College Trip

During this past summer, I finally started working on my college applications. Finally. But this meant that I needed to properly start looking at the colleges I wanted to apply to. At this point, I had only visited UCSB and Stanford, and had no idea what was on the other coast. So, my family and I decided to take a trip to the East to visit all the schools I had in mind.

Northwestern:

We flew from SFO to Chicago to start off our trip. I was so excited because I had never been to Chicago before, and the amazing and famous Home Alone movie took place there. When we landed, after checking into our hotel, the first thing we did was explore the city. The Bean is my favorite statue in the world, and I had to go to Millenium Park to have a photoshoot in front of it.

But while we were there, we also got a free concert at the park. As we walked through the park, I remember it suddenly began to pour – pour like I had never seen rain pour. I instantly realized the difference between West and Midwest weather, and while I was completely drenched in a matter of minutes, walking along the shoreline in the city was amazing afterwards. I think that's why I love Chicago so much – the beach and the city are literally next to each other, even closer than San Francisco is to the water.

After a day of exploring and trying out Chicago's deep dish (it was eh), we got back to our rooms to explore Northwestern the next day. Taking a bus to the college town Evanston, I instantly saw how beautiful the campus was. The waiting room where we sat before the tour was literally by the beach, and I saw students playing in the water or trying out boating. On our tour, we saw the Engineering Department and NW's Garage. I thought it was so cool that they have a space where anyone could apply for funding and build whatever they wanted to. Walking through Evanston afterwards, I felt like I was in one of those fairytale towns with everything and everyone so close to each other.

Campus: 8/10

Michigan:

Because the Midwest is a rather large space, we rented a car while in Chicago so that we could drive between all the schools we visited. My number one school I had decided was going to be UMICH, and I was beyond excited to visit it. On our drive up there, we drove by Indiana and Ohio. For every state we passed, I got a shirt to remember the place. Reaching Ann Arbor, I was amazed by how huge the campus was. Our tour took us through the Diag, the Engineering Campus, and past the law library where I saw their famous underground library for law students. Our tour guide kept reminding us that however pretty we thought the campus was, it was even nicer during the winter when covered by snow.

After touring the campus, we took a drive up to the North end to visit the Engineering section. Although we hadn't scheduled a tour here, we walked through the mech e and aerospace buildings surrounding us. When in the FXB, a technician, Mr. Chartier, came up to us and offered us a free tour. I saw the school's impressive labs, wind tunnels, and research spaces dedicated to students competing in competitions like the Baja Race. Seeing all aspects of Michigan, I realized at that tour that I had made a good choice making UMICH my number one.

Campus: 9.5/10

CMU:

I didn't realize how close Pennsylvania was to these other states – but a six hour drive, and we had reached Pittsburgh. The city was not that fun to me, and so we didn't spend that much time exploring the area. My highlight: getting a Subway sandwich there. Visiting the school, we didn't have a scheduled tour so we took our time to walk around. The place was almost empty, and the scorching heat forced us to find a building to enter into quickly. Unlike the other schools, the campus seemed so lifeless, and seeing the classrooms and labs as we walked around didn't spark any excitement.

Campus: 4/10

BU:

Our next stop on this trip was Boston. But Boston was too far to drive, so we returned the rental and took a flight to Massachusetts. Stepping into the city, I was amazed by how young it was. I saw college students running around and a city that looked like it never slept.

Our first stop in Boston was BU. BU was at the top of my list as well, and as we took our tour, I saw how ingrained the schools were into the city. Each department building looked like a skyscraper, and the engineering buildings were spread across streets as far as I could see. The campus was so fun to walk through, and I got to meet and talk to so many current students along the way. There was also so much food so nearby (of course, we got Indian like usual though).

Campus: 8/10

Harvard:

After BU, we ventured out to the other side of the city. Harvard and MIT. We didn't have a scheduled tour for Harvard either, but I was determined to see the school after making it one of my tops after watching Gilmore Girls. Walking through the Harvard Yard, I got to touch the statue (apparently bringing me good luck) and took a nice nap on the lawn. Apparently, there was an alumni event the same day as us, and so while we could only walk into a few buildings, I felt cool being in the same library as generations of Harvard alumni before me.

Campus: 8.5/10

MIT:

After Harvard, we crossed the river to visit one of the most insane schools of all time - MIT. I wasn't even applying to MIT, but I wanted to see the campus anyway since we were so nearby. But first, I took a huge nap on the campus lawn, making my experience there already amazing. Walking through the halls, I saw research opportunities and lab work plastered up on every door and billboard, and realized how smart the people here are. We got to walk through the Infinity Corridor, which did feel like it took an infinite number of hours to get through, and I even saw some grad students taking their senior photos there. Lucky them.

Campus: 9/10

After finishing these schools, we took a trip to the Boston market and went shopping. The place was so lively and everyone was in a hurry to get somewhere, it was genuinely the opposite of California. After shopping around and buying a few clothes, we got to explore their even more expansive cafeteria inside the market. There was pretty much every single food I could think of there.

City Rating: 10/10

This was the end of my college tour, but we still wanted to check out other places on the East Coast. So we roadtripped. Driving up to Vermont, we passed by multiple other states and I added to my t-shirt collection. I didn't realize how small some states were, but reaching Vermont, I couldn't believe I was in the city's capital Montpelier. The city felt like a small town, and I saw boutiques lining the street with everyone seeming to know each other. The capital building was so pretty, and we spent time playing in the lawn with tons of other kids. It felt surreal to see how small-town-y this city was.

The next day, we drove to Vermont's biggest city, Burlington. First, we checked out Ben and Jerry's factory. We got a tour of how they make ice cream, got to try special flavors, and of course, visited the flavor graveyard.

Afterwards, we explored the rest of the city. Walking through the streets, it felt like a small town to me still, and my sister and I roamed free wherever we wanted to go. We checked out the beach and even got on a boat (which we definitely weren't supposed to do) to take a few pictures. That was the same day as the National No Kings Protest, so we 100% joined in on the city's protest! After walking around the city, we got to go shopping - my favorite part. Their shopping center was literally a street filled with stores on both sides, and I checked out pretty much every single one there. The city felt so town-like that they even had a congrats banner hanging up on every street of their local high school's graduation.

After exploring Vermont, we continued on with our trip up north. This time, to another country. We drove up the border into Canada, and our first stop was Quebec City. At this point, my cousin and aunt decided to fly in too to meet us there so that we could all vacation together. The city was so pretty, and we got a tour of Old Quebec and learned all about its historical significance. The food was amazing and my cousin, sister, and I were left to roam free for a while to explore any shops we wanted to.

The next day, we went to Canada's side of the Niagara Falls. I had never been from either side before, and we walked up hundreds upon hundreds of steps to finally cross a bridge overlooking the falls. The views were amazing and it was amazing to look at.

The next day, we drove up to Montreal and visited one of the city's oldest Cathedrals. Exploring the city, I learned so much more about French-Canadian culture (which is so different from the French-France culture I learned about in school), and we walked through the city's nightlife to explore. I got to take a picture with a firefighter, which was honestly the highlight of the city.

That was our last day of our trip, and after spending almost two weeks travelling, we finally flew back home – from a city hundreds of miles apart from where we started.