All Aboard!

Good morning Philadelphia! What a spectacle to behold, brushing aside those curtains and especially those to your single room at the Sheraton University City Hotel.

View from my window.

Because of the slow connection at the Sheraton, it took me a very long time to upload just a couple of photos to both the Media Fire account and on Blogspot. As a result, I shamefully slept at 3 o'clock in the morning despite knowing that I had a very fun-filled day centralized at the famous Princeton University tomorrow.

I absolutely adore the column motifs of this train station.


Here in Philly, a cab is the way to go. (I think in these two days alone we've ridden on at least six taxis).


Waiting for Mr. Ramsey, Ms. Kronenberg, and Mr. Miranda at the station.


Princeton, here we come!

1. Something New Everyday - I absolutely love trains. They're not common like your average buses, not as unclean as your typical subway, and not as compacted as planes. I rode trains before when I was a little girl, tagging along with my family as we traveled from Hong Kong to visit friends and family up in China. However, I have never been on a train in the United States before though I can claim that I've been living here as an American citizen for over ten years. The thrill of the seeing these trains whiz past us at intimidating speed and piercing roars sends your heart beating even as you enter into those trains and have sat down at one of the passenger seats long before. Trains, in addition to cabs for the slightly wealthier individuals around these parts, are the most common way for local students and businessmen and businesswomen to get around - especially if we're talking about constantly making back-and-forth trips from major cities like Philadelphia and New York. Although this was my first time riding on a train the United States, I can honestly see myself doing this quite often in my future, perhaps as a college student in the East Coast or for my future career. However, one thing's for certain, this first-taste of an American train has prompted me to include and continental train ride from West Coast to East Coast on my bucket list.

Platform nine and three-quarters anyone?

1. Having Someone Who Knows - If I had to award an MVP award of the day, I'd give it to Mr. Miranda. Not only has he been a phenomenal traveling companion to all of us (talking about world history and sharing opinions with him was probably one of my most favorite part of the entire day), he has also been a much worthy guide to us since he's been quite familiar with the East Coast. It is through his knowledge and focus towards getting all of us to Princeton University this afternoon that we had a really smooth ride to Princeton, New Jersey. Therefore, Mr. Miranda, thank you so much for being such a vital component to our travels in the East Coast, in addition to your very in-dept and intriguing insight on a wide variety of topics.
2. Suspending Some Pre-Made Opinions - Among one of the conversations I had with Matt Lee over train rides was an extensive debate regarding the definition of college. "If you had to choose between going to school that resembled an absolute dump but had the best education anywhere or a a school of a very positive social environment but with mediocre academics, which would you choose"? Obviously this entire question was theoretical and could not resist realistically, but since we were trying to kill some time and dive into some fun, theoretical scenarios, I played along. For those who know me, it's very obvious which of the two schools I'd pick. I'd definitely go for the college with the best academics despite its poor social life and/or general environment purely because my personal definition of college is really to get the best education possible and have those great resources available to you so as to make these four years the golden threshold to a sound and successful future (no guarantees of course but my chances are in no doubt heightened). Matt chose the latter because, in his opinion, college should be more about the experience thought he admits academics is important. There is some truth to his opinion and I certainly do not want to go to a run-down dump of a campus for my higher education, but since the question required the choosing of one or the other option, I stand by my original decision. Among the many reasons why Matt and I were polar opposites about this issue, I jest to assume, is probably our very different upbringings. Matt, having had both his parents graduate from U.C. Berkeley is encouraged to seek out a fulfilling college experience that will guarantee him a great time spent. Myself, being the first in my family to go to college and probably the first in my family to attend an American college outside California, wants to seek out a great institution based more on its ability to secure me with a well-rounded and worthy education. If worse comes to worse, I would accept poor social life for the sake of a great education. However, after seeing how gorgeous the Princeton campus was and how frequently the guides spoke of that tight-knit group of friendship among the Princeton students, I started to see why Matt put the social life so high on his wishlist.




3. Princeton University - It was such a strange feeling walking past some of the summer college Princeton students hiding underground for the coolness and shade since I realized almost immediately that I could have been one of them instead of going to the Yale program. Back in last year's winter, I had two equally great opportunities before me. It was either the Yale Ivy Scholars Program or Princeton's Journalism Program - both being all expenses paid. In the end, I'm glad I chose Yale's program, but it was just nice to recognize the alternative universe that I could have lived. In regards to the campus tour, we had a very friendly and great tour guide. The campus of Princeton University is absolutely beautiful. I have a sensitivity towards architecture and design so seeing all these historically magnificent brick buildings and intricate designs made the campus tour all the more wonderful. I could picture myself walking through this campus and I took that immediately as a good sign. Princeton was honestly the first college that captivated me slightly on their campus appearance alone - perhaps because I did consider heavily what Matt said earlier about appreciating the social ambiance of a college. The information session had some redundant information but I thought that it was a nice side to the the tour. The tour offered an informal perspective from a rising Princeton junior and the information session was a very direct, more parent-oriented session. My favorite part of the information session was probably hearing more about what admissions officers are looking for in regards to the applications directly from an admissions officer greatly involved with the process. I cannot tell you how relieved I feel after hearing that such a prestigious university as Princeton admitted that, as important as nationwide tests are - such as the ACT and SATs - it is really only one aspect of it. You know they mean this when they further that statement by introducing Princeton's new policy of super-scoring your test scores. In other words, they see all your test scores for, say, your SATs, and among those three times you may have taken it, only accept the highest scores among the three tests, such as your highest math score established your second time around with your highest reading score the first time around. To summarize, my interest in Princeton has certainly risen and I'm happy to say that this fondness was derived not solely from this university's prestige but actually from finding things from the tour and information session that honestly caught my attention. In terms of putting Princeton on my definite list of colleges to apply to though, that has yet to be confirmed. I'm still a bit attached to idea of a small liberal arts college for undergraduate education and a prestigious ivy league for graduate, but opinions certainly can change.























Walking down Nassaur St. for lunch.


















This was our location for lunch - Princeton's famous, Hoagie Haven!

This crowd knows these are no simple hoagies.






Eating our hoagies inside Princeton's large and main student center.



Display at the Princeton Student Center.

Our Princeton Campus Tour guides. (We got the cool guy with the tiger socks.)

Only a portion of our large party.



Guess what? President Woodrow Wilson's office as Princeton's president stood right above our heads!

Bruce, our tour guide.


Say hello to the third largest college cathedral in the world. But wait until you see the breathtaking inside...

Beautiful.




Back outside in the hot, hot sun.

These archways are not only the best shade during these hot summer campus tours of Princeton, but also great for choir performances due to its great acoustics.

The foreign languages department. About 24 language classes available here.

These Princeton mascots, the tigers, guard the oldest building on the campus. Back when this school was first founded, the entire university was just this building. During the Battle of Princeton during the Revolutionary War, British soldiers hid in here thinking that the Americans would not destroy this historic landmark but George Washington blew a cannon through those brick walls anyway.






The Information Session - a very full lecture hall of students and their families.

Heading back to the Trenton Train Station to go back to Philly.

Waiting to head back to the City of Brotherly Love.











Matt Lee.


Dinner with Mr. William Mongan, our Princeton Alum - The story of how we eventually found Mr. Mongan to be our Princeton representative to our dinner at the very fancy Le Bec-Fin restaurant is quite a remarkable tale. I share with Mr. Miranda a similar frustration with trying to secure some sort of Princeton representative for dinner, and of all places to find one, Mr. Miranda discovers Mr. Mongan by a chance meeting with his younger sister who, after hearing Mr. Miranda speak of the ILC, remarked that she had a brother who graduated from Princeton. And that was that. Mr. Mongan is a character you certainly cannot miss on a first encounter. He is exactly 6 feet 7 inches tall, his legs not really fitting so comfortably under our round table as mine easily could. Mr. Mongan entered Princeton as a great rowing athlete but also due to his fabulous record as a scholar in high school. With acceptance from Dartmouth as well, you can tell Mr. Mongan was a very established learner not only by how eloquently he carried himself throughout the entire dinner. His life and interest as a lawyer with an apt for sports captivated many interests among us, turning this dinner to more than just a learn-more-about Princeton session. Although the encounter did little to change my present mind regarding Princeton- a on-the-border choice - it did greatly inspire me to be more well-read as he was. His English major has definitely showed through both his conversations and knowledge on vast areas of material. Overall, I greatly enjoyed meeting Mr. Mongan - our last-minute stranger-turned-friend - at no better place but the especially classy Le Bec-Fin restaurant. (I am positive that if I ever get invited to such a fancy French restaurant again, I will know how to order from the menu correctly!)

First Full Day

Today, we took a little train ride to Princeton, PA to visit college #2, Princeton University. First, a brief description: I expected a traditional, old money, ancien regime institution surrounded by a dinky conservative town. While I was unsurprised to pay a visit to the Christian Science Reading Room (two words which, in my opinion do not go together) I also witnessed several women in Burqas passing in front of the Jewish Heritage house, which allegedly has the best food on campus.
Our tour guide drove this point home repeatedly as people predictably asked him about Prnceton's conservative leanings. He replied earnestly that while that is its reputation, college campuses almost everywhere are becoming more and more openly liberal, in Princeton's case this means that they now are roughly balanced in the student body's political views, and opposing sides often hold lively debates. While it's no Brown, where conservatives are an unhappy minority, Princeton has managed to transfer gracefully off its pedestal as the right wing bastion it once was, promoting a well rounded student body of politically active peers with myriad views. As it should be in my opinion.

Later today we attended dinner at the fabulous Le Bec-Fin with an alum who's sister Mr. Miranda, the Penn chaperone, met in happenstance. Compared to the Princeton info sessions, he was refreshingly honest, while genuine in his love for Princeton, he was quick to point out its flaws unabashedly. Which to me made Princeton more enticing. Bill Mondan was a fantastic guy, and to me, I want to apply to Ivy League schools because I will be surrounded by fantastic people. He was genuine, gregarious, honest, funny, and LOUD. Meeting him gave Princeton a real sense of character for me. However, while I he was great, I am not sure Princeton is right for me, and the reason is abstract and nigh inexplicable. I got the sense from the way he talked about Princeton of the environment: a positive place full of exceptional people, and in this way the Ivies all have one thing in common. Yet each undoubtedly has a shaping effect on students, and while the students seem wonderful, I got the impression that the university tends to orient students in a very pragmatic, goal driven mindset. While Bill explained that university has improved upon graduating a rounded class that does not ALL instantly move to lower Manhattan, I didn't feel as though the class came out with a more open, global thinking mindset of the students at say Brown who I've met. That is not to say that there aren't global thinking Princetonians or narrowminded Brownies, but in the end I might want to choose a school with a less directed and driven culture.


Also here is a picture of some food I ate:

Can We Turn The AC On Please?

All this time I thought that Hong Kong and Hawaii were the hot humid centrals of the world. Little did I know that the East Coast is just as unbearably warm, if not more!

Mr.Miranda and I had a discussion about the weather here earlier today before all of our travels. We discussed about how only about 5% of the Earth's surface is blessed with a Mediterranean Climate. My goodness, I appreciate the weather so much more now back home. For a Cali-grown boy this blast of humidity was an experience that I did not want t

o experience. However besides the weather the day was still jam-packed with discovery and adventure on every corner.

Our day started out with a nice awakening by some construction work going on outside

of Tom and I's room. We got washed up quickly, got dressed and headed down to the usual meeting place for the group, the lobby. We exchanged greetings, discussed the plans for today, and hopped into the cab to go towards our first destination, 30th Street Station.

The Train Station was a grand place, large columns, enormous central room and many restaurants for the hungry traveler.

After grabbing a bite to eat, we boarded our train and started our hour long journey to the legendary and prestigious, Princeton University. It seems like everywhere we've been lately has been reminding me more and more of my beloved childhood TV show, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Carlton's love of Princeton, and Will Smith's hometown being Philadelphia itself.

We arrived at the Princeton Junction around noon, and got onto yet another taxi cab to the famed lunch spot, "Hoagie Haven." I recall Mr.Ramsey going into a local store and asking a girl about Hoagie Haven and whether or not it was a good eat. Well judging by the way her face lit up at the mere name of the eatery we were in for a real treat. She did not disappoint.

After our delicious lunch, we continued on our journey to Princeton. We followed a rather large group out of a hallway, through some stairs and out a door to a nice wide open area in front of Frist Hall. There we met our tour guide, Bruce. Bruce is a rising junior at Princeton who was studying a wide multitude of subjects at Princeton. He said that he embodied all of the things that you could study at Princeton, and after listening to his informative speeches I believed him because of just how knowledgeable he was about the campus and many of its facilities.

We moved onto the informational section of the tour, and there listened to a lengthy speech given by one of the Assistant Deans of Admission. He basically gave us the same spiel that most men of his position would. He discussed the student life, the academic side of Princeton, entrance requirements, and the way things ran around there. What really stood out to me was the fact that Bruce, the Assistant Dean of Admissions, and later our dinner guest Bill all said how great of a tightly knit community Princeton was. That there were no exclusive clubs at Princeton, everyone was extremely friendly, and that you weren't just a Princetonian for 4 years, you were a Princetonian throughout the rest of your life. That sense of comfort and community especially stood out to me mainly because the UC system back home doesn't really have that strong of a bond that the schools over on the East have.

With the Princeton tour and information session out of the way, we made our way back to the Sheraton to gear up for another session of fine dining at the suave Le Bec-Fin. Our guest of honor tonight was a Princeton alumnus from the class of 2006, his name was Bill Mongan and I am very pleased to say that he was a great person to talk to about Princeton. What I loved about him was just how enthusiastic he was about Princeton. It made me feel like Princeton was paradise on Earth, and that he just held a genuine love for his school and everything about it. Bill also gave us a lot of input from his unique perspective. Bill was the first person that we talked to who was a student athlete. What I also appreciated about Bill was when I asked him about how Princeton deals with incoming freshmen who have no clue where they want to go in life. He gave me an account of himself going through Princeton, how he had no idea what he wanted to do but the classes he took helped him grasp his passion. He loved his freshmen english lit class so much that he wanted to major in it, and he's ended up going to law school at UPENN.

Tonight's dinner was perhaps the best dinner that I've attended with the ILC thus far. There are 2 key reasons for that, 1) The company was great. I felt extremely comfortable chit-chatting with everyone at the table and hearing everyones inputs. Bill was a really cool guy and he was very easy to get along with and to talk to. Maybe part of this was that we all delved into the world of sports for a little bit and that's when it really started to feel a lot more intimate and personal. 2) The food. Le Bec-Fin claims to be a French restaurant, and I would say that they are masters at their craft. Almost all of my food was delicious. The crab cakes were lightly fried to give it a nice crispiness without over doing it, the halibut had an odd mixture of earthy tastes, and the wagyu beef was simply amazing. Ever since I've heard of the different level of beefs, I've always wanted to taste the best, and tonight I got to do just that. The beef was served with a sauce that I can't remember the name of, some fried potatoes, and a really tangy, sour aioli. At the end of the whole meal one of the waiters pulled up to our table with a cart full of deserts of all sorts. All the way from chocolate cakes, to hazelnut cakes, and cheesecakes. I myself grabbed a piece of a chocolate specialty cake, the hazelnut cake, a frozen souffle, and a slice of cheesecake. All were delicious.

As the night came to a close we said farewell and thank you to Bill, got into our respective taxis and headed home for the night. I can end my blog with some closing thoughts about my day. Princeton was a great school, the campus was one of the most beautiful campuses I've ever seen. The architecture was just so different from any west coast campus (mainly because of the earthquakes on the west coast bricks wouldn't be practical) and the lush greenery captured my heart. Princeton holds many wonders for those who are accepted into its gates, from eating clubs to great social events planned by the student government, to 300 more extracurriculars. I give my thanks out to Bruce our tour guide and Bill our alumnus guest for providing us with a nice insight into what goes on at Princeton. With one final closing remark, although the heat may be brutal it's definitely worth enduring it to see the sights that the east has to offer. I have no regrets.

Good Morning

There's construction directly outside our hotel window that starts around say, 6 AM... good to know.

"Fabulous Finish"

A midnight snack of blueberry yogurt and a granny smith apple later, I type a quote from Mr. Ramsey as my first blog title out here in the East Coast. As the last ILC group left to start our summer courses, it is nice to hear Mr. Ramsey call us the "fabulous finish" just before we head off to SFO's own Yankee Pier for a very fulfilling breakfast.

It was a quick exchange of farewells as Matt, Tom, Lori, and I boarded or white shuttle to SFO airport. We exchanged small talk on our ride over since all of us were admittedly tired from lack of sleep the previous night. Nevertheless, we were all excited internally, though physically we appeared very calm. Though our United Airlines flight was on schedule, traffic at the Philadelphia airport hindered our arrival time by a touch. As I sat between Tom and Lori throughout our five-hour flight, I killed time by watching the BBC movie Jane Eyre and rereading some Clausewitz. We were truly fortunate that a short session of rain began shortly after our revival and ended as we exited the airport with our luggage. Perhaps the only negative part to our entire plane ride to Philadelphia was the gush of muggy humidity that engulfed us the minute we stepped off the plane.

1. New People, New Perspectives: I had the wonderful opportunity of joining Mr. Ramsey's ride to the Philadelphia Sheraton Hotel as Matt, Tom, and Lori took a cab instead. Mr. Ramsey's relatives – his younger sister and cousin – offered to pick him and a student up from the airport so as he could both catch up with his family members and refrain of having to call two taxis. Although I was too excited by the brilliant city of Philadelphia whizzing before my eyes as our car dashed down 95 South freeway to really share elaborate conversations with the Ramseys, I did get to witness their unique interaction with one another. I saw a different, looser side to our school board president, Mr. Ramsey, as he candidly chatted away with his sister and cousin. These two women were awfully kind, with the sister turning to me to say: “Welcome to Philadelphia – the city of brotherly love – and we love you”. All the Ramseys had their share of pointing out certain aspects of this city to me and it was such a great way to enter downtown Philadelphia. Although we did get lost for a moment, our detour did give me another side of Philadelphia to observe and more time playing witness to the company of the Ramseys.










Connecting Connections: As soon as all the Yalies arrived to the Sheraton, everyone dashed to their rooms to set aside luggage and start dressing up for dinner. Since Mr. Ramsey and I arrived later than the others on account of us getting lost on the way, we had even lesser time to get ready. By the time I stepped down to the lobby, I noticed immediately three very familiar faces casually assembled with Matt, Tom, and Lori at the lobby. They were Julia Martien, Alex elms, and Brain Seegers – our ILC University of Pennsylvania cohorts – and here to join us for dinner at Butcher and Singer. Of all the other ILC groups, I could not think of another group that the Yalies could have reunited better with. The Penn group consisted of three students, with Alex as the only Pinole Valley High School representative among two representative students from El Cerrito High School and us Yalies was the exact opposite. Tom quickly reacquainted himself with Julia and Brian as Matt and I caught up with our good pal Alex. However, this was not merely an exchange of hugs and hellos. In addition to asking how wonderful the Penn Physics program was going for Alex – which has been wonderful by the way – I also asked him a lot of questions regarding his take on the U. Penn campus. Surely, I will get a more detailed campus tour and information session regarding the University of Pennsylvania later on July 22^nd, but there certainly was no harm in getting the opinions from a friend you knew had no reason to steer you in the wrong direction with his/her honest opinions. In addition to meeting back up with Alex again, I also was able to officially meet both Brian and Julia.





It's the First Test So Make it Good: Dinner at Luther and Singer this evening was a pretty large party of twelve individuals. Mr. Joaquim M. Hamilton was our special guest of the evening (he is the assistant dean of admissions and co-director of multicultural recruitment for Swarthmore University). A very jovial and approachable character, Mr. Hamilton was a great representative to dine with. Having the grand opportunity to sit to his right side made hearing him talk over the blaring background music much easier (though I have to admit their jazz tracks and Frank Sinatra songs were a great touch to this dimly-lit restaurant). The opportunity to meet a Swarthmore representative was really a last-minute event lodged into our itinerary. Originally, it was going to be a dinner without any representatives at all, but I’m glad that never happened. There are three main reasons why I was especially thankful that we had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Hamilton. For one: he was the only guest we would have that represented a highly selective but small, private liberal-arts college. Secondly, I did have a slight curiosity to learn more about Swarthmore especially since we were not going to visit their campus. And lastly, Mr. Hamilton's presence served as a good test-run to start establishing good habits, ask those important questions for comparison later, and practice making a good impression. Luckily, Mr. Hamilton's welcoming personality made our very first dinner very, very smooth.
Cut to the Chase: In the midst of college applications and after so many glances at the Fiske Guide for Colleges (a great book for finding good colleges that I highly recommend), I've become very acquainted with certain questions that I've either heard the same, obvious answers to or knew I could simply obtain them from the Fiske guide later. As a result, there are certain questions I no longer ask anymore and among them include typical statistics and details such as the historical background of the school. Questions that I do want to know answers to – and this is for my personal taste – are those that require a part of the individual I'm asking from. For instance, if it was an alumni, the question I'd ask would not be “why do students choose so-and-so college?” but rather “why did you choose so-and-so college?” If my guests were admissions officers or individuals of such status, I'd ask “what do you look for in a student on the applications” but not “what does the school look for among all the applicants”. Granted, there is no wrong in asking those questions which I personally try to avoid for it is simply a personal reference of mine, and there are definitely random questions I ask just for the sake of curiosity. In general, I'm simply trying to leave these dinners with a unique impression of the school that wasn't simply an easily forgettable repeat of all the fabulous things nearly all great schools offer (such as the highly stressed fact that so-and-so college had great professors). I want to be able to understand clearly what makes a Swarthmore student different from, say, a Davidson student. I want to know what atmosphere I could possibly be getting myself into. And since I'm on my way with college applications, I'm especially interested with both the application process details and requirements for college freshmen. After much reading about colleges and asking college representatives questions, I start to get the hang of what questions I really need to ask because in addition to your own burning curiosities, you also have to be courteous to your other cohorts who also had unique questions to ask of their own too.
Advice from Someone Who's Been There: After all my personal questions were asked and answered, I moved on to those I thought could benefit others. When Mr. Hamilton told all of us that, back in high school, he was pretty much a jock but also loved to learn, I immediately thought of my younger brother who was entering as a high school freshman next year. My little brother is a great basketball player and definitely has his mind set on a future, highly probably, in professional sports. I am all for individuals having big dreams and following them but there comes a point where one also has to be realistic. I've dabbled with the possibility of becoming an artist when I grow up but upon more scrutiny and focus on academics, I realized that, though I will never leave art in my future, it was definitely not be my main focus – especially for someone like myself with so many interests. Therefore, I wanted to find some way to convince my little brother to be more open-minded and rational about his goals. Mr. Hamilton loved basketball too and even played on traveling teams growing up. When he saw the competition out there before him, he started to rethink his focus and started placing more of his efforts towards getting into a great college. With that advice, I hope that, in addition to the academic exposure he will get from high school, my little brother understands that the path to the future is in no way a smooth, one-way path.
Playing Ambassador: Another extensive topic I can recall from chatting with Mr. Hamilton is the the ways we can promote a more college-going culture among students. His recommendation, as advice from a college representative that has gone around telling students more about the seemingly unheard of Swarthmore, is to definitely start such a culture earlier (such as middle school) and possibly have students in high school start clubs or groups that act as centers of college information and resources (almost like a more down-to-earth version of the Ivy League Connection). In addition to these suggestions, Mr. Hamilton reminded all of us of an important fact that although college can, yes, greatly improve your chances of securing a great job, there simply was no guarantee. For those students who do not end up choosing college as an option upon high school graduation, it is important not to misjudge them so quickly. Everyone has their reasons to stop their education after high school. For many students who do not come from very stable financial backgrounds, there if often a guilt of leaving home to pursue such a personal thing as high education despite knowing that your family back home is still struggling. “College is a luxury” Mr. Hamilton concluded. There is no guarantee that you will earn more than your parents nor is there a solid restriction from working at the local fast food restaurant down the street. It is a risk many students have to and in my opinion, should take. I'm going to college with a great fear in the back of my head that these four years could bring me very little in the end but whenever such doubt comes to my head, I simply remind myself that “you never know until you try” and if there was any advice anyone should remember from me regarding pursuing something new you're already second-guessing your abilities on is that you can never go wrong as long as you try and give it your all. Giving up with only get you nowhere and leave you forever wondering what could have been. “Reach for the moon because even if you miss, you'll land among stars”.

This wonderful night ended with a guest visit by Matt, Tom, and I to the U. Penn campus in the evening to hang out with our U. Penn cohorts. That campus is very dark but distinctly beautiful at night. Fireflies briefly make an appearance and U. Penn students from the summer program are always roaming around the quad areas to hang out with each other.

This has been a very productive first day and I cannot wait to see what Princeton has in store for us tomorrow.

Diving In

Other than the now ubiquitous film of sweat now coating my entire body, (it's 94 degrees here) Philadelphia has been treating us pretty well. It's now 12:29 Eastern time but I'm wide awake. A) because it's 9:30 back in Berkeley, and B), Because I just said goodbye to one of my best friends, Julia Martien, who is in the midst of a month long Physics course at Penn. The genuinely excited way in which she described photon defraction, which I related back to "normal" wave's superpositioning (we're nerds) struck me as an excellent example of the idea of learning for learning's sake, a topic which I brought up at dinner that we then discussed with the admissions rep for Swarthmore College.

Speaking of, we had an AMAZING dinner at Butcher and Singer, and upscale downtown Philly restaurant with Joaquin Hamilton, Assistant Dean of Swarthmore Admissions, as well as the Penn Physics group. When I asked him how he became involved in the college admissions field, he replied that he simply loved the experience and never wanted to leave. How he described Swarthmore was that it was a place with an "abundance of choice," he literally went into an impressive amount of detail about the sheer breadth of educational paths one might take. I loved this. As someone who has trouble deciding on what to order, much less choose a field, options are very important to me. Less with my dinner choices, but in important decisions I feel like there are always so many paths to take, and that, would if I could, I would try all of them. Like two roads in a yellow wood. However, I felt as though there are more than enough schools that offer a high degree of breadth, what really warranted I look closely at Swarthmore in the future is what Mr. Hamilton said about community. He described Swarthmore as a tightly knit group of brilliant, exceptional, off the norm students. The environment collaborative more than competitive, a place where ideas are challenged, but where real learning occurs in the process. Whether or not I find a community I prefer more at a different institution, if what Mr. Hamilton says is true, many people will find their niche at Swarthmore, as for me, the dinner as given me a good amount of metabolic and cognitive digestion to do.

In West Philadelphia...

After 5 hours of nonstop flight the Yalies, Ms. Nardone, and Mr. Ramsey finally arrived on the East Coast.

Our first greeting on this voyage was a wall of hot, humid air that hit us square in the face as we said farewell to our airplane. We had left at 9 AM (West Coast time) and had arrived at 5:30 (East Coast time). We had dinner reservations at 8:15 PM so we got out of the airport as quickly as possible to check into our fabulous hotel, the Sheraton.

Tom and I settled into our room, threw our suitcases on the floor, washed up a little bit and began to dress for our dinner this evening at the glamorous Butcher and Singer steakhouse. Because our first destination was in Philadelphia, we were able to meet up with some of our fellow ILC cohorts from the UPENN group: Alex Elms, Julia Martien, Brian Seegers, and their chaperone Mr. Miranda. We all gathered up in the lobby of the Sheraton before departing to the restaurant via taxi cab.

When we arrived at our destination many thoughts were building up in my head. The most prominent one was just the very fact that I was where I was. I wasn't in Kansas I thought to myself, I was in the big city now, ready to live up to my ILC experience. This reality set in so hard that I just burst out smiling and laughing. I even told my fellow Yalie Dyana So how excited I was to be here and that I couldn't wait to start our education at Yale. Other thoughts that pervaded my mind were how hungry I was, how beautiful my surroundings were, and a curiosity for Swarthmore, a college that I had never heard of before tonight.

We got into the restaurant, took our places according to Mr. Ramsey's decisions and soon got down to business. All of the ILC students turned immediately to the Swarthmore representative, Joaquim Hamilton, and bombarded him with question after question. I paid close attention to what Alex and Dyana asked our guest of honor. They mainly discussed Swarthmore's general student life, what it is like there, and how it is run. Then things turned into greater and greater detail as Alex delved deeper into the engineering prospects at Swarthmore.

As the dinner pushed forward, we got our appetizers, and our entrees. Ms. Kronenberg gave me a nice nugget of wisdom tonight. "Always play to people's strengths," she told me. As soon as I heard her advice I immediately implemented it in the planning of my meal. As our waitress came up to us and asked us what we wanted, I asked her what she thought was the best appetizer to get. She gave me a suggestion and I took it. It turns out that she made a very good suggestion to me, the salad was absolutely delicious as was the steak.

The meal concluded with more questions being fired at Mr. Hamilton and we were able to pump a lot of information out of him. We learned that Swarthmore is an extremely selective small college. It is open and appealing to the applicant who hasn't yet found his or her way, and it emphasizes a unique style of teaching that focuses on core curriculum AND innovation. All in all, Swarthmore gained a lot of recognition in my mind, and now holds a spot for one of my college applications in the future.

Although the dinner was over, the night was still young. Tom, Dyana, and I accompanied the UPENN group back to their campus for a little private night tour. We wandered the streets of Philadelphia and I was able to absorb so many sights. I always knew that cities at night were magnificent sights, but Philly really took my breath away. The architecture, and style of the buildings really gave off a sense of "East Coast living." We got to UPENN, signed in at the front door, and entered the dorm area. The dorm buildings surrounded what is known as the "quad." Inside of the quad is a nice grass field, and stairs leading to a lower quad. Although it was night time and I couldn't see it in all of it's glamour, I could tell that it was a beautiful place, and that it would make for a great spot to just sit down and relax with some friends.

Time flew by there, and before we knew it it was time to head on back to the hotel. I walked away from UPENN eager to come back. I wanted to see all of the wonders that UPENN had to offer. Luckily it won't be too long until my wish is fulfilled. Thursday's plans revolve around a campus tour of UPENN along with a dinner as well.

To wrap it all up my day was great. I'm finally on the first leg of my long journey from home. After so many hours, days, and weeks of preparation I'm on the East Coast with my fellow cohorts, ready to experience what has been waiting for us this entire time. I end my day with a smile, and a hopeful heart for the joys that tomorrow has in store for us.