Two Weeks and a Day

Tonight was the night of the ILC orientation.  In two weeks and one day, I will be getting on an airplane bound for Chicago.  It has never felt this close.  Maybe that’s because it has never been this close, due to the nature of time’s forward motion, or maybe it is due to the fact that I have to think about what to pack.  I have to think about how much of what to bring and what bag I am going to use and where I’m going to put it in my dorm.  I have to think about what to wear when we go visit the admissions officers at Harvard and MIT and Dartmouth and Yale.

I can remember two weeks and a day ago.  It feels like such a short amount of time has passed since then.  Looking forward, I now realize how close I am to this experience that I have been waiting for and expecting for so long.  It almost doesn’t seem real.  Almost.

At the orientation tonight we went over all the things that have been hammered into our heads for the past however-many weeks:  everything we do is or a reason, this is an amazing opportunity, follow the rules, don’t go on beer runs to Canada, and, most importantly, BE ON TIME.  While I may think there is some hyperbolic stress placed on the importance of being on time for all these events, I do understand why Charles and Don have to ensure this emphasis.

After Don talked to us for a while, we split up into our respective cohorts and discussed itineraries.  If I wasn’t excited before, I sure as hell am now.  While it may be a little stressful, I’m looking forward to our first weekend there, as we will be visiting Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT, and Yale (where we will meet up with the Columbia group - I’m looking forward to this; I have friends in that group).  These are extremely prestigious schools and I am really excited to get this kind of opportunity to visit and speak with admissions officers in a way that most people could only dream of, if people dream of that sort of thing.