Familiar Faces

It’s only the second full day here at Brown, and I’m already feeling the familiarity that comes with recognizing people and buildings. Well, maybe I’m less sure about where I’m going, but that’s what maps are for. Anyway, after waking up in the morning, taking a lightning fast shower, and meeting Nick and a few more friends, we all walked to the V-dub for breakfast. I grabbed some French toast and potatoes, but was lacking coffee. I nearly cried when I found some on the other side of the cafeteria, because the huge pot was empty. Thankfully, I went back about halfway through breakfast it was refilled.

With that energy boost, Nick, Tayler, David, and I moseyed on over to the Smitty-B. We jumped right into making final decisions on our group Powerpoint project, a comparison between China’s hands-on philosophy about government interference with business, and America’s laissez faire, hands off approach. The project required a statement that would stir up controversy, so we decided to declare that China’s economic model was stronger than the U.S.’s, an easily contested declaration. This is something that I’ve seen some news and documentaries about, so I’m really interested in what other’s views are. Because everyone is willingly in the class, and most have put a heavy financial investment into liking economics by doing so, I know that there will be a lot of awesome discussion and debate over every topic presented.

After class, Kelly, Tayler, David, and Ying invited me to come to Providence Place with them. (Nick was at the gym, we weren’t ostracizing him..) Unfortunately, we missed our first bus, but the silver lining is that we got Fro-Yo world while we were waiting for the next one! After we hopped on for free, because our Brown ID's get us on with no cost, we made it to the mall with the help of a very kind Brown alum. After getting home from the mall, I immediately grabbed my swimsuit and ran to the gym, where, after barely passing the swimming test, Nick, Chrissy, Matt from New Jersey, L.A. Matt, Sean, and I all played water basketball. I was terrible, but that was only to be expected.

We grabbed dinner after swimming, but instead of cafeteria food, we went all out and visited Chipotles. To be honest, after taco trucks in Richmond, Rhode Island Chipotle's wasn't all that delicious. But it was still warm, filling food that is right near our dorms!

Due to someone’s terrible planning, I had to fight my way through the basketball game that was happening right in front of the door to the dorm, managing to not get hit by any miscellaneous items. After showing the guys what Olney is like, I grabbed my homework and went to Nick’s room to study. Though the homework is due on Friday, we decided to get an early start.

Each day, I can already tell that I'm going to get to meet more and more people, and do more and more activities. And though I was worried that the people going to summer@Brown would be snobby and rich, I haven't even had a problem with someone being rude or pretentious. It is interesting, however, to hear the perspectives of a private school student, versus my own personal views. I really hope to expand my views of both the East Coast, and the rest of the world.