The End of VSA

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Today was the last day of VSA, and it was a jam-packed one.

In the morning I finished up packing all the rest of my stuff, just barely fitting everything in my bag (it always seems like it's harder to pack back up when leaving, doesn't it?) We then all went to breakfast, marking the last time we would eat together in the dining hall. By that time, however, some people had already left for early flights so it wasn't everyone. Term books were signed during breakfast as well since we hadn't had much time yesterday to do it. It was sad, but after breakfast were the final goodbyes.

Our last group photo.

We were given a few minutes to hug everyone and say goodbye out on the patio in front of the dining hall, but were then dismissed back to our floors to wait until our parents or otherwise came to get us. That was about 9 AM, so our cohort had some time before Ms. Hansen came in the shuttle. On my floor, we said goodbye to our proctor group members one-by-one until it was only Michael, Navarrone, and I left. When Ms. Hansen arrived around 10:30, it was my turn to say goodbye to them. I then walked out of the Hank Ingram house for the last time.

Although it was sad, it was made a little better by the bright pink shuttle we took to the airport. It really stood out.

At the airport we saw a couple of people from VSA, but I only knew one - and she was on the same flight as us! Unfortunately we were on opposite sides of the plane, but it was still nice to see another VSA-er after we had left.

The flight was mostly uneventful to Chicago, but our layover was extended by 50 minutes because of the weather in Philadelphia. We had a couple of hours in the airport, so we all walked to get some food in the food court. We had Greek food from a place called Pegasus, which was pretty good. I like Greek food - I'm actually half Greek myself. After we had eaten, we headed back over to the gate to wait.

Chicago, as viewed from my seat.

We boarded our flight and took off for Philadelphia a short time after that. We got a great view of Chicago as we were heading out, but after that it became Ohio and I decided to get some sleep.

I took a great nap, but the last half out of the flight was a little bumpy. It wasn't too bad though, and we landed safely.

Our shuttle driver, Dianne, both welcomed us to Philadelphia and told us happy weekend. I don't think I've seen a happier shuttle driver, so I think that counts as an auspicious beginning to our trip to Philadelphia.

We picked up the rental car without much problem, but as always, it took a little while. Still, we managed to leave in a nice, pretty close to new, Chrysler Minivan. I don't like Chryslers, but I don't think Avis had any Model X's for us to rent.

We drove straight to the hotel after picking up the car, going through what looked like an industrial area, then into Philadelphia itself.

A very futuristic lobby.

It was dark when we arrived at the hotel, but it looked pretty nice from the outside. I was surprised at how urban it was, since the outside of it was flush with the surrounding buildings. I'm used to hotels that are free standing buildings. The weirdest part though, was the parking garage above the bottom floor of the hotel. The actual hotel rooms are set back from the street, and look out over the top of the parking garage. That's something else I haven't seen before, which was cool. Further things about the hotel was the modern-looking lobby, and the Sangkee Noodle House that was directly connected to the lobby.

Hey look! Another view of a parking garage. Imagine that.

When we got our rooms, I was surprised to learn that everyone but I was on the seventh floor. I got a room to myself on the tenth floor. I'll be honest, being the only guy in our cohort does have some perks.

By the time we had all checked in and headed to dinner, it was getting pretty late. We walked over to a place called Distritos, a Mexican food place that was pretty good. I got a plate of chicken enchiladas that at first I thought were a little small, but ended up filling me up pretty well. We had a very relaxed first dinner in Philadelphia, and walked back to the hotel afterward.

I personally like the feel of Philadelphia so far, it's not only a bit cooler than Nashville but it also feels closer to San Francisco in some ways as well.

Back at the hotel, we settled in to go to sleep, as we'll need to get some rest before our full day in Philadelphia!