A Day at Penn

We started the day off by joining the Columbia group to visit Independence Hall, which was very neat, especially because of the thought that the founding fathers would have stood at the same spots that we stood in. I was very surprised that they had most of the original artifacts from the 1700s at their sites because I would have expected replica chairs since the originals were well over 200 years old. After seeing such a fantastic historical site, we visited the National Constitution Center before arriving to our main destination, the University of Pennsylvania.

Independence Hall

We took two taxis to the college and arrived at College Hall, where we began our tour. Our tour guide, Ana (I think), gave us some very interesting facts, while showing us this great campus. Though it got very sunny and humid, it was a marvelous experience. This was the first old school college I've seen, and I really liked it. The one thing that stuck in my head from what Ana said was the traditions that follow this prestigious school, including Hay Day, where Juniors wear straw hats and march through the school.

Amazing U Penn Building

We finished off a nice day with a superb dinner at the Fountain Restaurant located in the Four Seasons Hotel. When reading Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy for my summer assignment, Mr. Sharp, the founder of the Four Seasons Hotels clearly stated that his main priority was customer service, and I wanted to see how great their top rated service actually was. When arriving by taxi, we were immediately welcomed by the employees, who opened our doors and greeted us courteously. We entered the hotel and saw our guests, the UPenn alumni and admission's officers. They were as nice as one could hope, and they treated us teenagers like adults. We all entered our reserved room, and again, were greeted by the waiters. I sat next to two very amazing admission's officers, David and Amy, and we discussed about school activities and why UPenn is their choice university.

The food we ate there was probably the best I ever had. For the appetizer, I had a delicious halibut, topped with some cashew butter and Forbidden Black Rice. The main entree was a mix of seafood that included lobster, fish, shrimp, and was balanced out with some rice. To top off this delicious meal, I had an extremely rich chocolate souffle. This delicious chocolate souffle was a little too much for me to finish, however. For the first time in a while, I was actually full from a fancy restaurant (not including yesterday's steakhouse.) What was really surprising for me was that the chef walked in to make sure everything was okay. I mean, how many other restaurants do that?

Appetizer: the halibut

The Main Course: mixed seafood

Desert: the chocolate souffle

As the first full day of the East Coast, I'm glad that we went to UPenn. The campus was filled with trees, making the buildings look more magnificent, and the third oldest college of the Ivy Leagues, which was founded in 1740. Not only is the campus amazing, their people, including the alumni, admissions officers, and even current students had great personalities.