Saturday, July 13, 2013

Come to an End!

Today marks the end of our almost month journey in and around New York. We have been exploring campuses and being busy every day so it feels a lot longer than what it actually has been. It makes no sense that the college tours were only a couple weeks ago, and that we have been attending Columbia for only three weeks. I feel like I have been in this course and interacting with my class mates for the past year or so. How do people graduate from high school and college? This is so heart breaking because there is a possibility we will go our separate ways and not see each other for at least a while. The girls on my floor became like my sisters, and  our RA was like our mom/the older sister I never had. I am thankful for social networking since I think that will keep us in touch instead of us losing touch.

We did not sleep last night since we wanted to spend as much time with each other as possible. We spent the night talking about random things, packing, and crying our eyes out.  Some people might think we are overreacting but in this program you make some really close friendships. You don't think you will but it happens. I am going to make sure that we all stay in contact with each other one way or another.  We said bye to each other this morning, which was also a very sentimental time. Our RA told us how she loved how she has seen us grow and that we have raised the bar immensely for the next session. Even if I am unable to keep in contact with all of these people I doubt I will ever forget them.

At 10 AM, the cohort met to go to the Hotel Beacon where we dropped our luggage off before we headed to Central Park for brunch. We walked through Central Park, where there was live entertainment at every corner, from singing to harp playing. We had brunch at the Boathouse where we sat right next to the lake, and I had some very good Maple Waffles. They were magnificent in appearance and taste. After brunch we went to get cookies from a bakery and then back to the hotel to get our luggage. We took a shuttle to JFK where we grabbed some food before we boarded the plane.

We got into the plane fairly early and the pilot even said that we might land an hour early, so we were all ecstatic. However, the runway that we were supposed to depart from was closed right before us so we had to get rerouted and then we had to take a different route to the north, instead of the usual straight or southern route. We were sitting in the plane for about an hour and a half before it took off because it had to get more fuel for our new route and we had to wait to get rerouted. I was able to notify my parents while we were waiting so they would not be waiting at the airport.


On the plane I did not do much except my blog, some reading, and I planned parts of my reflection. I was able to get the majority of my blog done on the plane so I used my time wisely. I was very happy to land in San Francisco because I missed everything about California, but I was sad on the plane and when we landed because I missed everyone back in New York. All of my friends, my dorm, and my RA were gone. It was a bittersweet moment. Overall I have great memories of this program and it was a great experience. I recommend this program to everyone and I am extremely thankful that I was given the opportunity to participate in it. I think everyone should apply for this amazing opportunity. All of the Ivy League Connection programs are amazing, but let's be honest Columbia is probably one of the best or the best program. 

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