Unexpected Day!

Yesterday we were told that there were going to be sign-ups for certain activities for the "mandatory fun time". There were four options which were: to go to the recreational center, play sand volleyball, go to the bookstore, or watch a movie. I wanted to go to the bookstore because I wanted to buy some of the Vanderbilt merchandise and other things for souvenirs. This morning sign-ups were conducted differently. Instead of the usual paper and pencil sign-ups, there were I-pads placed in different corners of the room. It was first come first serve. My friends and I sat on the table that was near the back of the dining commons, which made it harder for us to sign up for what we wanted since it was in the front of the room. I never knew how cut-throat it was, when it came to students signing-up for activities.

As I waited in line for the bookstore sign-ups, John, one of the administrators, called out how many spots were left after a few student signed-up. There were five spots open and sadly enough there were about five people in front of us. My second choice was sand volleyball. I didn't want to play sand volleyball since didnt I know how to play. I wasn't looking forward to my evening activity of sand volleyball.    

It was 9 AM, when the whole class was ready outside to go in to the room. We all found it peculiar how Dawson, our teacher, and Mara, the TA, weren't there. They usually would be there in the room before we all arrived. After a few minutes, a man comes and opens the door for us. I was confused and asked,"Do we have a substitute today?", but the man said,"No." and walked away. We all went in to the class and sat down confused. We saw the board and it said " We will see you shortly" and off to the side it instructed us what to do. 

As I approached my table, I saw that there were worksheets that had different numbers on it. I instantly recognized that it was a code that we all had to decrypt. Beside all the worksheets was a map. We had a scavenger hunt to find our teacher by decypting the code! Each person had a different code. As we all worked together to make sure everything was figured out, I felt a sense of community. I like how we worked together to accomplish a task. When we got the whole message figured out, it instructed us to go to one of the close-by building on the campus. We walked out and approached the building. From a distance, we noticed that there was an envelope, with the message "VSA PUZZLER" on it, on the front steps of the stairs. We opened it and noticed it was another code. After working out that code, it told us to go to one of the libraries. As we were walking up the stairs our teacher and TA appeared. I really like the scavenger hunt because it was so fun and its different from the regular lectures that we have.

Near the end of class, we had more presentations. I was one of the ten that went up today to do their  mathematician presentation. Since my first presentation wasn't exactly what I wanted it to be, I was determined to make this one better and it was. My presentation went well and I was happy with my results. I was proud to have taken my bad presentation as a learning experience and making something great out of it.

Today is my last day of my Self Defense class. I really like this class because it is useful. In class today we went over all the defensive moves and reviewed what to do in certain situations. Our instructor told us that there was going to be another showcase this week and everyone was suppose to show off one move they learned. I decided to do the kicking defense because I like it the most and its one the moves that I can actually do. 

After dinner, we had our activities. I was not looking forward to  it because I didn't want to be there. I really wanted to be at the bookstore. Volleyball was just a sport I didn't play and I knew I wouldn't have fun because I wouldn't be very good at it. As we started to play, I started to see how fun it actually was. Playing sand volleyball wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be and I am so happy to have chosen volleyball as my second choice because I would have never understood how fun it is. 

My day was full of  surprises. I can honestly say that those surprises were for the better. Tomorrow, we are going to have another scavenger hunt in my class which I am looking very forward to.  I am excited for tomorrow because of how great it will be.