I'm sorry that I have not had the chance to write in quite a while. As you can imagine, wrapping up at UPenn, arriving at SFO in the evening, driving to Delano early Sunday morning to pick up my own "kids" from "grandma", who met me half way from LA, getting back home Sunday night and starting work on Monday morning, I've been a bit cramped for time. Nonetheless, I still have so much to say about my last few days at UPenn and my overall experience with the Ivy League Connection program at UPenn.After spending an amazing day at Princeton, Charles and I returned to Philadelphia to get ready for dinner with the girls and the representatives from La Casa Latina, America Espinal, and PAACH, Dr. June Chu.
Courtney, Susan, and Cynthia had all visited with June during the past week and had a great experience meeting her. The girls had all been a bit anxious about what to wear to the dinner, etc. One of the girls even asked if she could wear jeans or flip flops to Le Bec Fin for dinner. After saying "no" several times, the girls were ready to go to dinner. We all met at the Sheraton hotel and took the trolly to the civic center/downtown area near Walnut and 14th, where Le Bec Fin is located.Upon entering the restaurant, we were all impressed and in awe with the beauty and elegance of the
restaurant. The menu had so many great choices that it was difficult to choose only a few items.
After finishing my divine pasta dinner, we all had the pleasure of eating dessert at Le Bec Fin. It turns out that dessert is limitless! We were told what every single dessert on the dessert tray was and then we were allowed to chose as many, and as much of what ever we so desired. Imagine that!! Now remember, Charles was with seven other women at this dinner, and at this point, we were seven, very happy women! At the end of our dinner, we also got to take a picture with Chef Perrier, who is very well known because of his success with Le Bec Fin.
After dinner, we all took the trolly back home to University City. That, in and of itself, was an adventure. The girls and Charles all thought that the ride home didn't seem too safe, but to be honest, it was perfectly fine. They just weren't used to the environment we had to traverse in order to get home. And, we also knew that we had Charles there to protect us!!I can't begin to thank Charles enough for a wonderful evening, dinner, and time. We spent almost four hours at Le Bec Fin and during those four hours, we had the wonderful opportunity to not only get to know our girls more, but to find out about UPenn from June and America. Furthermore, June is going to keep in touch with Susan and help her with her application to UPenn this fall, and America is going to keep tabs on Bertha and help her transition into UPenn smoothly. So, a BIG THANKS from the girls and me!!
1 comment:
Patty⎯Didn’t your mother ever teach how rude it is to go up to starving people and eat your lavish meal right in front of them? The way you were describing your menu options and the never-ending dessert tray, that was just plain cruel! Shame on you. Do I have to write about the microwaved leftovers people like me had to get by on?
While you may have been enthralled with the meal and the desserts, I would have been gushing on about dining with seven young women. I guess it’s just a matter of priorities. Good looking young women in dresses? It doesn’t get much better than that unless they’re of the age of consent.
I’m glad you were able to convince your charges of the importance of dressing appropriately for the affair. Even though I’m a shorts and sandal kind of guy, I know how to wear shoes that cover my toes. [I purchased my dress boots in 1991 and I’m guessing they’ll still be in good shape for another 15 years or so. This just goes to show how seldom I put them on. I don’t want to wear them out, do I? On the other hand, I have to send my sandals in for a complete overhaul about every 14 months.]
As much as the classroom experiences should have been the focus of these trips, the social occasions like this one can be worth their weight in gold. And the food isn’t half bad, either.
And lest you overrate Charles’ ability to protect you all, unless he can beat them off with his cell phone or harangue them half to death, you may want to rethink your security. Had you been with the Ladies from Brown, they all would have jumped at the chance to show off their newfound self defense skills and blood surely would have been spilled.
And, of course, the photos tell it all.
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