When I first walked in to Happy Sashimi today, I wasn't sure what to do. I clumsily introduced myself to the other few people who had arrived and flipped through the menu, wondering what to order. As more people arrived, though, I warmed up and started enjoying myself. I sat next to Lupe, Lydia, Lucero, and William Chong, and still talked to the people on the other side of the table (Austin, Zijun, Megan, Selene, Andrew, and Stephanie). It was nice to be finally be able to link faces and personalities to the names I've been seeing through our email communications. We connected over 80's music, glasses prescriptions, and California rolls. I began smiling, and by the end of the evening I felt completely comfortable dancing and playing silly games with the rest of the group. I probably laughed the most I have for a couple of weeks.
We compared lives as busy, high-achieving, but fun-loving students. It was comforting to know that other people were stressing about SAT scores and AP classes, and trying to balance that aspect of their lives with the social and non-academic parts.
What I took away from the dinner tonight was that the Ivy League Connection is not just the support network from the adults. It is not just about the classes at Brown University. It is not just about the fact that I'm going to be on the East Coast for three weeks this summer. I'm making friends and meeting great new people that I'll remember for a long time.
Irene,
ReplyDeleteWith yours being the first blog after your dinner meeting you'll get the bulk of my comments. More will be added to the others so make sure you read them all to savor the whole experience.
Sounds like you all had a good time and on so many different levels. You were able to finally meet each other, bond over the simple things that help us all to connect and top it off by filling your bellies with a variety of good food.
What impressed me the most about this affair, Irene, is that this dinner was initiated, organized and completed all by our Brown cohorts. We didn't have to prompt it or get involved in any way.
And just as impressive is that four of you so far have posted blogs telling us about your dinner. And, again, no one had to prompt any of you to do this.
Well done, all around, Irene.
Thank you! I'm so glad we decided to do this. We actually ran into someone who was in ILC last year; I think he's a senior at Pinole Valley this year, but I'm not sure. I didn't catch his name. He was also impressed that we organized this dinner and that we did it all by ourselves. Apparently ILC groups in past years haven't done anything along these lines.
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