Summer Program Round 2

So here goes nothing. I’ve landed safe and sound! After some confusing finding my way around the terminal, I finally found where I was supposed to be and got to meet some new people. Let’s just all forget the incident at baggage claim, where upon lifting my suitcase up, it decided I wasn’t strong enough to support it and thus toppled on top of me. I was laughed at, and called graceful -.- But yeah, I have already made some new and cool friends within the first couple hours, which is a huge improvement over GSP! Now to get to the dorms. They are quality. Top
quality.

                 
                
                
                 

These accommodations do not compare in the slightest to what GSP provided us with - so far, I have had a better time in a couple of hours here at NSLC than an entire week at GSP. I suppose also that that has to do with the scenery, but lets forget about that for awhile.

So far, I am getting along well with my roommates! Today was a fairly chaotic day in that they had us running around like crazy! The only down time we got was from 2 until dinner which gave us plenty of time to settle in to the rooms and we even got to explore the surrounding town a little. Here, we’re actually allowed to leave campus!! I can’t tell you how excited I am about that! WE can leave, go get food, go shop, or just plain hang out. But we. get. to. leave. We’re not trapped. I tell ya, freedom is nice, and also, I’d just like to rave about how awesome our dorms are! They’re actually nice and cozy - with carpet, not cement.

Dinner was unbearably early but I can deal with that because the food was outstanding! Food is one criteria I do not compromise on but with Berkeley’s food, there is NO need for compromise! Everything looked great, there were organic, home-cooked, vegetarian sections, and more, and so much to choose from! I couldn’t be happier. Afterwards, we meet our TA leader which I believe to be something like seminar leader back at GSP, and Aaron seems like a really chill person. He lead us to our opening ceremony at which Prof. Sarah Menke-Fish spoke and so did Mr. Mike Walsh (of which, Mike will be our leadership facilitator). Both spoke about the program as a whole and the experiences we can gain from it but Walsh took it a step further and told us that he will be testing our leadership skills, each time he teaches. What that entails, we will soon find out! Afterwards, Aaron took us back to a room and we went over rules/guidelines and then had free time so we played get-to-know-you games. So far, I’ve met some incredibly awesome people like Hannah, Carly, Diane, Adam, Lauren, and Nora!

Afterwards, we had our RA meeting and now we are in dorms, getting ready to begin another day tomorrow! Tomorrow we have our first classes and I am in Professional News writing - not something I haven’t done before, but hopefully a new experience. As of right now, I am absolutely thrilled with this program. Big things are happening