Bonding Over Pizza

After what had seemed like an unbearable wait, I was finally able to meet my UPenn cohorts along with our chaperone, Mr. Hillyer! We started off by introducing ourselves with a small icebreaker where we shared our name, school, the program we're attending, our favorite class, and an unusual talent or fun fact. From having a talent for climbing, to being able to eat ice cream incredibly quickly, Julia S. and Julia M. from the Social Justice program left quite a fascinating impression. It was also very exciting to see some old faces from the Physics interview.

Deep dish pepperoni and cheese pizza

Although the food was appetizing, Mr. Hillyer's words of Pennsylvania captivated me more than the cheesy deep dish pizzas did. With an informative conversation about our plans for our summer adventure, Mr. Hillyer gave us an overview of our agenda for the trip along with a lengthy description of UPenn. After finding out that most of my cohorts had already visited the East Coast before, I started to realize how exciting and new this summer experience would be for me. Mr. Hillyer described Penn to be very "Californian" and informed us about how it would be a great place to adapt to–especially if we have never been to the East Coast before. 

Talking about the trip was exciting but I was equally as eager to learn all about my cohort members and our chaperone. As a jock, but nerd at heart, Mr. Hillyer shared with us about how he became involved with the Ivy League Connection and gave us a few tips on becoming the ultimate ILCer. As somewhat of a book fanatic, he suggested that we go to the bookstore next door while we waited for our rides after the dinner. It was the perfect way to end the evening.

Hearing all about the places that we would visit such as Washington D.C., New York University, and the Liberty Bell felt like such a dream. I was wrong to think that I couldn't possibly be more excited to take part of this opportunity. 

After a wonderful dinner with wonderful people, there is no other group that I would rather be with as I set forth on this memorable journey.