Orientation Time

Wasn't ready. 

The ILC Orientation was at Pinole Middle School, I had never been there before and I didn't go to Pinole often so I left my house fairly early, when we got there I noticed no one else was here. I was playing games on my phone when my mom said she saw Don hanging the ILC Banner up near the entrance. I just thought he was here and I couldn't see him, so I was planning to walk around 5:30, which I did when I saw some of the other ILCers arriving with their parents and siblings.

I knew what to expect for the orientation, Don told us ahead of time that it was going to cover some information we already heard, but I knew for my mom it would be helpful in just talking about the site visits and what to expect in general. Madeline Kronenberg actually spoke when the mic was working, I remembered her from the dinner and she made it clear she was not going to tell us the same things we would hear from Don. She talked about being a back-up in case we needed anything, and told us about how we'll encounter hiccups when we head back east, but that it's going to happen and we're going to learn a lot. Something that stood out to me from what she said was how we write to a specific audience and that when we do, we need to keep it in mind because at some point someone somewhere is going to google our names, and what they see will be a representation of what we have accomplished and who we are.

Don began by telling us what was going to happen for the night and the chaperones introduced themselves, briefly talked about their travel experiences. We broke up into our individual cohorts, where we signed some forms, well our parents did a little more, and Deven talked about what we'll be doing in Chicago and Ithaca. I already told my mom about it but it was exciting to see even a rough layout of our schedule over the next few weeks. Don was snapping some pictures (as always) while we were going over potential places to see and eat aside from our site visits. My mom was not shy at all, asking questions and talking with Robson and Javaria's moms; I could tell she was taking a lot of information in and enjoying herself. 

Shuxin Zhou, a student who attended Cornell last summer came in and talked to us about her experience, she was bubbly and gave a lot of insight on what to expect in regards to the dorms, how much you had to walk, and how much time she devoted to her class compared to some of her other friends that she spent the summer with. I appreciated her honesty when she was sharing her likes and dislikes, and what things she would have done differently. I feel like she gave some great tips and only made the three of us more excited for when it's our turn to go there. 

So grateful for her!

We came back as one big group to hear Don tell us about the different loaner items that he had for us. From luggage to backpacks to overnight kits he said we could keep because he doesn't want our cooties. This is what I feel like the orientation was for, beside the forms, we didn't go much in depth about loaner items before but I could see there was a wide selection, but as Don said, "First come, first served." Everyone was taking pictures with what they wanted and asking some more questions before we said our goodbyes. We didn't even do that much and I felt like the orientation was very relaxed, maybe it was just a long day. Departure day is approaching fast, especially for us, but the only thing on my mind coming home was the math final I had the next day. I enjoyed it and I know my mom did too, we of course had a mini photo session because the sun looked great walking back to the car. I think I'm getting the hang of this whole pretty pictures thing.