Now my Story Begins

My boyfriend who came
 to send me off

Saying farewell to my family in the wee
 hours of the chilly morning

Yesterday feels more like years ago. I "woke" up--I say "woke" because I was far too anxious to get any sleep last night--at 1:30 AM and got ready to go. My dad, my mom, my brother and my boyfriend dropped me off at El Cerrito High School promptly at 2:50 AM. I put on my luggage tags and got my check-in bag weighed. I was all set, yet we had an hour until the shuttle arrived. It was so cold. My family and I huddled like penguins and eventually they ended up waiting for me to leave in the warmth of the car. I had duties already, however. I had to take a departure day group photo with my cohort, as shown below:

 

After we got passed security, we went to get breakfast. Mr. Chan-Law told us to "go big", because we wouldn't eat for a pretty long time. But I went a little too big. I ordered some special called the All American Breakfast, which would've been more than a hearty meal itself, and an omelette. We took off from SFO at 6:00 AM and I slept with a full belly the entire flight.

We had a connecting flight in Arizona that would take us all the way to St. Louis, which would depart a mere 40 minutes after our arrival time. Luckily, the plane landed in Arizona nearly 20 minutes earlier than scheduled so we weren't stressing over missing our flight. On the connecting flight we discovered we'd be dispersed throughout the plane to practice our social/communication skills. I'm not sure how that worked out though since I sat by Mr. Chan-Law and I fell asleep for the majority of the flight, occasionally waking up to read my course-required novel, Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy.  

We landed in St. Louis, Missouri at 1:30 PM, central time. After rounding up our luggages, we waited for a shuttle and in no time we were at Charles F. Knight Conference Center.  Mr. Chan-Law went to check us in and returned announcing, "I've got some good news and I've got some good news." It turns out there was a mix-up with the rooms (they all had queen-sized beds), so we each were getting our own rooms! I rushed up to the fourth floor and immediately after walking through the doors I felt a sense of independence. Granted I only have my room for two nights, but I feel more mature already and it's only the first day!

My hotel room (& the view from my window) & the pantry down the hall, stocked with free goodies.

We only had 45 minutes to enjoy our new "homes", then we were off to sightsee. Our first stop was the monumental Gateway Arch.

The Gateway Arch & I

It was amazing to see the architectural feat in real-life rather than in a book or magazine. We then went into the visitor center and took a tour of the 'Westward Expansion' exhibit. By then we were hungry, so we moseyed on to our next site: Busch Stadium.

Busch Stadium

Visiting all of the MLB stadiums is on my bucket list and I was ecstatic that my fellow cohorts wanted to see where the Cardinals play. We didn't get to go watch the game, but I got to admire the beauty of the stadium just outside of its' walls. We decided to eat at Cardinals Nation, which was right across the street from the ballpark. Once our appetites were satisfied we hopped on the Metro (the equivalent to BART in St. Louis) back to our hotel. 

Notice the clever titles for each course?

Natalie and I are planning--emphasis on planning--to go to the gym tomorrow morning, so I should go to sleep now. We have a big day tomorrow, filled with a college tour and a special dinner with special guests!