"Goodbye, dear," your mother calls out, but you can barely hear her over the train whistle. Without a second glance, you step aboard.
In the carriage, students are pushing, waving, and yelling. You squeeze past the porters who are strapping down the luggage, and find yourself an empty compartment in which to settle while watching the sea of uniforms.
You'll be wearing the Gallatin colors nearly every day for the coming college year, but your own uniform still feels stiff and unfamiliar. It varies from student to student: although everyone wears a shirt and tie, some wear red-and-gray checked skirts and dove-gray sweaters, some wide-legged trousers. As for you, how do you present yourself?