Tuesday, August 10, 2010

It's Really Over...

I had to change my computer back to West Coast time. It was one of the saddest moments of my life. It’s finally over. I made so many friends and grew up in so many ways while I was at Yale. Although I only spent two weeks there I made what feels like life-long friends. I suppose only time will tell. The academics were hard but I proved to myself I could handle it. I saw colleges on the east coast and realized no west coast school can really compare.

The first few days were a dream, jumping from one Ivy League school to the next. Although I wasn’t a fan of them all, I did find a place in my heart for the east coast. Yes, I will have to go back at other times of the year to make sure that I can handle the weather but I think that is where I want to go to school. It’s far away but I felt at home. The college towns held so many like-minded people and the cities held the kind of hustle and bustle that makes you want to be always moving foreword. I discovered that that was the sort of environment I wanted, if only for the four years I would be in college.

While at Yale I was pushed hard. There was always something important to be done and lots of reading to stay on top of. However, I powered through and discovered that I can handle the load. I even learned that I have what it takes to be a public speaker. Among all the debaters I was chosen to go on to the speech finals. Although I didn’t win, I am proud of myself for getting that far. Never before have I considered myself the type to write and read speeches. Somehow I showed the judges that I had it in me. By picking me to move on, the judges showed me I was capable.

Sometimes things got hard. My Marshal Brief group had more bumps then anticipated, the reading was hefty, and there was little sleep. However, with the amazing friends I made and my own inner strength, I proved that I could power through.

From day one it all clicked. I walked into my room and just knew it was all going to be great. I met my roommate Grace, we introduced ourselves to the people around us, and I realized that there wasn’t one person at the program who wasn’t amazing in their own rite. For once I was in lectures where everyone wanted to be involved. I had a group that all wanted the best project possible, rather then one person carrying all the work. You could feel the intelligence in the air.

I felt at home. As much as I missed my family, I didn’t want to go back to the west coast. The people at Yale were amazing. Every student put care into their work and was dedicated to school. Each and every person wanted to put his or her best foot foreword. We bonded as a class over the workload and lack of sleep. I became known for my coffee addiction and tendency to take too many pictures. However, I found my place and made friends with all those at the program. I enjoyed every minute of it. I made friends from all over the world including Columbia, London, Brazil, New York, Chicago, and right here in California. It makes me teary-eyed just thinking of them all. Thank goodness for facebook and text messaging. I hope to stay in contact with all of the Ivy Scholars. There’s even talks of a reunion in Brazil. Maybe we should shoot for New York first though.

I am forever grateful to the Ivy League Connection for giving me the opportunity to have my eyes opened to this world: one where there are students like me. I got a taste for college life and fell in love with it. Without this program none of my amazing memories would have happened.

1 comment:

  1. Marisol,

    Sounds like maybe these two weeks were of some value to you on a lot of different levels: the educational opportunities at Yale showed you what classes are supposed to be like; you saw what east coast college towns are like; you were exposed to people from all walks of life and from all over the world; and you saw first hand that people are basically good and will work with you when you share a common goal. Sounds like a win-win to me.

    I’m concerned, though, when you wrote about those people failed to understand about taking photos. You even used the words “too many pictures” as if that was a bad thing. Get it through your head, Marisol, photos are a good thing and it would be hard to say that there are “too many pictures”.

    When you all get rested, perhaps we can coax you all into writing a comprehensive blog to tell us all about the many things you never had time to write about earlier. And, of course, we’d love to see your photos (you walked right into that one).

    Thanks, though, for this great blog.

    ReplyDelete