Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Still Can't Quite Believe I'm Here

I woke up bright and early at 5 AM today after finishing my entire AP English Language summer assignment at 2 AM. I really wanted to be done with that assignment before I left for Brown. Now I can focus on our college visits and the Women and Leadership class.  After some last-minute packing, I met the rest of the Session II Brownies in front of El Cerrito High School. Don gave us some final tips and loaned out various items that we would need. I took an umbrella and an alarm clock – items that I had either forgotten to pack or was planning to buy on the East Coast.

~ Traveling With Mariana and Lucero ~

Soon we were on our way to the San Francisco Airport in a shuttle. Lydia and Mariana caught me up on how their summers had been. Everyone in our group has had a pretty busy summer so far, filled with volunteering, camping, hiking, and traveling. Still, the ILC is definitely a highlight of the summer for everyone. We proceeded through the baggage check and security without any issues, and our plane took off on time. I sat with Lucero and Mariana on the plane; we passed the time playing chess on our laptops, talking, and listening to music.



~ Left: Views From the Airplane~

After we transferred to an airport shuttle and then two different subway trains, we finally arrived at the hotel. We had a bit of time to unpack, and then we headed off to dinner. It took us a good hour to find a restaurant that served somewhat wholesome food and wasn’t outrageously expensive. We ate our fill of deep-dish pizza, and then stopped by Borders bookstore so that some in our group could buy reading material.

Back at the hotel, we finally succeeded on our quest to find free wireless internet after much trial and tribulation. The signal is weak, but at least it’s there. I'm glad that I'm able to update my family, friends, and the community on what's happening here on the East Coast.
After posting this, I plan to sleep very soundly! Traveling for the whole day on three hours of sleep was completely exhausting. I still can’t quite believe that I’m on the other side of the country, about to experience three weeks filled with learning of all kinds.

2 comments:

  1. Irene,

    When we send our ILC cohorts off I usually arrive at the departure point about an hour early. As I passed by your house right about 5 AM I saw the lights on and it pleased me to confirm that at least one of our Brown-II team members was up and getting ready. Of course, it turned out that all were there when they needed to be so my worries were wasted efforts.

    From what you've written and from some of the other blogs it seems that the demand for free Internet in hotel rooms back East may not be as high of a priority back East as it is here on the Left Coast where it can be a determining factor on whether you stay or not.

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  2. It does seem like a big deal, and I think the hotel will fix it in the next year because so many people are muttering about it. Many places in Boston have WiFi, like a seating area in Faneuil Hall where it was actually provided by the city.

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