Ice Skating in July

Before this trip, I never really appreciated a full night of sleep. Last night's nine hours were exactly what I needed before a great day and another week of class.  I went to a filling brunch- eggs, bacon, potatoes, and fruit- before meeting at noon to go ice skating.  I was pleased to see that besides Mariko and I, some of my friends from class as well as some students I met in New York had also signed up. We traveled by school bus for about half an hour, and when we pulled up at the skating rink, I was surprised to see we were in New Jersey.  Everything is so close together here.  It's just one of the many ways the East Coast differs from home, where different states are hours away.  

Ice skating was a blast.  I don't know what Mariko will write in her blog, but she is a natural and she helped me transition from using the wall every two seconds to skating around the entire rink without touching it once.  I did fall a couple of times (okay, a lot) but that didn't take anything away from the fun afternoon.  We got back home around 3:30 and most of the students were still out shopping at the King of Prussia Mall.  I enjoyed some relaxing down time.  Mariko came over to my dorm for a bit, and then I worked on my summer assignments and ran some errands in the home area. 

Mr. Lawrence picked us up around 8 and we went out for a cohort dinner at Pod, and Asian fusion restaurant 2 blocks away from the quad.  We got to eat in a pod, a crazy circular table room just for us.  It had buttons to change the lighting and everything felt very new-age. The food was delicious and it was great to have a break from the dining hall.   We all had a great time talking and laughing.  And I really mean laughing; we caught the giggles multiple times and I think the restaurant had the right idea when they gave us our own pod. All too soon, it was time to head back so we walked home in the pouring rain. 

In the pod

Light-Changing buttons

Delicious Drinks!

I had so much fun today, I can't believe it is already over.  This next week of class will be amazing, and it will finish with a trip to the Franklin Institute.  It may not be Hershey Park, but everything we do in class is loads of fun so I can't wait!