine Mumaw, Temi Omojola, and Andrew Tejerina and experience alongside them the joys — and pains — of first-year college life through article appearing intermittently in the DP. As you read, please share your freshman experiences with us in our freshman forums.
