Raina Jain

Sophomore, Greenwich High School

After a nice restful sleep, we started our day off by eating breakfast at the Penn City Grill. They had a whole variety of foods, from Danish sweets to french toast topped off with warm maple syrup… yum! Over breakfast, a conversation started by previous ISEF competitors (Maya and Shobie) over how extravagant the opening ceremony last year, and how the pin exchange the day before was so far the highlight of all of our trips. But this was just the beginning! Then we went to go visit the ISEF Quads, where there are many activities like VR gaming and karaoke! We met a girl from Indonesia who sang the song “Hello” by Adele, which was by far the most beautiful voice I’ve heard. I wish I could sing like that! We decided that the girls will have their own karaoke night in Maya’s room tonight, so we can sing to our heart’s content without embarrassing ourselves in front of so many people. 🙂 Caught up by all the activities, we lost track

Student representatives from 81 countries gathering on stage

After much anticipation, the opening ceremony was about to begin. We talked to people from many places all across the world while waiting in line. We asked people from Brazil what their favorite song was…. And even they sung it in Portugese for us! Seeing people come from so many places all around the world in one room certainly sparked a whole new environment, and made me feel that I was living in a little bubble. Soon, however, the doors opened and students rushed in to get front row seats of the awe-inspiring ceremony…. (We got front row seats…. yay!) The lights dimmed down and suddenly this guy with a mohawk and an awesome set of drums started playing like crazy to 20th century rock music. While everyone got up from their seats and started jamming out to his awesome moves and beats, I just stood there with my jaw dropped in awe. I’ve never seen anything like that before. After dancing a ton, the keynote speaker was about to begin her presentations… (I could’ve still dance though) 🙂

After listening to an amazing keynote presentation, it was time to wrap the day off and go back to our rooms… but the fun still wasn’t over! We started karaoke night which later turned into movie night!…(using the boys’ HDMI cable:)  We watched the movie Split, and I finally agreed to watch it after everyone convinced Shobie and I that it wasn’t scary. But five minutes into the movie… I knew I’d been lied to. Shobie and I were cowering under the sheets, and Hiba and Maya were watching nervousness and although they claimed they were not scared…. they were definitely scared. But soon the movie ended, and thankfully I did not have nightmares that night, but I’m sure Shobie did. 🙂 Today was a fun-filled day… but there’s still plenty more to come….