Lord of the Wings: Return of the King

I'm finally blogging from my own house! Today we returned home, and while I am sad to have left Brown, I am happy to finally be home again. Just because today was our last day in Providence, that didn't stop us from having one last event, a brunch with all sorts of Brown alums and faculty members. I got a chance to talk to Guy Sanchez, a Brown alum and great friend of the program, and really learned a lot about Brown. I did know that they had a fairly new college of engineering, but had no idea what the college or courses would be like. He explained that for the first three semesters, everyone is supposed to take three set engineering-specific classes and one elective per semester, and that by the end of sophomore year, students would be taking classes for whatever field of engineering they decide to go into. I never heard what specific courses engineers were required to take, but was amazed to find out that I actually understood some of the topics in their most basic form (having physics this year helped me know what about five of the required courses were actually talking about). Talking to Guy throughout the delicious brunch was great, and after everyone had eaten their fill, we headed into a makeshift auditorium for a few speeches. Tayler spoke first, and almost had the entire room bawling by the end of the speech, she was able to express just how much this program has affected each and everyone of us in just a few minutes of speaking. I would have hated to follow that amazing speech, but Maddie did a great job, talking about how excited she was for this opportunity, which only ended up making me jealous because despite the fact that I am happy to be home, I still can't believe I won't be going to class tomorrow. Dr. Jabbar Bennet closed the ceremonies with a fantastic speech, and I really felt inspired by him and his advice to find something you are passionate about and to never give up on that dream. Overall, this was a great end to a great experience, and I can't believe it's all over. I will be writing a reflective blog within a few days when I can look back on the trip as a whole, and not just see everything that has happened in the last couple days.