Last Thursday, I packed my suitcase and boarded a flight with my mom from Dallas to San Francisco. The excitement of getting to explore the city and tour the campus of UC Berkeley kept building until we finally landed late Thursday night at SFO and bought BART tickets to Union Square, where our hotel was located. On Friday morning, we woke up to a curiously quiet city. It just so happened that on our first day in the city, parts of the city of San Francisco experienced a power outage for the first time in years that resulted in almost all the shops and restaurants to close for the day. It was such a weird experience walking down the streets of the financial district and seeing businessmen and women making small talk outside the closed office buildings. Thankfully, other parts of the city near the bay still had power. I was able to meet with my friend Alyssa, who I had met this past June at an economics conference in Austin. She made the drive down from Sonoma to San Francisco after I told her I would be in town, and we spent the afternoon walking from the Ferry Building up to Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf. I absolutely loved getting to see her after almost a year, and it made me reflect on how amazing it is that such a brief three-day conference over the summer can create such a strong bond of friendship. The next morning, the power was finally back on, and my mom and I took the BART up to Downtown Berkeley for the annual Cal Day event, which is basically an open house for UC Berkeley. The campus was breathtaking, with redwood trees lining the outskirts and intricately designed buildings surrounding the iconic Campanile Tower in the center. After walking through Sproul Plaza and touring the Haas School of Business, I was able to meet up with a family friend from Plano, now a junior at Berkeley, to talk about her experiences and life in California. Cal Day was a one-of-a-kind experience that really gave me a sense of the campus vibe. On Sunday, we made the trip back to Berkeley once more because I had planned to meet up with other prospective students and current Cal students who had graduated from Liberty. I found that I had a lot in common with the other freshman admits, and I even found out that a prospective student from New Jersey would also be at DECA Internationals in Anaheim later this week! For lunch, I met with Shreyash, a former ISM student at Liberty who is in his first year at Cal. We talked about campus life and the pre-business track at Berkeley, and I loved getting to hear about his college experiences so far. Later that afternoon, I met with Jack, a former Liberty student who went to TAMS before coming to Cal. Jack took me on a hike up to the Big C, a spot on the edge of campus with a view so amazing that no pictures can do it justice. UC Berkeley boasts one of the most picturesque campuses in the nation, and seeing Cal from the Big C made that clear to me. As I talked with Jack, he explained to me the reality of studying at a school like Berkeley. He helped me sort through the pros and cons of pursuing business at UT in BHP versus on the pre-Haas track at Berkeley, and his insight really pinpoint my ultimate college decision, which I will finalize this week. I just landed back in Dallas last night at midnight, and tomorrow morning I will be back at the airport to catch a flight to Anaheim with other ICDC qualifiers for the DECA International conference. So many exciting opportunities have been presenting themselves in my life, and I cannot wait to make the most of every experience!
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