From Coast to Coast

Finally the day had come! Waking way earlier than should even be legal, I sleepily but quickly got myself ready for the summer of a life time. After forcing my parents to wake up too, we set out to meet the rest of the cohort at El Cerrito High School at 2:45 AM. By the time we got there almost everyone was there, some looking sleepy, most looking excited. Don weighed all of our luggage and gave out information for our parents and sent us off. After heartfelt goodbyes from my family, I loaded up along with everyone else in the huge van that would take us to the San Francisco International Airport.

When we arrived at the airport we had to wait a while for the airport staff to come out and begin helping everyone. We all then checked in and headed through security. Along with my giant blanket and my penguin pillow pet, I boarded our first plane headed to Denver, Colorado.  After 2 hours and 30 minutes of dozing off, looking out the window, and dozing off some more, we had made it to Denver. We switched planes and had an hour-long wait so Kelly and I grabbed some food to fill our starving tummies.

We boarded our final plane, this one heading straight to Providence, Rhode Island. While on this plane I read my Harry Potter book and kept an eye on the flight tracker on the Southwest website. After about 3 hours and 40 minutes of this and card playing with Ying-An and David, we had finally made it! It still seemed like a daze as we walked through the airport to baggage claim and to get our rental car. Even though we were here it still didn’t seem real. We then forced all 8 of our multiple suitcases in our Suburban. After a lot of pushing, pulling, and twisting we finally got it and set off to find our hotel.

Driving through Providence was an amazing sight. Most of the buildings are really old and have their own special characteristics making them all unique. We were in awe as we passed through the quaint little city. Once we arrived to Hotel Providence I was so excited to see the rooms. We checked in to what will be our home for the next couple days while we are doing our college tours and before we reach Brown. The rooms are really cute and charming.

For dinner we headed to the Cuban Revolution restaurant. It was a very unique restaurant. It showcased many things that happened within Cuban history. The food was good even though we had to wait over an hour to be served. With a bunch of hungry teenagers and a brand new waitress, it would seem like a bad combination. But overall it was a great meal and experience. As we walked back to our hotel from the restaurant it started to drizzle. When we reached the hotel again we all had a blogging session and bonded over the days interesting events.

We are here, at last. From the west to the east we’ve made it. Now it’s time to soak in this amazing opportunity.