There is a saying that goes "God laughs when we make plans," boy was that true today. I arrived at El Cerrito High School about 2 minutes later than we were supposed to meet up, but my dad and I still had more than enough time to put the name tags on my suitcases and eat a couple Twizzlers. I had this nagging feeling in the back of my head that I forgot to pack something, or that something was wrong. This nagging feeling proved to be right as we arrived at the airport.
The first thing to go wrong was the fact that I accidentally packed my new lotion bottle in my carry on bag instead of my check in. Of course it was over 6 ounces and was tossed out right away...(sorry mom.) That hick up in the day brought my spirits down a bit, but I kept going. I convinced myself that my day could only go up from there. I was wrong.
Once we reached the terminal, I wanted to take a few pictures but the camera I brought refused to turn on completely. I was unable to take quality pictures with the camera and had to settle with my phone. On the bright side, I did get a window seat and the view was breathtaking. The sky was an exaggerated blue at times and the clouds were as white as snow. Everything was beautiful. Little moments like these make me happy to be alive. Just looking out into Nature.
I took time off from gazing out into the sky and attempted to read my summer assignment book but it bored me to sleep. I woke up in time to hear the pilot say that due to the thunderstorm happening in Houston, we would have to stop by Austin. This back up plan was later changed and we all ended up in San Antonio. The delay in our flight time caused us to miss our Information Session and our Campus tour of Rice University. I thought to myself that today was just not our lucky day.
The day took a turn for the better as we got into our Shuttle towards our hotel. Our driver was congenial; he had a lot of amazing things to say about Houston and about Rice. When we arrived at the hotel, we took a short 15 minutes break to unload and change out of our sweaters. We then all met downstairs at a cute restaurant in the hotel for dinner. I believe it was the best pasta I have ever had. The cheese mixed in with the sauce in all the right ways, the noodles were perfectly boiled, and the shrimp was juicy and cooked to perfection.
The company was better than the food. Our cohort engaged in hilarious conversation topics such as Rudy's "bubble bath." We all decided to take a short walk to Rice for an informal tour. The rain had let up by then so the walk was nice. We met a man named Josh in the MBA building who offered us a couple of facts about Rice, such as where the name came from and the admission's rate.
Our walk back to the hotel was less structured in a good way. We were adventurous and strayed from the path. Our actions mirrored Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous words, "don't go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path...and leave a trail." Tomorrow we are on our way to Atlanta Georgia. Who knows what adventures await us there.
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| A rare sighting of the Penn group following the trail |
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