Sad to be Moving On, Excited to be Moving Forward

My morning got off to a great start as I was walking with Erin, Tyler, and Phoebe to get food together for our last breakfast at the Ratty. Tyler suddenly got a text from Tory, our TA, to have breakfast with her. We met up at Au Bon Pain for some bagels as we chatted about random topics. We then walked with her to class.

The Women and Leadership girls where all gathered together in Room CIT 227 for what would be our last day of class, as well as our last day as a unit. I hadn’t realized how much I was going to miss my fellow classmates until we had the most emotional day of class. Dean Almandrez started us off by an exercise where we wrote one thing we had learned in the class on the white board. Later, we did an appreciation activity where we could anonymously show how everyone had affected our lives. Then we did some affirmation, where we were able to vocalize our thanks to Tory and Dean Almandrez. Afterwards, Tory and Dean Almandrez revealed gifts they had prepared for us. Tory had made everyone a personalized card, while Dean Almandrez gave us goodie bags with items to represent her hopes for us. We then took turns hugging everyone as well as took some time to take pictures of each other for memories.

All the girls then walked down to the Ratty for what would be my last meal as a part of the Summer@Brown Pre-College program. After taking lots of pictures together and goofing around for the last time, the girls all walked over to MacMillan Hall, where we would finally be presenting the Action Plans we had worked so hard on. We first had a meeting for the Leadership Institute to organize where everyone would be going to present their Action Plans. All the Leadership Institute students and their family members were there to see us finish our time at the program. While I was initially nervous to be presenting my idea, once I was in my designated room, I was the second person to present my Action Plan. I was a lot easier than I expected, probably because I had spent all of the previous night preparing my speech.

As I went back to my dorm one last time, I met up with my roommate Ava to say our proper, teary-eyed goodbyes. To remember each other, we traded off lanyards and ID’s and gave each other our door tags with our names that Tory had made for all of her residents. Saying goodbye to someone I had come to think of as a sister was a very hard thing to do. Even though I probably won’t see Ava for a long time, I still have hope that we will meet up again one day. I could never have asked for a better, cooler roommate.

The Brown cohort meets Guy Sanchez!

The Brown group staying at Perkins then loaded up Ms. Neal’s van with all of our luggage and were off to meet up with Guy Sanchez, a former Brown student, originally from Texas, who had majored in Engineering and was now living in Rhode Island. Guy was a first-generation college student, which always makes me happy to hear, since I will be a first-generation student as well as soon as I’m off to college. He had a lot to say about Brown's programs, and how it was a school with a lot of flexibility. He gave us advice on how to apply for college as well as how to find the right college.

A group photo at the Van Wickle Gates right before heading off!

Ms. Neal then drove us all to the Providence Station to catch the 7:19 train to Boston. We waited at the station for about half an hour before we boarded onto the train. I was especially excited because this was my first time on a train! I sat next to Erin and we worked a bit on our blogs as well as had some stimulating conversation about our time at Brown.

When we finally arrived in Boston, we took the subway to Harvard Square, and then walked to our gorgeous hotel, the Sheraton Commander. Unfortunately, it's hard to take in the beauty of such a hotel when you've been running around, going up and down stairs, with two large lugagge bags, a heavy backpack, and a pillowcase holding your bedsheets.

After checking in, we established roommates. I will be rooming with Erin. Once we got our keys and set our stuff down in our rooms, we all met in the lobby to head out for a late dinner. We walked around the gorgeous Harvard Square, which reminded me of San Francisco, and eventually found a small restaurant called Flat Patties. After enjoying my grilled cheese sandwich, we headed back to the hotel to finally have a chance to rest.

While today was a very bittersweet day, I look very forward to touring other colleges as well as getting to spend more time with my cohort.