And so It Begins!

The time has finally come for my cohort to begin our long awaited East Coast trip. To think we’ll be on the other side of the country by tomorrow afternoon is simply mind boggling. As cliché as it may sound, time flies by. It seems just like yesterday when the Vanderbilt cohort was chosen, when in reality it was nearly seven months ago. And I know that once we depart from San Francisco International Airport tomorrow, things will begin to pick up even faster than before.  

While buying last minute things for the trip and packing everything into my bags, it finally hit me that everything was coming into place. Up to this moment, I was just waiting for my East Coast experience to commence. But here it is, right at my doorstep. Now that all the milestone events have ended, all that’s left is the actual trip. And in just a couple hours, I’ll be blogging from Washington, D.C.

Since I’m an upcoming senior, I plan on fully taking advantage of our college tours during the first half of our trip. Maybe the universities we visit may become one of my top choices in the fall. From past college tours, I’ve learned that having the opportunity to visit the college is the only way of knowing if a college is for you. And the information someone gets out of any tour is tremendous. It narrows down the type of things one wants in a university and what one doesn’t want. And with college applications right around the corner, I hope to narrow down my college search by the end of this trip.

And once the first half of our trip is over, all four of us will begin our respective courses. I’m still shocked by the fact that I was not only chosen to be an ambassador for my community, but accepted into the Med School 101 program at Vanderbilt. I remember Don saying just how competitive it was to get into the class. But I decided to go for it anyway. And once I received the email I had gotten into my first choice, I couldn’t control my excitement. Since the Ivy League Connection can’t buy their way into any class, my acceptance makes me feel even more accomplished than getting into the ILC. To know that my application stood up against the pool of applicants shows that our District is just as capable of getting into these prestigious programs.  I can’t wait to get a head start on a possible career path in the medical profession. With this course, I plan on finding out whether or not medicine is for me.

Of all the people I’ve met through the ILC, there’s not a single person whose life hasn’t changed from this experience. And as I embark on this journey, I don’t expect anything less. Not only will my course be a place of learning, but everywhere I go will hold a different lesson. From the moment I set foot at El Cerrito High waiting for the airport shuttle, to the moment I arrive back from my trip, I expect to absorb and learn all that I can. Not only will this be an eye opening experience for me, but I hope to open the eyes of my classmates. People that I’ve come across have said that traveling changes you, and I hope to understand what that truly means. 

Not only will this be the first time I leave home without my family, but the first time I'll travel to the East Coast. It will be a first for a whole lot of things, but this just adds to the experience. With my bags all packed, I am finally ready for the trip to begin!