Hark! The Parents are Now Clued In!

When Don first mentioned that we were having an Orientation, I was a bit confused. ''Isn't that going to be similar to the Tutorial?'' Which as Don mentioned in the email was true, but this time parents would be there. They would finally be clued in on what all of us kids knew about, but hadn't spilled the beans on. It would also give parents the chance to get to know the chaperones more so they would feel more comfortable, having their teenage children spend three weeks across the country.

Everyone's ready to learn

My mom and I ended up getting there right at 5:45, to see that most of my fellow ILCers were already there. Don had an array of suit cases and various loaner items set out for us and our parents to see. We started out by waiting for everyone to get there and some basic formalities. Madeline Kronenberg spoke quickly about how excited she and the entire school board were for us to be attending our programs. She and Don laughed about the prospect of her showing up early to see us off on Departure Day—which I'm guessing means that it won't happen.

Don gave us a speech on what we'd go over, followed by the chaperones introducing themselves, and how they're going to take great care of us. We already knew all that of course—Ms. Sciacca is great. 

We them splintered off into groups to discuss any concerns or questions parents had, and to narrow down the list of places we wanted to go. At our meet and greet we had already worked on narrowing down the places we wanted to see, so it didn't take much time to get that done. We did find out that we're flying Southwest, which means if it comes to it, we can take two bags on the plane. It also turns out we're meeting at El Cerrito High early in the morning, at 5 AM. Though I'll be eager to get to Chicago I doubt I'll be eager to wake up early that morning.

Figuring out our proposed sight-seeing list

Ryan showed up and we were able to ask him questions, about places to go, what the dorms were like, and how activities were organized. Apparently there are often organized activities over the summer session and you can sign  up to participate in  different ones for a more structured pattern to follow. I'm intrigued to see what that is like and whether I'll choose to participate in many of those or opt to 'choose my own adventure.'

When we once again gathered as a group to discuss blogs and loaner items, Don instructed us on how to correctly format our blogs. It's getting closer to departure, so our blogging has to be organized correctly by now. He spoke of the various items we would require while at our programs, and how many of these items that we could get from him. It wasn't long before we began packing up and mentally readying ourselves for the next time we would meet. Departure day.