Today, the Vanderbilt cohort will begin what we came here for - The Vanderbilt Summer Academy. The past three days have been full of joy and excitement. I loved being a tourist and exploring fine eateries, museums, and downtown Nashville. Most of all I loved spending time with the Vanderbilt cohort; I'm happy and proud to call Audrey, Anna, Hawi, and Tori my good friends. However, I'm sad that I'll no longer be rooming with Audrey; I'll miss our fun mealtime conversations with Tori, and I'll long to spend every living hour with them. Albeit, with one emotion comes another - this one is happiness. I can't believe that we'll be rooming in a university with a stranger (soon to become friend), that'll we'll be studying topics foreign to our high school classrooms, and receive an experience like no other.
Since we had nothing planned other then getting to orientation at Vanderbilt in the afternoon, we woke up late today. At 9, I woke from a restful night, to the sounds of Audrey taking a shower. I sat in bed, staring at the ceiling for a bit, then realized that I had little time to pack my bag, take a shower, and get dressed before we had to meet Tori in the lobby. I hopped out of bed, packed, showered, and dressed in no time. The Vanderbilt cohort decided to check out early so we didn't have to return to our hotel after breakfast.
We all lugged our suitcases to the scorching parking lot and drove to get breakfast. We planned to go to Pancake Pantry, but as we drove by we saw a line of people curved around the block - we instantly looked into the next nearest breakfast joint. The one we found on our handy cellphones is called J Christopher's, only .2 miles away. We entered that establishment and were greeted by friendly waitresses. Aspen, our waitress, took us to a booth, where we sat and talked once we had ordered. The restaurant had a traditional comforting family vibe, the walls were yellow and adorned with non conventional paintings - the face of a women, two people exiting a plane through the window, and a sea of people. We enjoyed our breakfast and had a heartfelt conversation, we are so sad that we won't be able to share meals like this in a while.
After breakfast, we had 3 hours to kill and decided to head back to Barnes and Noble (where we got our Vanderbilt merchandise) since Anna wanted to buy a visor for her friend. We sat in the Starbucks inside the store and decided to get a head start on our blogs while also having silly conversations about Elvis Presley's death, social media, and phone advertisements. We truly were savoring the voices and personalities of each other since we won't have the privilege of doing so every day.
For orientation, we arrived to the Hank Ingram Hall where we signed some paperwork; received a lanyard with our room keys, name tag, and meal card; and signed up for our After Class Experience (ACE). We had to rank our top 12 choices for ACE, my top were stage combat, yoga, card magic, and book club. Later in the day our proctor leader told us our assigned ACE for the week, I got stage combat, which I am very excited for.
Once we received our room key, we went to our dorm rooms, Hawi is on the same floor as me as well as our new friend, Abby, that we met in line. Our dorm rooms are comfy, ample in space and have plenty of closet room. On the door of the room are the names of the people assigned there, along with where we are from. Upon entering the room I notice that my roommate, Sophia, is from Shanghai, China. She arrived to VSA a little later since she had a late plane, but I was able to meet her at dinner - she is the sweetest! In my lonely empty room, I unpacked all my clothing, made my bed, and got comfy. We had a few hours before we had to meet our hallway mates. In the time waiting Hawi, Abby, and I sat in my room and talked. Once it was 5 o'clock we met with the rest of the girls in our hall and were separated with our proctor leaders. Twelve of us were with our proctor, named Grace. We spent time getting to know each other with fun games, time passed fast and soon enough it was time for dinner. We walked out of the building and to the Commons dining where we entered to choose our meal. The dining hall was overwhelmingly crowded with so many food choices that out of fright I instinctively chose a personal pizza. Tomorrow I will conquer my fear and will diversify my food choices, by boldly exploring the different counters, lines, and smells.
After pizza, all of VSA met in a conference room where VSA leaders introduced themselves, outlined our scheduling, safety, and we met our Houses. They welcomed and congratulated us for being a part of the program, along with sharing VSA's pillars - Resourcefulness, Respect, and Remarkable. They encourage us to access these qualities that we have stored and utilize them to make this journey worthwhile. VSA is split into 3 houses: V, S, and A. Throughout the program houses will engage in friendly competition - they even did so today with chants, videos, and subtle trash talk. Hawi, Abby, Sophia, and I are all in House S.
The rest of the night consisted of a series of meetings with our Houses, outlining general rules of safety, our expectations, and reminders for tomorrow. Our next meeting was more enjoyable - we played a Bingo-like game to get to know the girls in our hall, followed by a fun game of trivia. Lastly, our proctor group discussed our own expectations for our group and we received a sturdy water bottle, a t-shirt, and a notebook. I'm so happy to be a part of this program and can't wait for what tomorrow has in store.
Since we had nothing planned other then getting to orientation at Vanderbilt in the afternoon, we woke up late today. At 9, I woke from a restful night, to the sounds of Audrey taking a shower. I sat in bed, staring at the ceiling for a bit, then realized that I had little time to pack my bag, take a shower, and get dressed before we had to meet Tori in the lobby. I hopped out of bed, packed, showered, and dressed in no time. The Vanderbilt cohort decided to check out early so we didn't have to return to our hotel after breakfast.
We all lugged our suitcases to the scorching parking lot and drove to get breakfast. We planned to go to Pancake Pantry, but as we drove by we saw a line of people curved around the block - we instantly looked into the next nearest breakfast joint. The one we found on our handy cellphones is called J Christopher's, only .2 miles away. We entered that establishment and were greeted by friendly waitresses. Aspen, our waitress, took us to a booth, where we sat and talked once we had ordered. The restaurant had a traditional comforting family vibe, the walls were yellow and adorned with non conventional paintings - the face of a women, two people exiting a plane through the window, and a sea of people. We enjoyed our breakfast and had a heartfelt conversation, we are so sad that we won't be able to share meals like this in a while.
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| My wondrous omelette |
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| J Christopher's nice ambiance. |
Once we received our room key, we went to our dorm rooms, Hawi is on the same floor as me as well as our new friend, Abby, that we met in line. Our dorm rooms are comfy, ample in space and have plenty of closet room. On the door of the room are the names of the people assigned there, along with where we are from. Upon entering the room I notice that my roommate, Sophia, is from Shanghai, China. She arrived to VSA a little later since she had a late plane, but I was able to meet her at dinner - she is the sweetest! In my lonely empty room, I unpacked all my clothing, made my bed, and got comfy. We had a few hours before we had to meet our hallway mates. In the time waiting Hawi, Abby, and I sat in my room and talked. Once it was 5 o'clock we met with the rest of the girls in our hall and were separated with our proctor leaders. Twelve of us were with our proctor, named Grace. We spent time getting to know each other with fun games, time passed fast and soon enough it was time for dinner. We walked out of the building and to the Commons dining where we entered to choose our meal. The dining hall was overwhelmingly crowded with so many food choices that out of fright I instinctively chose a personal pizza. Tomorrow I will conquer my fear and will diversify my food choices, by boldly exploring the different counters, lines, and smells.
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| Hawi seriously working away at her blog during our break. |
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| VSA proctors doing a little dance for us. |
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