UPenn & Vanderbilt: Departure Day

It was dark outside and although the thermometer said it was 55º it still felt warm—possibly a precursor of the temps we might find once the sun crept over the horizon.  In any case, it was good weather for Departure Day.

Today we saw our Penn and Vanderbilt cohorts meet at the same time as they picked up their itineraries, received some last minute instructions and advice from Wise Don and posed for the group photos that come part and parcel with these gatherings. 

For lack of anything better to do while waiting for the ILCers and their chaperones to arrive, the mental wagering began as I bet on which ILCer would be the first to arrive.  Today it was Shanti Shrestha from the Vanderbilt cohort who arrived a full hour early.  I wondered to myself whether she read the emails right or whether she might have misunderstood what time she was supposed to be there.  There’s early and there’s REAL early.

In any case, she was there and she was ready to go.

As long as she was there, I figured I could put her to work assembling the luggage tags I had prepared for the cohorts.  Even though she destroyed one of the tags for her chaperone, she did a wonderful job.  If she ever applies for such a job when she’s ready to enter the job market, I’ll write that letter of recommendation that will seal the deal. 

As we approached the specified time to be at El Cerrito HS, the individual members of both cohorts started drifting in.  Some looked wide awake and ready to go while others looked like they had gotten out of bed only moments before and mentally wanted to crawl back under the covers to enjoy the comfort of their own beds.  I don’t blame them and as soon as I post this blog I’ll be doing the same.

The airport shuttle—a big white tourist bus—arrived right before 5:00 AM, the luggage was loaded and the ILCers bade their parents farewell.  As the shuttle’s taillights faded in the distance, those that were left behind realized that if we hurried we could catch a few more zzz’s before having to wake and ready ourselves for the day in front of us.  Sounds like a heck of a plan to me.

Departure Day--Take Two

Yesterday it was Columbia and Cornell and today it was the Brown-I cohort that were sent east to shine as they represent the ILC, the District and their communities.  We expect nothing short of excellence from all five members of this cohort.

With Kevin Mahoney and Jack Giddings ready to learn about the world of macroeconomics, Jing-Yi Chung, Brandon Chow and Arnold Dimas are to set to expand their knowledge of DNA based biotechnology.  Underwater Basketweaving this is not.

Unlike yesterday where the wind made the mild temps seem like Antarctic Katabatic winds, this morning was technically cooler (51º) but it felt warmer.  Still, for two days in a row I sported a jacket over my aloha shirt (shorts and sandals were still mandatory).

Between the ILC cohorts, their chaperones and family members yesterday, we had about 25-30 people milling about in front of El Cerrito HS.  Today, we had but one cohort and the number of friends and family was significantly fewer in number.  And even though we met later in the morning today, this group seemed either half asleep or just plain docile.  They were quiet and verbally unresponsive (probably thinking about what they would out in their blogs).

As is the usual custom, we weighed their luggage, affixed luggage tags, gave them a pep talk and—the group photo.  Unlike every other time I assemble an ILC group for a photo, this time there were no parents crowding around with the mobile phones snapping away.  Like their children, I think they were equally sleepy and ready to slip back into their nice warm beds.

Right on time, the shuttle van arrived and, with a little prodding, the ILCers moseyed over to the van to give the driver their luggage.  With a little more prodding they were made to understand that until they actually got in the van, it could not leave.

We finally reached a point where the luggage was stowed, the ILCers were seated in the van and the doors were securely closed.  We waved our goodbyes and quickly returned to the warmth of our cars where we knew they would take us back to a comfortably warm bed.

Columbia’s Departure Day

There’s a game we play—actually it’s just me that plays this game—where we/I try to guess who the most responsible person might be.  That is, who can I count on to show up first (chaperones can’t play—although they ought to be included)?

For this, our first Departure Day of the season, it was Carla Martinez.  Carla who?  Carla’s with the Cornell cohort.  Today we pulled double duty and shipped off the Columbia cohort at the same time as the Cornell cohort.  Even though Carla is a Cornellian, she takes the top prize for both cohorts.

Everyone showed up on time—sort of—and we got on with the business of checking IDs and med cards (just to be sure they didn’t leave them on the kitchen table), weighing the luggage, affixing luggage tags, giving a pep talk and then taking the obligatory group photos.

And all through it all we shivered—a lot.

Justin wanted to know if I could PhotoShop out the shivering

We’ve had Departure Days where perspiration ran down my face at 4 AM and then we had one time where I had to set up canopies because it rained on us.  But this is the first time I ever wore a jacket.

It’s not that it was all that cold—just 55º—but there was enough of a wind that it seemed to slice right through us.

Some of our cohort members had pre-reading to do before they departed and, as might be expected, heavy reading didn’t sit well with being out of school.  As an incentive, I warned them that they would be given a quiz before boarding.  Cornell’s Hotel Management aced their quiz, Cornell’s Freedom & Justice did okay, Columbia’s Con-Law struggled and Columbia’s Econ cohort blew us away with their knowledge of the material.  They all did well enough to warrant a ride to the airport.

Another game that is played is the weighing of the luggage.  Everyone seems to have their own scales at home so we have a little guessing game about how heavy the bags are when weighed with something other than a truck scale.  The all time record for the lightest bag stands at 16.3 pounds but today we had a record on the other end of the scale with Kendal bringing a 57 pound bag (the goal is 42 pounds).  Feverishly working with her parents to shuffle her ‘stuff’ she got it down to 52 pounds but that was still a far cry from being acceptable.  Considering that this would have been a $50 overweight surcharge for each leg of the flight, she still needed to get things down.  Even worse than paying several hundred dollars for being too heavy, the Columbia cohort was going to take a couple of trains where their weight restrictions will not even allow a bag weighing more than 50 pounds.

Coming to the rescue was Justin who offered Kendal space in his bag so she could still bring what she needed.  Kudos to Justin for stepping up.

Because we had two cohorts traveling to the airport together, we wanted to avoid the mishap of last year where one of the bags was left at the wrong terminal.  This year we tied brightly colored ribbons on the bags so they were color coded.

Once we had concluded the business at hand, we loaded up the bus with a gazillion pounds of luggage and the two cohorts boarded the roasty toasty bus.  As the parents and I stood on the curb waiting for the bus to depart, every last one of us had thoughts about how warm our own cars would be.

At 3:52 AM the bus headed to SFO and at 3:52 and a couple of seconds we were all enjoying the warmth of our own cars.  All is well with the world.

Cornell’s Departure Day

There’s a game we play—actually it’s just me that plays this game—where we/I try to guess who the most responsible person might be.  That is, who can I count on to show up first (chaperones can’t play—although they ought to be included)?

For this, our first Departure Day of the season, it was Carla Martinez.  Today we pulled double duty and shipped off the Columbia cohort at the same time as the Cornell cohort.  Even though Carla is a Cornellian, she takes the top prize for both cohorts.

Everyone showed up on time—sort of—and we got on with the business of checking IDs and med cards (just to be sure they didn’t leave them on the kitchen table), weighing the luggage, affixing luggage tags, giving a pep talk and then taking the obligatory group photos.

And all through it all we shivered—a lot.

We’ve had Departure Days where perspiration ran down my face at 4 AM and then we had one time where I had to set up canopies because it rained on us.  But this is the first time I ever wore a jacket.

It’s not that it was all that cold—just 55º—but there was enough of a wind that it seemed to slice right through us.

Some of our cohort members had pre-reading to do before they departed and, as might be expected, heavy reading didn’t sit well with being out of school.  As an incentive, I warned them that they would be given a quiz before boarding.  Cornell’s Hotel Management aced their quiz, Cornell’s Freedom & Justice did okay, Columbia’s Con-Law struggled and Columbia’s Econ cohort blew us away with their knowledge of the material.  They all did well enough to warrant a ride to the airport.

Another game that is played is the weighing of the luggage.  Everyone seems to have their own scales at home so we have a little guessing game about how heavy the bags are when weighed with something other than a truck scale.  The all time record for the lightest bag stands at 16.3 pounds but today we had a record on the other end of the scale with Kendal bringing a 57 pound bag (the goal is 42 pounds).  Feverishly working with her parents to shuffle her ‘stuff’ she got it down to 52 pounds but that was still a far cry from being acceptable.  Considering that this would have been a $50 overweight surcharge for each leg of the flight, she still needed to get things down.  Even worse than paying several hundred dollars for being too heavy, the Columbia cohort was going to take a couple of trains where their weight restrictions will not even allow a bag weighing more than 50 pounds.

Coming to the rescue was Justin who offered Kendal space in his bag so she could still bring what she needed.  Kudos to Justin for stepping up.

Because we had two cohorts traveling to the airport together, we wanted to avoid the mishap of last year where one of the bags was left at the wrong terminal.  This year we tied brightly colored ribbons on the bags so they were color coded.

Once we had concluded the business at hand, we loaded up the bus with a gazillion pounds of luggage and the two cohorts boarded the roasty toasty bus.  As the parents and I stood on the curb waiting for the bus to depart, every last one of us had thoughts about how warm our own cars would be.

At 3:52 AM the bus headed to SFO and at 3:52 and a couple of seconds we were all enjoying the warmth of our own cars.  All is well with the world.