There's A First Time For Everything

Me, Chloe, Clara, and Mariko at the El Cerrito Plaza BART station.

After leaving school an hour and a half early, driving home, hectically changing clothes, and rushing out the door with my mother, I finally arrived at the El Cerrito Plaza bart station at about 5:05 PM. I was really anxious because initially I had planned to arrive at 5 but the traffic on the freeway did not allow this. Upon exiting the car I felt a surge of nervousness. From the parking lot, I could see a group of young scholars that I assumed to be members of the Ivy League Connection. I walked up to the group and was surprised at how friendly everyone was. I had been waiting for this day since I was admitted into the Ivy League Connection, I would finally be meeting my cohort and chaperone! I engaged in conversation with the other girls who would be attending the University of Pennsylvania with me this summer while we waited for everyone to arrive.

 Once the last of the group arrived, we boarded the BART train headed towards San Francisco. The ride was a long one; it seemed longer than it should have, probably because I had been awake since 6:45 that morning and had no break in between. We got off the BART at the Civic Center BART station in San Francisco.We then walked a few blocks to the public library.  Once we reached the public library we broke into groups of four in order to take taxis to La Folie, the restaurant at which we'd be dining at. Watching people hailing cabs was one of the most fun occurences of the evening. After being passed up by a number of taxis, my group and I jumped into a taxi SUV and we were on our way! On our way to the restaurant, I learned that our chaperone coaches both football and baseball at a local high school.

My personalized menu!

When we arrived at the restaurant we were greeted right away by a lovely woman asking for our coats. After taking coats, she led us to a small dining room off to the side. When I say small, I mean tiny. The room was vertically striped in purple and green and for some reason it reminded me of the Joker from Batman. We were all cramped in the room eating  hors d’ oeuvres. The were many options but I had the asparagus soup and a bacon and egg tart. After socializing for about ten minutes we were allowed to sit in the seats that had menus customized with our names on them. I was seated at the table closest to the door with Ms. Kronenberg to my left, Bruce Lengacher( Clara's dad) to my right, and my mother, Denise Butler directly across from me.

Delicious quail and squab wrapped in potato skins baked to perfection.

Dinner was a lovely experience. I had the quail and squab, which was much different from anything I've ever eaten. It was surprisingly delicious. The quail and squab were bundled together and then wrapped in crispy potato skins that reminded me very much of Lays Original potato chips. While eating dinner I had the chance to participate in some lovely conversations. I spoke with Clara and Dyana about the differences between a traditional high school and Middle College, which is considered an alternative school. I also spoke with Ms. Kronenberg and University of Pennsylvania Alumni about the food choices available to students on campus as well as off. Although conversing with these people over great food was fun, my overall favorite part of the night was desert. For desert I had strawberry sorbet, passionfruit sorbet in a cannoli, and chocolate sorbet. My favorites were the fruit sorbets as I'm not that big of a fan of frozen chocolate treats.

After taking group pictures and gathering our coats, we all hopped into separate cabs and headed to the BART station. Dinner at La Folie was an amazing experience and I look forward to seeing more of my cohort soon. Once again, I'd like to thank everyone who has made the Ivy league Connection what it is today.