Goodbye, West Coast!

It’s hard to believe that in about 7 hours I’ll be meeting the Brown II group at El Cerrito High School to depart for our trip to the East Coast. It seems like only yesterday that I was preparing for my interview. And wasn’t it only last week that Don came to visit my school to talk about the Ivy League Connection? Honestly, it still doesn’t seem real. In a matter of hours, I’ll be departing on the trip I’ve been building up to for months now. The more items I stuff into my luggage, the more real all of this seems.

As I have never done anything like this before, I’m not really sure what to expect. However, from everything I’ve been told and all the past blogs I’ve read, I know that I’ll become very close with the other members of my cohort as well as get a chance to meet people who come from all around the world. I also know that the class will be challenging (what else could be expected from an Ivy League?) but I am sure that, in the end, it will be incredibly rewarding. I hope that I’ll be able to return with exciting stories about all the things I’ve learned at Brown and all the things I want to do to give back to my community. Don has already assured us that we will all come back with ten times the confidence we had when we departed.

Even though it can be nerve-wracking to fly all the way to the East Coast to take a class at an Ivy League College, I’m less nervous to go than I thought I’d be. I’ve already grown closer to the other girls in my cohort (we bonded yesterday evening over Round Table pizza) and I can tell I’ll be able to rely on them while we’re on the East Coast. 

Although I could sit here until my 3:00 AM wakeup call and write many more paragraphs about my expectations and excitement, I’ve decided to, for the first time this summer, get to bed early so that I won’t be too groggy when we take the pre-departure picture. Before I log off, however, I'd just like to say how truly grateful I am to everyone who works for or supports the Ivy League Connection. I will be sure to make the most out of this opportunity.