Not the End, Yet

Sai! Wake up!

Today officially marked the last day of class at Brown University. My project was all done, my bags were somewhat packed, and my mind was set on going back to the hotel. I met up with Sai and the others at the V-Dub at 7:30 AM so we could run over the project together and add some of the finishing touches to it. The project successfully ran for 18 minutes during our practice presentation. We were originally going to present first, but we had a change of plans. We ended up second to last, but still did pretty well. It was the last thing that I did with my friends from Brown. I was proud of us, but also very sad that this was how it would be ending. We'll now be parting ways and scattered back to where we came from. They will always be a special group of people that I'll never forget. 

Marisa and I 

I went back to my dorm after class and lunch to start packing. Honestly, I had more trouble packing my stuff back than I initially did. I totally forgot where I put my stuff, and having my time limited only made it worse. In the end, whatever I couldn't put in the suitcases, I put in my backpack. My backpack now has two laptops, my textbook, all my chargers, and my Brown jacket. My trash bin was full by the end of the hour, filled with all my food wrappers and old clothes hangers that I had no intention of keeping. I wanted to keep the air freshener in my dorm so that the next group of people could use it, but I remembered that leaving any "trash" in my dorm would result in a $75 charge, and I wasn't willing to take that risk. I said my goodbyes to my RA Adam, and sprinted up the stairs to return my keys. After, I ran back down the flight of stairs, and carried my overfilled backpack and suitcases down onto Charlesfield where Ms. Kaplan came to pick us up. We arrived at the hotel within minutes, and we were pretty glad to be back in a room with air conditioning. 

We headed over to the dinner at the Boston Mistral around 5:00 PM, and got there in a few minutes past an hour. It was a really fancy restaurant and really empty actually when we first got there. We went into one of the back rooms where we split up all the different colleges at different tables. Some were exceptional though, because there wasn't enough room at some of the tables. We all got to sit at a college of our choosing (that we previously decided on) but we were still able to switch around to mingle with other schools. I sat with MIT for a duration of the time, but that was because I was really interested in learning more about the college. We talked a lot about the abstract buildings, artsy works, and creative inventions there. In addition, we even got to talk about MIT hacking and other "traditions". Towards the end of the dinner, I moved around to the Yale table where we talked about Yale a bit more. It was a really fun talk; probably more engaging than the MIT talk. In addition, I even met Austin Long's roommate, Neil Pathak. We talked for a while, and he told me how Austin convinced him to come to this dinner in his place. He did, however, enjoy his dinner with all of us. 

The whole crew; males are becoming an endangered species

Even though my Brown experience is over, this isn't the end yet. Although I had to leave a past behind, I get a new future ahead of me. I might've had to let go of my newly met friends, but that will leave me more chances to keep meeting newer people. I really didn't think my three weeks in Brown would speed by so fast, but it wasn't unexpected. People say: "Time flies when you're having fun". There was no doubt in my mind that Brown was going to be an amazing experience for me. But I was wrong. Brown wasn't just amazing. It was beyond that. It was beyond my wildest imaginations of how I would be spending my summer. It changed me and transformed me so much more than I had intended it to. It made me realize that there is so much more for me to learn in life than just numbers and equations. I don't regret a single choice that I made while I was in Brown, because it has brought me to where I am now. Thank you Brown University, for the wonderful and unforgettable experience. And thank you Ivy League Connection, for changing this fantasy into a reality.