Zoos and Parks and Dorms, Oh My!

The Brown cohort of 2016 has finally hit the dorms! It felt so surreal settling into this new, temporary living space on a college campus. After months of work and coordination and formalities, I am now almost exactly where I want to be - it's just that class hasn't begun yet.

Although half of us were placed in the expected shared bedrooms, the other half were given single dorms in which to reside in. I fall under the latter category. Although I recognize the benefits of sharing a living space with someone, I prefer this arrangement because I am free to work and sleep as I please without worrying if I am doing something to disturb my roommate.

I truly wish I could say my first impressions of the bathrooms were good. My only problem lies within the showers: it took about the entirety of my shower for the water to heat up, and when I attempted to angle the shower-head differently, for a moment only rust-colored water spewed out! I was unsettled, to say the least. However, not only does it make me appreciate my residency in a home, but it also is not of great significance to me. As long as I am clean and refreshed, I am satisfied. 

Aside from feeling like a college student, the highlight of my day was going to Roger Williams Park and Zoo. We were able to look at all of the exhibits in the time we were there and saw many cute animals. My personal favorites were the red panda attraction and the goat petting area. The red panda was as cute as can be and taking pictures with the goats was fun!

This one was my favorite: she looked right into the camera!

The red panda was climbing all over the structure. How cute!

The seals swimming together was a beautiful sight to behold.

After the zoo closed early we walked to a nearby lake to ride the paddle boats. It was so hot and sunny outside, but it seemed like a fun way to pass the time until we needed to head over to Brown. Sadly, Krystal and I were unable to go on the boats because our hotel car had arrived and was waiting for us. The other girls were able to enjoy the activity, however, so not all was lost!

When we had completed settling into our dorms, we all walked to the Brown Bookstore to buy our school merchandise and rent some fans. We are going to take a picture in front of Brown's gates in our merchandise tomorrow, so I will allow some suspense on what exactly I chose. I admit it was a little difficult to choose because there were so many options, but we all eventually exited the door feeling good about our decisions.

We did not, however, leave the store with our fans in hand. We were told that this particular store does not offer rentals for this item, but some place nearby did. Unfortunately, when we did discover what that place was it was too late to go and acquire the fans. It does cool down significantly at night, though, so I'm sure we can all stand another day without them. We also have our own portable fans to keep us afloat.

Dinner was splendid. I ate Korean barbecued beef with rice and snacked on some pickled radish for the first time. It was so flavorful and the textures were unbelievably satisfying. I wish I could eat it again right now!

My barbecued beef with a side of pickled radish and kimchi.

Class will begin so very soon. I do hope all of you have been enjoying the journey thus far with me, and I hope that you'll fall in love with the rest of my experiences here as I know I will.