In the Light

There's a light at the end of every tunnel, an end to every adventure. My cohort and I are now in the light. I remember when we first arrived at Columbia Mrs. L advised us to use our time wisely and enjoy every moment because the three weeks would fly by. At the time, I didn't believe her, now I fully understand. Looking back, that early morning at El Cerrito High and departure for New York feels like it happened yesterday. I just spent nearly a month on the other side of the country taking an economics course at Columbia University! Inconceivable! (Yes that was a Princess Bride reference, which actually has nothing to do with anything relevant, I just like the movie.)

Last night, extending through to early this morning, I spent packing. It took me much longer than I expected it would. After three weeks you begin to accumulate things, especially after going shopping on several occasions. It was much more difficult for me to close my suitcase today than when I originally packed. I was so afraid that I was going to be overweight. At the baggage claim at the airport they weighed my luggage and it was only 48 lbs! I am so proud of myself.

Because I was unable to say goodbye to Jackee as well as some other friends last night, I met them this morning for a light breakfast. It is so sad that I may never see some of the amazing people that I've met ever again. Although, thanks to technological advances in social networking, we will keep in touch. For me, when it comes to goodbyes, I am not the most emotional person. I know that I will have some way to stay in contact with them so why be sad?

After my light breakfast and unfortunate goodbyes I made it back to my dorm for the last time. That room was my home for three weeks. After getting back I had just enough time to put the final bit of my belongings together and meet the group. We planned to meet at 10:00 AM. Once we were all together we took two cabs to the Hotel Beacon to drop off our bags at Mrs. L's room. Then we walked to Central Park.

I love Central Park! It is so beautiful and is so unbelievable that such a green and serene place could be in the center of such a busy city. If I lived in New York City I would visit Central Park all of the time. It is definitely a gorgeous escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. 

Once in Central Park we went to a lovely restaurant called the Boathouse for brunch. We had a table right next to the lake. Not only was my french toast amazing, I greatly enjoyed watching the turtles swim back and forth in the lake.

Finally at about 1:45 the shuttle came to pick us up from the hotel. Other than our flight being delayed an hour, it went very well. I sat between Anmol and Bryan. I had a ton of fun talking with them and reminiscing about our past month. It is going to be so strange not seeing my cohort everyday. I'm going to miss them! My favorite part about returning was seeing the smile on my dad's face when I met him at the baggage claim.

Although this whole adventure was absolutely amazing and the end came far too soon, I'm glad to be home.

Saturday Latterday

Today we spent our final hours at Columbia University. Last night, I packed my bags to prepare for our departure. This morning, I had to say goodbye to everyone. It wasn’t easy. I was finally forced to face the fact that I probably would not see any of these people ever again. Throughout my three weeks at Columbia, I developed fantastic relationships with people from around the world. Our lives are incredibly different, yet we managed to find common ground and have tons of fun together. I left campus today feeling grateful for the friendships I’ve made, but wishing I had more time.

Something particularly unique about my Columbia experience was life in my suite. Inside my suite was a common, central area with a couch and kitchenette. Every night, several girls would gather in this area to eat, talk and have fun. Frequently, our RAs would also hang out with us until early hours of the morning. The time spent just hanging out with the girls in my suite was invaluable. We had so much fun doing not much of anything.

Unlike many of the other suites, the girls in my suite all got along really well. None of us were very similar, but we still all stayed together in a group. We gained insight from each other’s experiences and had fun hearing the stories of our peers. Our RAs complimented the group perfectly. Ashley was kind, and compassionate. I felt as though she was always looking out for us. Arianne was funny and fun loving. She always seemed genuinely interested in what we had to say.

As you might imagine, it was difficult for me to leave my idyllic suite. The promise of a sublime brunch in Central Park motivated me just enough to say goodbye. The brunch was absolutely amazing. Margaret and I, being the uncompromising people that we are, decided to share the waffle and the quiche. It was simply amazing. Our waterfront table paired with the delicious food made the meal unforgettable.

After brunch, we took our last New York stroll. It was a melancholy experience. Since I hardly slept the night before, walking was a rough. The humidity just added to the struggle of the experience. Despite my comforts, however, I didn’t want to stop walking. I knew that once our walk was complete, our journey in New York would be effectively over. All good things must come to an end and today one very good thing did. 

The Journey Concludes

The end was inevitable and I sadly knew this from the beginning of the trip. After being in New York for such a long time I was amazed at how far I have come over these last month. Time seemed to have flown so quickly and I feel that I have grown not only as a person but also intellectually. I have been exposed to how competitive and different the real world is. It is incredible the type of curriculum students the exact same age as me face in their schools. This experience has given me a wakeup call and shown me how much harder I must work in order to even stand a chance of compete with these other students.



My day required me to wake bright and early, which on any other day would not have been an issue, however, being the last night of the program, my suitemates decided to throw a mini-party to celebrate our accomplishments. This relatively small festivity resulted in many of us not going to bed until about maybe three in the morning. During the time when we were all still awake, we recapped all of the adventures we had together. Honestly it was a very saddening moment because we all knew that this would probably the absolute time we would all be in one room together simply hanging out. While social media may keep us together loosely, we may never see each other ever again. When we all decided to go to bed, the looks on everyone’s faces made an evident impression of sadness. We all had different departure times for the morning, so the possibilities of formally being able to say goodbyes to everyone later were slim. We decided not to risk it and wished each other safe trips. This point is when my true emotions began surfacing. Meeting and making new friends is easy, however saying goodbye to them, after having been through a lot and with a very little chance of an encounter later on, is extremely difficult. I personally have had so many adventures and laughs with my suitemates that it took a lot from me to be able to wish each of them farewell.

At around 10 o’ clock, we all met up with Ms. L in order to take two taxis back to the location of where we spent our first night in New York City, the Beacon Hotel. We all placed our bags in her room and then proceeded out the door to continue our adventure of the day.



There is always something to see in Central Park



We walked a few blocks over to the last location I had yet to visit on my Top Ten list, Central Park. As we walked path that twisted and bent through the park, we were serenaded by various street musicians which actually were very great to listen to and who thereby enhanced the ambience. Throughout my pre-research of New York that I had done before embarking on my journey, I saw countless unique and magnificent photos of Central Park, but none compare to actually seeing it in real life. While we were only viewing a small portion of the lush scenery, a clear idea of what it might look like overall was painted in my mind. Having had practically no chance to eat breakfast, we headed over to restaurant that overlooks one of the lakes. Like in the first couple of days we were in NYC, we ate brunch as a cohort. It was great because even after the completion of a long journey, we were still very united and close.



The beauty of Central Park

When we finished eating, we headed back to the hotel to wait for the shuttle to arrive to pick us up. We stayed in Ms. L hotel room for a while, which reminded me of the beginning of our journey when we were all residing in our own hotel rooms. It brought back how fast time really does fly when your having one of the greatest experiences of your life. When it was semi-close to the time when we needed to be in the lobby to be ready for the shuttle’s pick up, we headed down. This also brought back incredible memories of when we would wait for Ms. L there before embarking on another amazing journey to a college/ university. The college tours seemed to have happened ages ago instead of just a few weeks back. 



After a while of waiting, the shuttle finally arrived and we all piled in immediately. As we drove through the streets of NYC one last time, I was reminded of when we first arrived and were astounded by the immense amount of cars and activity. The ride over to the airport did not take as long as many of us the terminal. We obtained our boarding passes and passed through the security checkpoint without much of hassle. For lunch/ dinner, we bought fast food to take on the plane for whenever we got hungry.

It took a while but pretty soon, the assistants at the counter began calling up people to board the plane. As we took our seats, the heavy realization that this was the official end to our journey surged to me. After so much anxiety to embark on this incredible journey, it was all now coming to an end. No matter how much I wished there could have been at least an extra day, I knew that this was the end. My goal of receiving an immensely high-degree of quality of education was achieved and now I was to head back and use this new knowledge to better my school as well as my community.



The vast see of clouds in the sky

As we sat in our seats ready for take-off, out of pure coincidence, the plane was unable head for the skies because of an issue with the runway. Originally the captain had said that if we were able to make a speedy exit from the gate, we might have hopes of arriving at SFO an hour earlier. However, with the rising of the runway issue, all hopes began to fade and instead of expecting an early arrival, a delayed one began seeming inevitable. After a while, arrangements to take off from a different runway were made, but we would need to increase our fuel supply, which meant going back to the terminal and thus putting us even more behind schedule.

 

When the captain finally announced that we were finally cleared for takeoff, there was immense sigh gratitude throughout the plane. As we ascended into the skies and left ever so slowly the gleaming views of the New York skyline for good, my emotions finally began to burst immensely to the point where I could hardly contain them. The reasoning of the phrase “enjoy it while you got it” finally began to become absolutely crystal clear within me. All good things must undoubtedly come an end, whether we so choose it to or not. However, the memories are ours to keep forever, not matter how far we go in life or where time takes us, we will always be able to remember this adventure and the people we met on it.

The sun casually sets in the horizon, as our journey all reaches its end



The plane was nothing special and when we finally landed in the amazing S.F cold weather, it felt good to be back home. Even though I had established a new hoe at Columbia, I new deep down that this was where I was meant to be, back with my family. I could not have asked for a better experience than this and am grateful to the ILC for allotting me it.



Breakfast At 9?

This morning was understandably difficult. I woke up an hour earlier than I'd set my alarm for because of all the hustle and bustle around my suite. Sophie, my suitemate, had left the day before, so we were already one short. Devina was already out of the room by the time I got moving, because she left to get breakfast with some of her friends with early departure schedules. Maria was still packing and while we both got dressed and finished stuffing our suitcases it was pretty silent. Eventually, Claire popped her head into the room and came to sit with Maria and I at around 9. Then my friend (who is also named Maria) from class came all the way from her dorm to see me off. Maria learned that Maria speaks Spanish (really I don't need to specify which Maria) so then Claire and I witnessed the fastest fast-friend moment to ever occur as they went off dramatically in Spanish. At 10, Simon faithfully texted me to meet him downstairs, so I said goodbye to the Marias and Claire went down with me. She also bid Simon farewell, and then it was my turn. Saying goodbye is always difficult, and this was a pretty tear-jerking moment for both of us. Later I asked Simon if he cried when he said goodbye to any of his suite-mates. He did not. But that's okay.

For brunch, the Columbia cohort had one last meal together in Central Park, at the Boathouse, a very nice lakeside restaurant. Emily and I shared our entrées - savory quiche lorraine and sweet maple waffles - and they were both delicious. The restaurant even gave us little baskets of banana bread while we waited for our dishes - how cute! Our last walk through Central Park was a nice one. We stopped for music, to look at the scenery, take photos in front of fountains and really just enjoy New York City.

We went to the airport promptly afterwards, and made good time. The journey through check-in and past security was probably my least crowded airport experience to date. We weren't waiting too terribly long to get on the plane either, which was nice and smooth. Once on the plane, however, was a different story. Our pilot excitedly urged the passengers to take their seats because some opportunity to take off immediately and arrive an hour early or something arose and the fast everyone sat down the faster we could taxi to the runway. Somehow, however, we ended up stuck in a line of planes until the flight attendant announced that we'd actually been rerouted through Canada and needed to go get 500 more pounds of fuel. Okay. It was no big deal though because we were up in the air eventually, and I got to sit with Emily and Simon. We watched a movie, then Emily slept, then Emily woke up, and I slept, then Simon and I went through all of the photos he'd taken on the trip (which are all incredible, I saw that he posted some of the edited ones). Sleeping on planes is not the business, by the way.

At bag check we all reunited with our parents/families once again and said our farewells to one another. As sad as it was to say goodbye to our friends from Columbia, it's a whole 'nother story concerning our own cohort. We've been through so much together and today was my last day with them. At least I'll get to see Emily and Simon around school for another year, but I'll truly miss our daily Columbia routine. To make things worse, Simon just now texted me, like he always did for the last 3 weeks - "breakfast at 9?"

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. 

Great Success!

Today marks my last daily blog in my Ivy League Connection experience. Even though I was so excited to see my family and my dog Dani, I know I will miss my home away from home in Carman at Columbia University. So far I have friended almost everyone in my class, and we have even made a Facebook group to allow for group discussions and just to make it easier to know what everyone is up to! I am so glad our class got so close over the three weeks and it is reassuring to know that I may very well see many of them in the future! As an extra note I edited a whole bunch of my photos today so I want to post a few of them in this blog.

We all had to pack up our bags in the morning. I said goodbyes to my roommates Shahryar and Raul and made sure I had not forgotten any of my belongings. At 10 AM we left Carman to meet with Ms. L on the side of the street to take a cab. Margaret came downstairs with her friends Claire and Maria who I had gotten to know really well as well. It was sad to say goodbye to all those amazing people. I was talking with Margaret and we were thinking about all the people who we never really met, but had just gotten used to seeing around. We realized our whole daily routine would be different once we get home. We would not be all eating at a table together, discussing classes and other fun topics. We would not meet downstairs to go off into NYC via the subway. We would not be seeing the same people around and we would not be in class from 10-12 and 2-4. It was a bit heartbreaking to say the least but we knew that we did miss our homes and we were all excited to get home. 

Getting through the airport was very easy, there was almost no one at all in the Virgin America terminal. Once we got on the plane though we had a two hour delay when our flight had to be rerouted (I don’t really know why). Once we got off the ground I started working on my blog, napping, listening to Les Miserables soundtracks, and watching Friends on TBS. The flight took longer than we had hoped but we landed safely and that is all that matters!

I am home now and I it is so nice to be back. My dog was so excited to see me, she ran around in circles for a few minutes because she was exploding with energy. It was also nice to be back with my mom, dad, and sister. I started showing them some of the pictures I took, than realized I was extremely tired. It is a strange feeling knowing that I will not be meeting Margaret at 9 AM for breakfast tomorrow, but I am in need of a home made breakfast and a good nights sleep in my own bed.

It's Almost Over!

Today is Friday. This Friday is bitter sweet. Yes it's the end of the week and the beginning of the weekend, hence not having to wake up early and go to class. But today marks the end of classes, with the end of classes comes the end of our adventure. 

I am really very sad to leave New York City and Columbia. I have lived here for the past three weeks, fallen into a routine, and made my dorm room my home. I love the city. I love how it is so easy to get to nearly anywhere you need to go with just a little walking and the use of the amazing public transportation systems. Although I'm not too fond of the humidity, I love being able to wear whatever it is I would like to wear and not worry about being cold. This is of course, only a summer quality of New York. 

If I lived in New York City, which I may actually do sometime in the future, I would always have something to do. I will be constantly going to museums and shows among many other things. 

I am also happy to go home. In these last couple of days I have become home sick. I honestly cannot wait to get on that plane tomorrow and land in San Francisco. I want to hug my dad, play with my dogs, and sleep in my own bed. 

Today in lecture, for a majority of the time, my professor was discussing the college application process and answering any questions we had regarding colleges. He strongly advised against majoring in such things as business, medicine, and law; wait for graduate school to narrow your field of study. In the first four years of college you should take classes that are very diverse in subject matter. In seminar, we all presented our group projects. My group was with two other girls and our topic was unemployment.

After class I headed to the bookstore to finally buy that sweatshirt my sister has been asking for. I then met up with Simon, Margaret, and Claire. We went to the MoMA. It is amazing. I loved it. Unfortunately I was only able to thoroughly view floors two and three. I also saw a small part of floor six which is the special exhibit floor. After the MoMA we all went to a really cute little Italian restaurant, the food is to die for.

You have to have a taste for modern art to enjoy the MoMA. Many of the pieces are abstract so it takes a moment to understand what a piece might mean, if you can develop a meaning to it. I really enjoyed myself. My favorite part of the museum, that I saw, is the Contemporary Galleries: 1980 to Now. Modern art is much more difficult to appreciate than traditional art. Someday I will return to New York City and spend at least one day seeing everything I can see in the MoMA.