Day 68: Katherine's Fun Day — Stanford Spokes

What happens when Katherine wakes up determined to have a fun day? She has an incredibly fun day that exceeds all expectations.

I got up today around 8 am, feeling ready to teach on our rest day in Pittsburgh. This time, only Parth, Timothy, and I were teaching, and we were starting our lessons at 2 pm, so I had some time to kill. I spent most of yesterday sitting around with Joel, loitering in local establishments while waiting for Ody repairs—which was fun(?) in its own right, but I had slightly different plans in mind for today. So, after a nice breakfast of Chobani yogurt purchased on a whim last night during a one crazed Target run, I took a walk around the city: wandering around with no particular aim, observing the architecture around me (columns. lots of them), and somehow ending up back at the Target. I have to say, it looks a whole lot different in the daylight. And yes, fun was had.

Parth has been awesome, coordinating with Stefanie Garcia at the Carnegie Mellon University College of Engineering to score us a teaching opportunity in Pittsburgh last minute after our fateful reroute. Stefanie, being the cool and fun person she is, gave us a tour of campus with a focus on the College of Engineering, around noon. The school is beautiful. Stefanie’s tour touched upon some campus staples, like The Fence, a standalone fence located in the middle of the central lawn that fences in nothing in particular, but is covered in four inches of paint. Apparently, it’s tradition for student groups to stake out in order to paint The Fence: but tradition dictates that it only be painted after midnight and before sunrise, by hand, and only in its entirety, among other fascinating rules.

Other observations about CMU: since it was move-in weekend, all of campus was charged with a sort of excitement. It reminded me a little of my freshman move-in at Stanford. As cynical and disinterested as I can sometimes be, it was nostalgic and electrifying, in a way. I also think that Stanford should take some notes from CMU and incorporate more sky bridges, which are known for being fun, into its construction. More sky bridges, fewer palm trees.

After the tour, we headed to Project BootUp @ Community Forge, which is an awesome name for an awesome place. We learned that Community Forge is a center serving the local community of Wilkinsburg, providing mentorship and resources in areas like entrepreneurship and professional development. The third floor, that high-up place BootUp calls its home, is what I can only describe as a safe haven: a sanctuary for kids to learn about and play with technology in a vibrant and judgment-free environment. I’m in awe of Coop and Amil, the staff at Community Forge who were with us today: their enthusiasm for teaching, their love for the kids and the community, their ambition and intentionality in both imagining and realizing their vision for the center even with little institutional support and scarce funding, and their overwhelming funness. Coop’s mint colored hair and blue nails proves that he’s fun, if absolutely nothing else does.

Afterward, we returned to our Warmshowers, where we enjoyed dinner with our hosts and ate plenty of Timothy sweets. What does that mean? Well, Timothy, our actual resident memer (he seemed a tad miffed that Joel gave me that title in last night’s blog) is turning the precious age of twenty-three tomorrow, and many of his loved ones sent yummy things to our host’s address to show him how much they adore and miss him. Thanks to this set of circumstances, I was able to sample a selection of stellar desserts including: oreo donut, lemon meringue tart, pistachio eclair, and some type of blobular chocolate mousse with crunchy bits. Of course, I can’t forget Aja’s banana bread, which she so graciously baked for us! It was delicious. So fun.

I am strategically leaving out a NOT-so-fun experience that was had today. After dinner, Timothy, Parth, Aja, and I headed out to see an improv show. Out of respect for all parties involved, I won’t say much other than that it left a lot to be desired. I’ll also include this screenshot of the desperate texts I sent Timothy during the show as we planned our strategic escape, just to give you a sense of how non-life-affirming the whole experience was.

At some point today, MIT Spokes sent us a picture of them hanging out on Stanford’s campus. They’ve just reached their end destination of San Francisco, which was once our starting point. Seeing that picture, I felt a pang: of longing and jealousy, but also of something else. As the end of the trip draws closer and closer, I’m finding myself slowly starting to integrate back with “real” life. I’ve been scheduling doctor’s visits, and arranging my living situations and travel plans post-D.C. My mom texted me today asking if I wanted to book an appointment for a haircut when I get back home (yes, please). It feels like the end is truly drawing near, and it scares me a little bit.

If my calculations are correct, I’ll be blogging one more time, on the last day of this trip. I hope I’ll get to say my final goodbye then!

Katherine