First Things First

It was a beautiful day today, but I found myself cooped up in a room with several other members of the ILC cohort and Don—and enjoying it.

Today was one of our first scheduled Ivy League Connection events, in which we reviewed everything we could possibly need to know about blogging as well as things like having a laundry bag and using a camera instead of a cell phone.

I expected that a tutorial mostly about blogging would be dull, and that Don would be lecturing us about simple things we already knew from common sense, but I found that sitting in a room listening to Don speak about the ILC was surprisingly interesting. Of course, there were moments in Don’s speech about blog formatting that lagged, and I wouldn’t exactly say that the “What to pack” list was captivating, but I did learn about several important things I needed to do for the blog. Most of these, fortunately, were specific, like “don’t indent” and “always justify your margins”. But I’m glad that Don went into detail about photography, because I didn’t know that holding a camera with your elbows in to your torso instead of holding your arms out made a picture sharper, which I’ll certainly be using on the trip.

Don was also kind enough to provide a packet with much of the same information we discussed during the tutorial, but I’m sure I’ll find myself reading it over and over to ensure that I don’t miss anything important. This meeting, while casual and informative, still made me nervous. Learning more about the responsibilities I will be faced with this summer are both exciting and frightening. I look forward to the freedom I’ll have with my parents on the opposite side of the country, but, then again, my parents won’t be there to help me with my laundry. This meeting made me feel comfortable in some of my skills, but it’s becoming clear to me that I still have a lot to learn. 

The lovely view of Hercules High School from the parking lot.