Katie goes to Brown!

It was our 10th reunion at Brown this weekend. So hard to believe that it's been that long. We had a great time! Here we are in front of the Brown Bear on the main green on campus. We have a picture of the two of us in front of the Brown Bear in '98 and one of me and Katie from last summer. So we'll now add this one to the collection.



So Katie had lots of firsts this past weekend. Her first night in a dorm room, her first shower (well more of a sponge bath), and her first commencement march. Brown has this amazing commencement march where all the alumni join in by class, along with graduates, professors, and parent educators. You walk down the campus and through the Van Wickle Gates that are only opened twice a year, once to let you in for convocation and to let you out at graduation. And the march proceeds where you stop at a half way point and watch everyone who went before you so everyone sees everyone else.


We had a great time. The dorm room we stayed in had a closet big enough for the pack n'play so Katie had her own "room" (minus a door). Of course it was still a dorm room and reminded us of what we don't miss about college - there was no hot water this morning and we were woken at 4:45 am by a drunk serenading group guys in the hallway. But staying in the dorm was really the Camp Bruno experience and also reinforces the randomness of assignment. My first-year roommate was on our small floor as were our friends Meredith and Jeff.

It was great to catch up with people and hear all of the interesting things that they are doing. I truly believe that Brown's an amazing place that attracts a lot of different types of people. I loved seeing people I wouldn't be in touch with but would still be curious about their lives. And it was fun to hear about others' successes. Peter was happy to see that he had aged well, in comparison to some. I was pleased to see that other people had babies because even though I'm 32, none of my close college friends have kids and it's sometimes makes me a little self-conscious. It was also interesting to see how other Brown grads are handling the work/family balance. Reunion was very child friendly. Saturday had a field day where all the alumns could gather and there was food and kids activities, etc. It was a sunny and hot day and Katie loved playing in the grass - a good thing for a city baby to do.

We left Katie with a different babysitter each night and went out, Friday to Campus Dance and Saturday to a class event and Al Forno. Campus Dance is amazing. The main green is strung with lights and a big band plays, with a smaller band on the other field. Everyone is festive and happy and it is the must be at event of reuninon weekend. Even those who don't go to anything else go to Campus Dance. You drink, you socialize, it's fun. Of course it's outdoors and can be chilly in New England at night, but that's part of the experience. And we're not the type of people who stay out late, but after about a half hour of the class of '96 after party we figured we should go relieve the babysitter - it was almost 2 am!

And for those of you who know it, Al Forno did not disappoint. The best grilled pizza in the world. We're trying a place for Peter's birthday whose chef trained at Al Forno. We'll see how it compares.

A really wonderful weeekend. Katie was cute and adorable and we loved showing her off.