Evan says that after settling in, he is “walking the streets like an official, very busy New Yorker.”

“The first time I heard the instructors, it seemed like their playing touched me very deeply. I was engaged and intrigued by their playing, I was inspired,” Liam says.

After meeting her roommate, an international student from China, Mollie and her her friend Aashna attended orientation, and went on a campus tour.

Alexei reports that during his first week, the class was taught how to analyze primary and secondary sources, thinking critically about similar elements and differences. The class also read and analyzed a short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” as one of his assignments for the course.

“This first day was focused on the basics to combinatorics: definitions of common terms like sets and subsets, ways of counting like complementary counting, rule of product, and rule of sum,” Alexei explains.

Ryan says he spent the first week exploring the campus and getting a feel for the course. Situated next to downtown Providence, the campus feels like a mix of city and nature.

After settling in and orientation, Zoya toured the campus and was “genuinely impressed by the beauty and atmosphere at UChicago. The architecture and green spaces are stunning, and I could have easily spent hours exploring.”

Emily Edwards says that her first week at the Bard College Young Writers Workshop was, in one-word, “different.” “Any building on campus could easily be accessed in a less than 10-minute walk through the beautiful, humid, wooded paths. The classrooms were one of the few air-conditioned buildings, providing nice cool spaces to write, read, and discuss,” Emily says.

Tanya Arun says that her first week at the Washington University Research Development Institute has been different from what she expected, “but in a good way.”

“This week’s projects were very independent and also very hands-on. On the first day, our professor had us introduce ourselves and share our hobbies. We then began our lessons, starting with the meaning of architecture, from the Latin words chief and builder,” Margaret says.

“If I had to describe the experiences I’ve had inside and outside the lectures and labs in one word, it would be memorable. I’ve learned an incredible amount in just one short week—from how medicine works in our bodies to the anatomy of various body systems. I can confidently say that this program is going to be unforgettable,” Addison says.

“My course, ‘Contagion: Infectious Diseases and Agents,’ has already been full of exciting hands-on labs, new discoveries, and growth,” Laila says.

The workshop began with a full-group meeting and free write exercise: “two five-minute sections to write anything we wanted, whether it was the same word over and over again or a detailed story.”

Although check-in day was a little awkward since no one knew anyone, Francis says he was able to quickly find friends, especially with his knowledge of Mandarin.

David says that his first week was “very rigorous and stress-inducing, but that does not distract from the enjoyment of achievement that it left me with after its completion.”