We Made It!!!

The sign for the Pancake Pantry.

To start our day we went to a well-known pancake joint in Nashville. The Pancake Pantry is a little cozy, diner-like restaurant. When we arrived, there was a long line that reached almost two stores down. Waiting in the line was tedious, but it was worth it. During the wait, we had some entertainment from two young artists that sang covers of songs. This made the wait a little less boring. When we finally got a table, we looked over the menu and I ordered the Parisienne. It was a pancake dish that was lavished with strawberries and whip cream. It was an amazing and very filling breakfast.

This was the line to get some pancakes.

My delicious breakfast.

During our way toward Vanderbilt, I started to get nervous. For the past whole week, Mr.Mannix, the cohorts, and I were like a small family. I was going to miss all the bad jokes, the hilarious impressions, and memorable rap/singing battles we had together. I was also going to miss the great time we had as a group.

We arrived around 2:45 PM, which was a bit early. We checked in to get our keys and key cards. When they handed my key card and key it was the greatest feeling. I had a feeling of independence and happiness. During the check-ins, the staff were all welcoming and nice. I loved their enthusiasm and because of it, I knew this was going to be great. 

When we received our room numbers, I was absolutely shocked. Chiamaka and I were roomed together. But, Chiamaka and I decided to ask for other roommates to room with because we strongly believed that if we didn't, we wouldnt have the full college experience. Our proctor, Meg, understood that, helped us go to the head office, and find a solution. We got to switch roommates from another room. My new roommate is this girl named Karina. Shes in the same grade and shes really enthusiastic. She was familiar with the VSA , Vanderbilt Summer Academy, program because she's taken classes here before. She seems really great and I was happy to be roommate with her. In addition Chiamaka and Jasmine are my neighbors!!

The dorm rooms were spacious. I was afraid that they were going to be cramped but I was wrong. There were two closets, four drawers, two desks, and two beds. There is a lot of room to put clothes and other stuff in.

This is what the dorms looked like.

After we settled in our dorm rooms, we went for the school tour. During this time, everyone in the same group got to know each other a little. I got to talk to the other girls and meet everyone. To be honest, it was hard to start a conversation and it was very awkward, but I'm getting the hang of it and hopefully I will get better. 

We had dinner at one of the dining halls, but before dinner we had some group activities/ games to remember each other names and have fun. After dinner we went back to finish the tour, which ended in an auditorium-like room. We had an orientation. The VSA orientation was nothing like I expected. I was expecting a long information session but I was wrong. The staff had their own entertaining twist to every aspect of the orientation. Each proctor group of each house , which is split into three houses(V House, S House, and A House) had their own creative informative videos that introduced the proctors. I am in V House. One thing that I admired was our house cheer. " Whose house?/ V house!/ Whose house?/ V house!/ What house?/ The house!" is our house cheer. 

After the orientation we went out on the lawn with the whole VSA program to play lawn games. We played human scavenger hunt. I was confused at first but understood what to do. It was really fun. Although our group didn't get any points, it was okay because we all tried. To end the day we went back to our dorms to talk to our proctor, Meg. Then we all went to our rooms to get ready for the next day. Today was an exciting day and went way better than I thought. I can't wait to start class tomorrow and see what tomorrow has stored for me!

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