I had a great drive out here with my mom. We loaded up the corolla and started down highway I-43 at about 5am, Sept 5. Our trip was as follows:
Day 1: drive from New Berlin to Denver, CO. This was a long and very boring drive, especially through Nebraska. It was so boring the only scenery I took pictures of was windmills and haystacks! We stayed with Patty, Tim, and their boys for the night.
Day 2: Spend quality time with Patty and Tim! Church and hiking.
Day 3: Drive to Colorado Springs to see Larry, Kathy, Joel, and Annie for another hike and a Labor Day barbecue.
Day 4: Drive Hwy 70 west through the mountains (scary!) and arrive at Arches National Park in Utah around midday.
Finish the day by arriving in Las Vegas for the night.
Day 5: Final 9 hour trek up through a very boring California landscape until we reached Stanford around 6pm.
Stanford Memorial Church
We moved in and met my roommates - one, Sharolyn, is chinese-born but went to high school and college in Canada. The other, Sonia, is U.S. born but lived most of her life and went to college in Ireland. It's fun talking about different social customs, language (variations of English) and culture. We get along really well and I'm so thankful for such nice roommies.
Mom and I went on Saturday to see the golden gate bridge! It was so foggy! Afterward we went down to the Henry Cowell Redwoods state park to see some big trees and then went to Santa Cruz to see the beach, boardwalk, and sea lions! We had a great dinner overlooking the ocean.
I'm so glad to finally be here after such a long week traveling. We even took some pictures on campus to celebrate finally being here! (Me of course in my new Stanford shirt!)
Soon I'll write about orientation week, my new friends (2 other Mechanical Engineers from Wisconsin!), and my first ever Division 1 football game as a student (see title picture for preview).
My first day of class is tomorrow and I'm about to head off to a welcome barbecue put on by one of the Christian campus groups. They're promising food, volleyball, kickball, and good fellowship!
-Julie
