Saturday, July 10, 2010

Hot, humid, and pouring rain.


Tonight, as I write my blog, the time my eyes stay closed when I blink becomes longer and longer, and I am continuously nodding off, so I’ll make tonight’s entry briefer and less witty than normal.

I’d say the first half of the day was alright. Oversleeping and cramps in the morning prevented me from taking the tour of Harvard, but the information session didn’t impress me all that much, so I wasn’t too worried.

There was however, one upside to that: While Mr. Ramsey, Ms. Stewart, and I were sitting, waiting for the tour to finish, a man who I guess you could call “incredibly good looking” walked up to us and asked us to take a short survey.

One thing led to another, and Davis (which was his name) and Mr. Ramsey ended up discussing the philosophy of water, and I was simply content to look at his face.

Hey, who said this visit had to be all education, all the time?

During a short train ride to Rhode Island, where Lupe and I tried in vain to watch the Germany and Uruguay game, we argued over who was going to win. I was pro Germany (and pro Thomas Müller, Lukas Podolski and Mesut Özil), and Lupe was pro Uruguay. Most Latin people are the same: once their country gets knocked out of the World Cup, the general rule of thumb is to root for any other Latin country that’s left. Now, I am Peruvian, so that means I’ve given up all hope of World Cup glory, so I just support who I think are the best teams.

And I was right!

Germany rightfully won third place today. They should have been playing in the final match, but thanks to a bad call in their game against Argentina, they were left playing without Müller against Spain, which contributed to their loss.

But this blog is about education, not soccer, so I digress. If you’d like to hear my opinions on the World Cup this year, we can talk later. (By the way, Spain all the way for the title!)

Providence is gorgeous, just like every other place we’ve been so far, and the hotel is lovely, even though we’re only staying for one night. I’m going to be a little sad to go to Brown tomorrow, because Lupe has been my roommate for this entire trip, and it’s too bad she can’t be my roommate at Brown. I’ll miss seeing her every night and morning.

We had free time before our dinner this afternoon, so we went to the mall together, and bought a few items, including chocolate covered gummy bears, which I convinced Lupe to try (and she loved them!), and I bought myself a Stormtrooper t-shirt. I’m a nerd, I know.

A quick change back at the hotel, and we were on our way to the dinner at Mill’s Tavern.

I can’t talk about the dinner without talking about the Brown I students. They’re all so incredible and were so helpful about telling us all about Brown. I’m more excited than ever about going. Megan and Zijun especially went above and beyond by telling us about their experiences, what to expect, and a few pointers for surviving those first few days.

The food at dinner was great—I was so satisfied by the end of the meal! Well, if I’m being honest, before the end of the meal, but it was so good I couldn’t help myself!

And now that we’re back at the hotel and blogging our little hearts out, I know I was being silly when I thought the other Brown Session II students and I might not see each other too much once we were settled in there. It’s clear that we all get along so well from the laughter coming out of our room that I’m sure Ms. Stewart could have heard from three floors up. I know I’ll make good friends with my roommate, but I know I’ll still be close with Lupe, Irene, and the rest of the girls I came here with.

Oh, and before I forget!

I got my first taste of a real New England mid-summer storm today! Hot, humid, and pouring rain while waiting for our train, and of course Lupe and I ran out into the rain, just before we saw the lightning and heard the thunder. No tan today, folks. No tan today.


2 comments:

  1. Mariana,

    Somebody please put my mind at ease and show me a photo of at least one of you using one of the umbrellas I loaned you. No? Oh, well...

    I don't want to rain on your parade (no pun intended) but it's probably for the best that the World Cup Finals conclude before your class actually starts. Otherwise your time at Brown might be wasted time.

    I'm glad that the Brown-II group was able to mingle with the Brown-I group to swap stories and learn from each other. And all the while munching on some fine eats.

    I'm excited for you all--the ones who get to stay as well as those heading home on Sunday.

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  2. We did actually use the umbrellas! They came in handy.

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