I started getting ready around 5:30 AM. Though we wouldn't be leaving until after 6:45 AM, I didn't want to rush my morning and feel like there wasn't enough time for anything. I wandered around the building and it's likely that most of the elevator movement from 5:30-6:15 was me trying to see everything I could for the last time.
The first goodbye this morning was with Jared. Jahnvi and I had said goodbye to Nick late last night, but since I ended up typing my blog about the last day on the sixth floor where Jared's dorm was and since I left my backpack in his room, he was naturally the first goodbye.
Next I said goodbye to Olivia and Kara. They had told us all to wake them up to say goodbye, so we said our goodbyes and promised to try and stay in contact before I went to grab my bag from my floor and head down to the lobby. Considering that I've spent a considerate amount of time in the last three weeks with Kara and Olivia it was hard to think about the fact that they wouldn't be around me, and that I wouldn't have my studying randomly interrupted by a bored Kara.
Once my bags were downstairs and I was officially checked out, I thought it would completely settle in that we were leaving. It didn't. I was still thinking that we would get on the plane go somewhere and come back to the dorms to see my friends again.
I had another opportunity to say goodbye to Kara when she helped Jahnvi carry her bags down, so I gave her another long hug and promised to bother her sometime later in the day.
After getting to the airport and to our gate, Jahnvi and I ended up calling Jared to bother him while he figured out what to do until his afternoon flight, so we talked to him until we had to line up for boarding.
Though I was most definitely sleep deprived I only managed to sleep for 2 hours of the 4 hour flight, which was annoying. I spent the rest of the time watching Netflix episodes I had downloaded on my phone and looking out the window. On the plane ride in the rows in front of us were two sweet babies, who actually didn't cry very much and were very playful, which made for adorable baby laughter throughout the flight.
Once off the plane it finally began settling in that we were in California not Illinois and that we would not be going back to UChicago, at least any time soon. That moment was terrible. Dorms in a way force social interaction and make it 20 times easier to make plans, because everyone is within the same general area. Without the connection of the dorms I started to get nervous about our friendships holding up.
When waiting for bags we noticed two things. One: Raqeeb's hair was all over the place. Two: Olivia's hair was on the back of his jacket. Throughout the trip Olivia and Raqeeb often borrowed each other's jackets, and until we left campus both Cecilia and I thought the jacket was Olivia's. It had her signature blonde hair on the back of it which really could come from no other source.
The vehicle we took on the ride to El Cerrito HS was gigantic. There was a question on whether it was a shuttle, a limo, or a bus as it most definitely had room for our luggage, us, and around 12 imaginary people. On the ride back Jared called me, because he was bored at the airport waiting for his flight to board, so Jahnvi and I talked to him about conspiracy theories and a very hypothetical situation.
When we got off the bus/shuttle/limo at El Cerrito HS we all hugged and said hello to our families before taking pictures and realizing that this was where we parted ways too. I hugged and said goodbye to everyone before Jahnvi and I realized that we wanted pictures together and wanted to Facetime Kara together one more time. We talked to Kara for 5 minutes and she showed us her room and told us about her day since getting back to Indiana. Jahnvi and I hugged again before parting ways and heading home, our experience at UChicago was over.
No comments:
Post a Comment