The Struggles are Real

Like taking first steps as a child, today introduced my first milestone event as an ILCer. I rushed my dad out of the house and headed over to De Anza High. All of the doors were locked and the majority of the school was surrounded by fencing. I didn't have much time to admire the new school because the only thing on my mind was "what if the room is full and I'm the only one strolling in late?" My mind takes another brief moment to visualize my debate coach saying "Fifteen minutes early is on time and on time is late!" Luckily, a janitor just happened to be opening the door so I was able to make my way into the computer lab. This was only the beginning of our luck.

For a good thirty minutes, fifteen people were scrambling to get Wi-Fi. We went through a series of swapping ethernet cables, repeating passwords, and using different computers. When everyone was done, we all introduced ourselves and Don began his presentation. We started by learning the basic tools on blogger. Following the agenda packet, Don continued by talking about examples of good and bad blogs.The near-perfect blogs were by Irene Rojas-Carroll and Austin Long. Irene's blog didn't have a lot of pictures but it didn't really matter. Her writing painted pictures that you could see and feel. Reading her blog made me feel like I was standing in a circle of people at Swarthmore. Going back to De Anza's computer lab,we took some time to start snapping pictures  for our blogs. 

Snap!

Tomi, Rochelle, Tamilyn, and Don's camera.

After taking a few pictures, we ran into troubles again. The school blocked mediafire.com so we couldn't upload our pictures. We gave up on trying to outsmart the system and ended with Don's third part of the presentation about etiquette and what to bring. 

4/6 of the Cornell cohort. Sorry about the lighting! 

Some time during the presentation our chaperon, Mr.Chan-Law, came in and introduced himself. He was like our myth buster! He told us about the weather and what to expect from our courses. We were informed that we'd first fly out to Chicago and tour both Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. He offered to take us sight-seeing on the weekends too! This concluded our day filled with information, chuckles, and pictures.