The Fateful Trip, part III

Before my interview, my mom and I drove around Purcellville for a while taking pictures and seeing the sights. (houses and trees and barns) My interview went very well. Mr. Beavin put me at ease while pretending to try to make me nervous. No doubt the many prayers being said for me at home and Mr. Beavin's prayer before the interview made a giant difference. I was very calm, even inside, which never happens. Actually, although I love talking and am a very public type person, I get really tense and shake almost any time I speak to people about anything even remotely important. There was none of that. A miracle indeed.

After the interview we had lunch in the dining hall. Magnus, an old highschool friend and fellow Mock Trial person, met us there and we had lunch with him and a few of his friends. Great people. Not too nice so that they seemed insincere, actually they were sarcastic and such, but very friendly. It was amazing to me how easily I was able to get along with them. Must be a homeschooler thing. We sat in on two classes, Western Lit I and Philosophy. I enjoyed that, it reassured me that the students weren't out of my intellectual range. I needed that. But obviously that they are in my intellectual range means they are all brilliant! Right after Philosophy we went on a campus tour. Got to see what the dorms are like. Spacious enough, especially compared to what I've heard is common for school dorms. We saw Dr. Farris (president of the college) running on the treadmill in the gym. (little little gym) Actually we also saw him during lunch eating with some students.

While in the library I got a little surprise. Professor Vanderpoel, who I had for Western World History I last semester, came walking in the door. Throughout the day everyone I spoke to told me what a wonderful teacher he is and that it was a shame that I would not be able to sit in on his class. This comment nearly made my head spin each time it was made. My experience of his class was nearly completely confined to his tests, quizzes, and the infamous Roberts (author of our main text). Because of this, my opinion of Prof Vanderpoel was not incredibly high since I pretty much only experienced his difficulty. Apparently though, he is a great lecturer and I will have the opportunity to find that out when I take part II of that class. So, to get back to the point...he came walking in the door. The girl giving us our tour introduced us and he said that he remembered me. My mom said my face turned bright red. I mumbled something about "hearing great things about him its a shame I couldn't have you in person." What an awful thing and very embarrassing. Why couldn't I have met Prof Bouchoc or Prof Culberson? I got A's in their classes!

After our tour we wandered about taking pictures. I got a few nice ones and maybe I'll find a way to put them up here. Then we decided it was time to leave. I was very sad to be going, I wanted to stay there. But at that point I also had no assurance that I would ever come back in my life. Now I do. And I am so very glad of it. Do check out my school. The site seems to be down at the moment, but I can't imagine it will stay down for long. Patrick Henry College