College Visits Day 1

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Today was the first day of our little college visit trip! During the car ride, I occupied myself by listening to the radio (NPR – All Things Considered) and relearning how to solve the Rubik’s Cube (I just needed my handy-dandy algorithm post-it note). We arrived in Oberlin at around 8:00. We lugged all of our stuff up the steep staircase to our room. We’re in a room of this lady’s house, which she rents out. The house is ginormous, and our little upstairs room is quite cozy, and spacious – bigger than a hotel room. Plus, we have our very own kitchen!

I went into the bathroom, and spent a few frenzied moments in which I couldn’t locate the toilet. It turned out to be right beside me, right by the door, but so short it just blended in with the rest of the little room. I soon realized that everything in the bathroom was miniature – the toilet, the bathtub (which is one of those old-fashioned ones with claws), the sink, the little marble counter across from the tub… It’s the cutest thing! The walls are painted a light, pleasant pink, and the drapes around the window have a modest white lace around the edge. It’s the daintiest bathroom I’ve ever been in.

After unpacking our stuff into the dresser, we went on our way out to eat dinner! I was extremely hunger, and in a bad mood because of it, which was only worsened by the car alarm being set off by my father’s delinquent keys. But, because of the cold, I started jogging instead of walking, and it warmed me up so much, along with lifting my mood a little. Not even a block from the house we’re staying at, I saw a warm, bright place called Aladdin’s. I pointed to it, my mom said there was one in Columbus, and BAM, we decided to eat there!

And boy am I glad. I wanted to melt the moment I walked in because it was so toasty, and then I got cinnamon apple hot tea with honey… It took us a while to decide what to get, but I think we were all very happy with our choices! I ordered a Baba Salad Pocket. It was lettuce – lots – with baba ganoush on top, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, and sprouts, all enclosed in a big pita pocket. It was huge…and heavenly. And I managed to eat the entire thing, with relish, and pride. After I finished I kept staring across the restaurant to the colossal cakes that were on display. They had ample amounts of whipped cream, chocolate, and general fatty, creamy goodness. One looked like a giant Oreo! Unfortunately, we couldn’t get any of them because they all had eggs. I kept pestering my mom about it though.

It was a very nice dinner, except for the fact that the waitress and the manager (at least I think that’s what she was) of the place kept talking to us. They kept asking us how the meal was, if we needed anything else, were we ready for the check…and then they’d start complaining about the long winter! They were both very nice people, though. The way they acted was annoying, but I still thought they were nice… The manager, however, had a funny habit of wrinkling her nose as if she was sniffing something. Like some kind of animal. It was…pretty funny, actually.

Then we all came back to the house and crashed. And I can’t get online now. We have to get up early tomorrow, because we’re visiting a poetry class at 9. Ooh, how I want to sleep in…