Wild Deer, Egg puns, and Other SSP Arrival Day Shenanigans (Delano’s June 11th Blog)

The disbelief still hasn’t settled in…and honestly I don’t think it ever will.

This is my first time seeing the UNC campus, let alone North Carolina, so the forestation immediately took me back. I’m from Arizona, and, well, the climate isn’t exactly the most hospitable towards greenery.

So far, though, I’ve had an extremely welcoming experience. I already felt the collaborative-ness and camaraderie among my SSPmates the moment I met them in the airport and even more so when I met the rest in the dorms. The Site director, professors, and TAs have also been very fun and helpful. I can speak for at least a few of my SSPmates when saying that finding a community to feel thrilled to be in probably topped out list of things to be excited about when applying; safe to say we were anything but disappointed.

The TAs had us familiarize ourselves with the campus via a scavenger hunt. My group collectively gasped when we saw a wild deer prancing through the quad. Many of us fell victim to the TA’s reverse (double reverse?) psychology after doubting their hint that the bonus lego was not at the dining hall…it was in fact not at the dining hall. We still found it though!

After egg-hausting the majority of the day, we all met in the lecture to finally the extinguish the burning question in the back of our minds: who’s in our research team? For some reason, everything was egg themed, and as you might expect, we came up with some banger team names: “The United Eggs”, “Space Eggs”, and “Astro-yolks” to name a few. My team went with “Eggcentricities”: very proud of that one if I do say so myself.

I saw that in one of the old blog posts someone wrote a poem, and while I’d love display my mesmerizing poetic capabilities, it’s past 11 pm and I have a headache. Maybe next time!

For now, I’m beyond looking forward to our first lecture tomorrow! I’ve never touched anything astronomy related beyond my own readings and scrummaging through the internet, so can’t wait for this unforgettable, life-changing egg-perience!


Hey, I’m Delano! I attend BASIS Ahwatukee in Phoenix, Arizona. I applied to SSP because I’ve always loved physics and astronomy; my youtube history is filled to the brim with cosmology documentaries and everything STEM. I also enjoy essay and creative writing when I’m able to sneak some time in my schedule. I’m hoping to learn and grow a lot during my time at SSP!