The Rain and a Different World

We walked in the rain to the subway station. There was nobody in the train but two locals silently sitting with no headphones, no book, no cellphone. Just sitting.

We were in the train but we talked. We weren't like those locals who did not do anything. We got off the train after three stops, and so did they. Nobody was in that car anymore.

We walked up the steps back to the rain that was far from abating, and continued on to the bus stop. We waited for the bus to arrive, as the rain continued to fall slowly.

Shortly, the bus arrived and was crowded-- a mix of locals going to places and travelers whom were headed to the airport. Unsure of where to exactly get off, we rode the bus with tension. I whipped out my fragment notebook filled with questions I was intending to ask to the counselor and looked at them. At the same time, I got out my phone and checked the map to make sure that we were going the right way. More and more people would get on the bus, making it much more crowded. Travelers with suitcases occasionally would block the aisle. When I tried to look out the window, they were fogged from the rain and made the outside less visible. We rode the bus in silence.

After a while, we approached our stop. We got off the bus. The rain still did not stop. We were early-- an hour or so. We walked to the main building and opened the doors to the main hall.

Signing in was a pain. The staff were talking to each other about some unimportant topic. I felt like I was interrupting their conversation when I needed to speak to them. But I signed my name and my moms and walked towards the admissions office that was so hard to find at first.

Walking through the lecture rooms surrounded by so many college students gave me a completely new experience. It was like a different world. It was so much larger than my high school and everyone seemed to be much ruder and felt like they won't help you unless you seek to them yourself. It was then that I realized that high school is heaven, and college life is all about you specifically.

Signing the form at the admissions office seemed like a doctor's appointment. It was the same feeling that I had when I waited for a meeting with the head of my school except much more nerve-racking. It was a legitimate college visit.

Shortly thereafter, a young admissions person called my name and welcomed me in her cubicle. We discussed about why I chose to visit this college, and etc. It was a bit different from what I had expected. The questions I had written in my fragment notebook was not likely to be formally answered by this person, I thought. I asked a few questions though.

After the process, the rain still did not stop. We walked around, trying to look for the bus stop. We eventually found it and went home while the rain lightly fell in the distance.