Blogging From Home

Blogging tutorial at home

Today was my blogging tutorial. Since I go to church on Saturdays from 8 in the morning and stay there until 8 at night, if not longer, Don gave me the choice to have a Sunday tutorial. Of course, I cleaned the house (well, the parts that Don would see) and waited for Don to come over.

He came at around 10 AM, and we got straight to work. I was ready to go straight to blogging, but he surprised me by saying the majority of the tutorial would be talking. He took out a list of things we needed to talk about so I could follow along. Once I saw how many things he needed to tell me about (54 items), I braced myself for a very long talk.

It was long, like I’d expected, but it wasn’t boring. Don added in little jokes and stories like he usually does, which helped hold my interest from item 1 to 54 (I asked for no breaks—I wanted to get it all finished at once).

We talked about basic blogging, what he expects our blogs to include (they want to hear about people we meet, what experiences we go through, what we think about things that happen to us, etc), and when he expects us to blog. 

Don's headshot, taken by me

Finally, we opened up our laptops and practiced taking pictures, adding the pictures to our blogs, and blogging itself. It was definitely helpful, though seeing Austin Long’s blog about visiting Yale (titled “Bulldog Days”) makes me want to step up my blogging game.

After that, we talked about what they expect of us, as well as important things to pack. One of the things our Chicago cohort especially has to do is describe everything at the University of Chicago. Since the program is new, and we don't know much about it, it’s important for each of us to send detailed reports back home.

The tutorial ended kind of early, so we spent a good portion of an hour talking. He told me horror and success stories about Ivy League Connection students. One success story in particular really made me see how valuable the ILC truly is. I remember Don told me the Ivy League Connection takes students to the door of opportunity—unlocking, opening, at times building a door—and introduces them to people on the other side. I'm glad I'm lucky enough to be one of those students.