Countdown Till Nashville

Today, Tuesday, July 3rd, makes 166 days since I first entered the interview waiting room with Ana by my side both of us anxiously waiting for our turn to show the panel why we would be a good choice for an Ivy League Connections scholarship. Since that day, when we walked out of the room into the dark cold air as the newest members of the ILC, Ana, Anna, Hawi and I have attended several ILC events, written quite a few blogs, and exchanged countless emails with Don and each other, all in preparation what will begin in a little over 24 hours. These last few days have been filled with a different preparation, the kind that includes a lot more suitcase zipping than form filling.

Beautiful Bay Area summer morning from a few days ago

Walking around the streets of San Fransisco, you have likely seen or heard the witticism, “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” I have always found this take on the city’s climate to be a bit extreme but the point reads clearly, San Francisco and the Bay Area as a whole does have what most Americans would recognize as a typical summer.

In fact, when my sister and I were younger and would complain about the heat during the few hot days a year we have here, my mom used to tell us that what we were experiencing wouldn't even be considered, “hot,” in Nashville. As a young kid I had an image of the city in my head as being a sweltering miserable place, akin to the face of the sun, and while I now know this isn’t quite true, it will be 105 degrees when we step off the plane, which is not a laughing number. Because of this, one of the major elements in my preparation for the trip was ensuring that I had enough warm weather clothing. I remember Cameron Grant (a former ILCer who attended Vanderbilt last summer) telling me that she found long jeans to be pretty much useless in the scorching weather, so more shorts were in order. 

The offending chipped wheel

While making sure that I had the right apparel for the trip, or at least what I hope will be right, another important aspect of preparation was sorting out the loner items that I would be borrowing from the ILC. One of the coolest things about the Ivy League Connection is that not only are you receiving a full scholarship to attend a course across the country, but you are also provided with virtually anything you could need for the trip. For me, this included a larger suitcase instead of the carry on sized bag I have, a laptop backpack to serve as my carry on, a laptop case, and several other helpful items that I did not already have. Don personally delivered all of this to my door, including a second suitcase when I found that the first one had a broken wheel. That probably would not have been a fun discovery to make as I tried to drag the nearly 50-pound bag through the Oakland Airport, so I am thankful that my excitement got the better of me and I fully packed a few days early. And of course, I am very grateful that Don was able to come to the rescue with a down to the wire rush to the storage facility before they closed for the holiday, preventing me from being up a creek without a wheel. Thanks, Don! 

A few of the loner items (most are packed inside)

After receiving all of my loner Items it was time to really get packing, this was not terribly eventful for me as I have always been a light packer, no shoving or sitting was necessary, so I won't bore you with the details of me deciding which way to fold my shirts. 

A more interesting thing I have done for a long time in order to prepare for any kind of trip is to get ready to be apart from my dogs. My entire life I have grown up with dogs and they have always been extremely important to me. I look forward to seeing their faces in the mornings, when I get home from my day, and really just at any time at all. Consequently, the camera roll on my phone is frequently dominated by their adorable smiles, and like almost any pet owner, I miss my dogs like crazy when we are separate. I have found that when I have to leave my furry friends for an extended period of time, it really helps to have a recent picture of them to look at while I’m gone. I made sure to do this ahead of departure with my mom acting as a photographer so that I could get both Rosie (the big terrier) and Bean (the little terror) into the photo with me. There were quite a few outtakes as neither of them appreciate the practice of holding still for pictures. I think I may be beginning to understand what Don deals with when he takes group photos of all of us.

A few from over the years, earliest on the left, yesterday's on the right

It is now Wednesday, the 4th of July, and between engaging in patriotic celebratory activities, I am bouncing around like a ball of anxious anticipation, trying to ensure that I don't forget anything. 

Don emailed us this morning with an essential packing list which has proved to be extremely useful already as I had almost forgotten my flip-flops. Since then, I have taped it on both the door of my room and our front door. Unfortunately, I am one of those people who would forget my head if it wasn’t attached to my shoulders, so over the years, I have managed to leave quite a few things in various places while traveling. On the way out of Washington DC when I was 12, I accidentally left my suitcase on the wrong side of security and did not realize it was missing it until we got to our gate. When my mom went to retrieve it, she had to go backwardthrough security, only to find my suitcase taped off and encircled by nervous-looking TSA officials. The silver lining of all this is that in recent years I have found methods that work for me to ensure that I don’t forget anything too important. This includes keeping everything in one place, (I packed my suitcase and carry on 4 days early) making lists, (I have 6 separate ones now including Don’s) and spending a day making sure that every single essential I use is on some list and packed. 

All that is left to do now is enjoy my Fourth of July, go to bed super early, which will hopefully work out due to the several days I have spent slowly adjusting my sleeping schedule, set my alarm, and make sure to use my “morning of” checklist when I wake up. 

Some 4th of July custard made by my dad

I am so incredibly excited for Nashville and seeing all the wonderful people that I will be spending my time with there. Meeting the other ILCers and our chaperones, and going through the more than 6-month process, that started long before the interview waiting room with Don’s presentation in our echoey gym, have all led up to what will happen in only a few hours now. I counted down first the months, then the weeks, then days, leaning, growing, and making new friends, and now the time has arrived. Nashville, here we come!