Our Robin Sparkles Playlist

Today we had our first break, and it was great. I loved getting to tour all these colleges, but they were starting to blend into one giant perfect school in my head, and we were all in a bit of a daze after getting to be exposed to all these amazing universities. We decided to shop for any vitals we would need for Brown that were too heavy to pack originally, like laundry detergent.  I also realized that I had forgotten to pack soap (don’t worry, the hotel has soap, I haven’t been too disgusting while meeting with all these admissions officers), so I needed to pick that up at CVS.

After getting those basic items we needed, we headed off to Providence Place, the Providence mall, to do a bit of shopping for other clothes and towels and the like. We were only there for about an hour, and at noon we were heading off to Newport.

One of the many beautiful houses along the Newport coast

We started off our day at Newport with a tour along the coast, on the boat the Rum Runner 2, which was originally used during Prohibition to smuggle liquor past the coast guard, hence the name. The coast of Newport was absolutely gorgeous, adding yet another reason to like Rhode Island, which in turn is another reason to like Brown, which I still have yet to actually see, although if the school is anything like the people and its surroundings, I know I won’t be disappointed. Newport’s harbor was especially full this year with the coming of the America’s Cup to their harbor, and some of the Italian teams were already docked.

The harbor tour was beautiful, and then we were headed off to the Breakers, a huge mansion formerly owned by the Vanderbilts. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside the Breakers, which is too bad since this is one of the most exquisite houses I have ever seen. Everything about the house was breathtaking, from the grand staircase to the amazing view from the balcony, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. We took an audio tour (they give you headsets, and you get to walk around the house). It was fascinating to hear all the details, both pleasant and semi-depressing about the Vanderbilts and their family, such as the unfortunate fact that Cornelius Vanderbilt the second, only spent one summer there, and shortly after died. But on a happier note, the mansion is beautiful (have I mentioned that yet?), and it doesn’t seem to have aged a day, it’s very well preserved.

About 1 millionth of the whole of the Breakers mansion

After the tour, our cohort wanted to go to the beach, since all the alums said that if you went to Newport, you had to go to the beaches there. We finally were able to convince Mrs. Kaplan to let us stop briefly, but the only beach we could find was freezing, windy, and small. After that sorry excuse of a beach, we all decided that we were just too hungry, and so were on our way to a restaurant Mr. Crosby had round, when we happened to drive by an amazing beach. Naturally, we begged our chaperones to stop, and we got to at least check that off of our list of things to do in Rhode Island, although we did not get to make sandcastles in the sand.

A great dinner at Anthony’s seafood restaurant capped our day, and now I just have to get as much packed as soon as I can, since we have orientation at Brown tomorrow! I’m absolutely looking forward to it, and I can’t wait to see who I’ll room with this year.