I am a graduating Senior, which means I had to go through a lot to decide where to go to college. Obviously I was not going to just look at pictures of universities and choose from that, so I decide to visit the University of Dayton to see if it was the right one. I decide to go after I was offered a chance to visit with 10 other Puerto Ricans. This meant no parents, but it also meant that I had to miss a day of school; I felt like such a rebel.
On April 17th, I woke up early full of anxiety and nervous feelings. By noon, I headed to the airport, where I suddenly found out that I was only the second one to arrive. After a long wait, everybody arrived and we went to check-in. The self check machine worked for everyone except for me, so I had to check in with a teller. Since I was not going have time to eat in Charlotte, NC, I decided to buy donuts for the airplane. Little did I know that I was buying gold-encrusted donuts, not literally, but for $7 they better have gold in them.
After almost three hours in the airplane I realize: Why is the big screen in front of me turned off? Fail by U.S. Airways. So after a long flight, I arrived early at Charlotte, ate and got on another plane to Dayton Ohio. On this plane, one of my classmates decided to ask for napkins, but being fluent in mostly Spanish, she had a hard time saying it. After much struggle, the flight attendant finally got her the napkins she wanted. She promptly excused herself for bothering the flight attendant by saying “Sorry for molesting you”, which is a weird translation for what she wanted to say: “Sorry for bothering you”.
I had found out that the Wright Brothers basically invented the airplane in Dayton, but I realized that this was a very big deal. They were airplanes all over the airport, airplane propaganda on the streets, even pictures of airplanes in the bathroom of the hotel where we stayed! Half of the group arrived at the Marriot (conveniently owned and located next to the University of Dayton) at almost midnight. The other group arrived well after midnight.
For the four following days we saw the university, and met everybody we could possibly meet. We even hung out with the Dean of Admissions! We all decided to let everybody know of our friend’s encounter with the flight attendant. It was the coldest place I have ever been in. I walked everywhere with a scarf around my face while the locals where in shorts! I learned a lot about what is now my future college. It was a fun trip, but to me it meant the tie-breaker for the biggest decision I would make in my life. I attended classes, consulted with advisors and talked with Puerto Rican students. I even got to go with to a mall called the Greene, in which I bought loads of stuff for my family and friends back home.
On April 20th, we gathered in the lobby of the Marriot at 5 AM and headed for the airport. I guess that I forgot that in my handbag I could not have more than 3 ounces of liquids. All of my Victoria’s Secret perfumes and lotions that I bought for my sisters were thrown to the trash before my eyes. Afterwards, I bought some chocolate to make up or the loss. After almost seven hour of sleeping on planes, I was finally back in my beautiful Puerto Rico, with my mind made up on where I was going to go next fall.
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