It was finally time to say our final goodbyes and go our separate ways. The heavy hearted feeling hit me after breakfast when people started to check out. I hung with my friends for as long as I can before they had to go. After they left I went to sit in my room and I just felt really really sad. I have made some very good friend at VSA and although we will be able to keep in touch through various social networks, we most likely won't ever see each other again. After Mr. Mannix came to pick us up, I took one last look at my home for the past three weeks. I'm going to miss VSA and everyone in it tremendously.
We made our way to the book store to buy ourselves some nice Vandy apparel. After we went across the street to a Vanderbilt University sign to take a few group pictures. Then we went to the admission office attempting to get into an info session but it was full. So we decided to visit the Nashville Parthenon. It's even bigger than I imagined it would be and it was just beautiful. For someone short like me climbing up the step was a bit of a challenge. Under the Parthenon is actually a little museum about the history of the place and the different artifacts from that time. On the upper level of the museum is actually the ground level of the Parthenon and it is the home of the famous Athena statue. It was definitely different then what I thought it would be, yet again. Turns out they recently colored Athena with a coat of gold (real gold) and did her make up. I felt that it was a bit too flashy and she would have looked magnificent in her original white color. The snake beside her represent the people of Athen and her shield is protecting them. The room behind Athena had some iron cast doors with lions' heads on them. It turns out that it is lucky to pat/pet lion's nose, so I did.
For lunch we had breakfast food at the Pancake Pantry. We were lucky to have come at a time where there are line so we were seated quickly. I ordered a steak and egg but they mixed it up and I got bacon, eggs, and pancakes instead. I didn't mind because the pancakes turn out to be really delicious. I could never in my life make such a thick and fluffy pancake. After we had our fill of food, we planned where we wanted to go from there.
Since we still had some time left Mr. Mannix took us to downtown Nashville to walk around. I was a little sleepy for some reason but I was happy. The last time we came with our proctor I didn't get to see much and was really disappointed. This time I got to slow down a bit more and look around. We went into this shop that had a lot of vinyl records. I wasn't really interested in vinyls but also because of the no air condition state that the shop was in. Then we went to this really cool poster shop where everything is hand made. The store had two cats in it that reminded me if my dogs. I miss them so much and I couldn't wait to see them. I played with the cats and looked around but none of the poster really interested me. I don't really have any more wall space in my room for poster anyway so it would have been useless.
Finally we arrived at the airport and check in our baggages. I was so relieved that my suitcase made it through. The security area that we went through had a really nice TSA officer that was ushering people through the full body scanner. She called everyone by an endearment and she had a nice smile on her face. I thought that there should be more people like her because she make things seem less intimidating. People in the south really are much nicer than elsewhere.
After a very emotional day of happy " Yay! I'm going home" and sad "I'm never going to see them again" thoughts, I was worn out. I was in and out of consciousness throughout the long flight but I made sure to stay awake for the landing because I wanted to see LA. From above the view was captivatingly beautiful! With all the light around the city. It felt and looked like I was staring into an ocean of stars. Our plane landed and we went to wait for our connecting flight. Unfortunately the Vandy team encountered another flight delay but thankfully this one was only by one hour.
The flight from LAX to Oakland was really short and I felt like it was only about half an hour long when it has actually been one whole hour. My parents were already there along with the others' parents. Standing there waiting for the luggages to come out, I shivered from the cold for the first time in four weeks and it felt good. As I walked through the doors I was hit by a nice cool breeze and I knew there and then that I was happy to be home.
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