Day 1 of 10: Tasty Transitions

January 3, 2015

Happy New Year! I’d stayed up far past my intended bedtime the night before pre-packing and jotting down the necessary items for DC, so needless to say I was struggling come the morning. 20 minutes into my interstate excursion I realized my boots purchased from the frantic outlet trip for the sole purpose of this seminar were upstairs in my closet. Too late now I’m already committed I thought to myself. The charm about my vehicle is it lacks a radio (classic college student, I know) so the first song in my mental playlist was “Send Me On My Way” by Rusted Root. Mists of rain kissed the windshield as I made my way up I-95 towards NoVa. Smooth sailing, might I add, until I was 30 minutes away from the destination where there were not 1 but 2 accidents not five minutes away from each other. Classic DC…

Watching the clock as the move-in window grew smaller with each 30 mph moment and praying my GPS didn’t fail me, I somehow managed to slide into the lobby to meet Lauren, Roxanne, and Steven, navigate through the parking garage, and get all of my crap into the apartment as the invisible umpire called “safe!” Ten minutes later we all nestled on the couches by the fire as our program staff gave us the run down on how life within our new home would be for the next 10 days. Short and direct with enough time to recoup before dinner.

Dinner was nothing shy of culinary excellence. A series of small plates and assigned seating allowed us to mix and mingle both with our peers and palette. Among my table mates, dessert received the highest praise. Unbuttoning  the top button of the infamous fat pants, some of us dared to squeeze dessert into our already stuffed stomachs. But when the first spoonful of pastel de chocolate hit my tongue, all the troubles of the day melted away like the hazelnut ice cream on top.

“We want to make sure you’re happy, well-fed, and excited to be here”, they had told us in orientation. Looking around the room at my fellow peers and future friends, I couldn’t help but smile at the possibilities the week would hold for us.

~ Lynelle Haugabrook