Vanderbilt Alumni Dinner

Tonight I had the pleasure of attending the Vanderbilt Alumni ILC dinner. We started out at the El Cerrito Plaza BART station at 5:00 PM. Don gave us all our tickets, money for the cab, and the address of the restaurant (La Folie). Soon after Ms. Kronenburg, Mr. Ramsey, and Mr. Blackmon (one of our interviewers and a sponsor of the program) arrived and we were on our way, ahead of schedule. We caught a direct train to the Civic Center BART station. 

We got there smoothly, but getting a cab to La Folie was another story. It took about 10 minutes of up hailing cabs to finally get four of them. I was in the last cab which arrived at La Folie just after 6:30 PM. As a teaching tool, Don had the ILC students handle the cab. We had to pay the driver, give him/her a tip, and get a receipt. I had never done this before, so it was an interesting experience. 

Once we arrived at the La Folie around 6:30, I started talking with some Vanderbilt alumni. Mr. Ramsey was in charge of seating assignments, and made sure that there were plenty of alumni around each of the students. Across the table to the right was a Vanderbilt alumni John Tisch, one of the Vanderbilt interview panelists. It was definitely nice to see a familiar face, and to not be completely surrounded by people I did not know. 

Next to me were Jared and Adam, also Vanderbilt alumni. I learned a lot about Vanderbilt through my conversations with all three of them. Before tonight, I did not know that Vanderbilt had a large marching band. I am in a high school marching band now, so going to a college with a marching band is important to me.  The Vanderbilt Marching Band even travels to the away football and basketball games. It is also traditional to wear a tie to Vanderbilt football games. I also learned that almost everyone who attends Vanderbilt lives on campus. In fact, you have to apply to live off campus, and may only do so if you are a senior. Vanderbilt is also big on fraternities and sororities. About half of the students are in one. John and Jared were even in the same fraternity.

In between talking with the alumni, we enjoyed delicious food. We started with two appetizers. 

Appetizer #1

Appetizer #2: A soft boiled egg in the shell with bread.

My main course was an asparagus soup, and "Le Boeuf" (a beef dish.)

Le Boeuf: Beef Tenderloin, Beef Short Rib, and a mini burger.

For dessert we had a mini chocolate cake. It was served warm, with melted chocolate inside.

Dessert: A chocolate cake with warm chocolate inside. The best part of the whole meal!

Overall, the dinner was an amazing experience. I got to meet many Vanderbilt alumni, ate some outstanding food, and learned how to catch and pay for a taxi. Getting a taxi back to the BART station was much easier, as the restaurant called the taxis for us. The last step before going to Vanderbilt is Orientation on June 4th. After that it is off to Vanderbilt!!