Friday, July 27, 2012

The Grand Finale

This morning in class, we were the teachers.  Our subject: roller coasters.  Each of the nine groups presented the roller coaster they rode at Hershey Park.  I was very proud of my group's presentation, and we got to go second, which made the rest of the morning way more relaxing.  I enjoyed watching each presentation, learning the characteristics of each ride, and seeing the different approaches that groups took to analyze their data. 

When all the presentations were done, Eli came by to talk about Penn and our possible futures here.  He also took the opportunity to mention our blogs to everyone.  If any of you are actually reading this, thank you! You make me happy.  Then Bill gave a sentimental closing speech.  He has been quite the inspiration these past four weeks, and it's clear to see how much he loves what he does.  To finish up, we got some more NASA-related things from Penny.  Then, we watched a slide show of Bill through the years, a very light note to end our last day of class.

I ate an early dinner at Pod with Mariko, Christine, and a few other friends before the Summer Discovery talent show at 6.  Everyone here, despite being incredibly intelligent, is amazingly talented, and the show was quite entertaining.  For the rest of the evening I watched 21 Jump Street on a huge projector screen in the quad and ate pizza.

Everything today had a "last" attached to it. "This is the last time we'll eat lunch here." " This is the last time we have to sign in." "This is my last piece of pizza."  It didn't really hit me until today that this experience is ending.  Of course it will have lasting effects, but I will never get to sit in class and watch Bill do a demo with this same group of people ever again.  I am so thankful for this past month, and it is something I will never forget.  Still, I am excited to see my family tomorrow and experience Bay Area weather again.  As long as I can get my sheets and pillow into my suitcase tomorrow morning, it should be a smooth day of travel, and a nice homecoming.

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