Can't Go Wrong with Pizza, a Sandwich or even a Salad

Extreme Pizza Counter

This evening the Cornell cohort congregated at Extreme Pizza in Hercules at 6:00 PM. It was kind of a funny story about how we ended up choosing this pizza parlor to eat at. After we voted last week through an email survey put together by our chaperone Mr. Chan-Law, we ended up with a two way tie between pizza and sandwiches. I for one am tired of pizza--but I have my reason. Just up the street in Hercules is another pizza joint, Round Table Pizza (the rival of Extreme Pizza). I work there every Friday and Saturday of the week and often times eat pizza during my break along with a fountain soda (preferably Sierra-Mist).

Going back to the survey, Mr. Chan-Law later reported that someone in our cohort broke the tie by submitting their response a little later than the rest of the cohort, hailing pizza as the victor. When I arrived there, just about everyone was there except for one other member. Either way, just about a minute later the entire cohort was there and then the ordering began. At first we didn't know whether to choose a large pizza or individual items since Extreme Pizza offers an adequate variety of salads, sandwiches, calzones and of course PIZZA. In the end after a minute of semi-blankly staring at the menu and with the urging of Mr. Chan-Law we all ordered to our liking. I ordered two pizza slices named "Railroad" off of their "Carnivore" special menu, which was basically pizza with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, onions and cheese on top of the toppings instead of below the toppings (how unorthodox! but still tasty) along with a bottle of Ocean Spray "Pineapple Peach Mango Juice Blend"--which was awesome.

My half-eaten "Ugly Pizza"--Natalie Meacham

As we all sat down, it was kind of an awkward feel at first, since not everyone knew each other that well. After we all introduced ourselves and as Mr. Chan-Law's very witty conversations began to penetrate the silence, we began to socialize with one another. Among the first topics discussed were the actual courses themselves. Such as in-depth perspective about Cornell Summer College, specifically about the courses Hotel Management and Freedom and Justice. Mr. Chan-Law explained how Professor Kramnick teaches in a very old school manner, how the course is really a mixture of history, philosophy and political science--and sadly how there is no air-conditioning in his lecture room. As for the Hotel Management course, I learned that the professors are a married couple, the past ILCers that took the course all agreed that it was very challenging and that the room (being somewhat new) actually has air-conditioning.

Moving on, the most interesting part of the meeting to me was the part where Mr. Chan-law finally gave us the travel plan, which supposedly (according to Don) starts on June 16th when we depart and ends around the day of July 12th/13th. Our first destination is actually an ILC first, that of (*drum roll please) St. Louis, Missouri. Honestly, I do not know much about St. Louis, except that it's a city in the Mid-West, on the Mississippi and is home to the world famous Gateway Arch. Mr. Chan-Law informed us, that while staying there we are to visit the great institution of Washington University--I've actually heard of this college a few times, although never permanently picked up the location until now. After two days there, we will head on to the airport to take another flight to Chicago, Illinois. Now that's a city I'm well aware of, for its food, attractions, universities and such. While there we are to visit the University of Chicago and Northwestern University--although Mr. Chan-Law wasn't too clear on whether we are going to visit both or one--I definitely won't mind visiting both.

On another note Mr. Chan-Law also mentioned how by the courtesy of Mr. Ramsey, we (as ILCers) will be accommodated with some of the best hotels in the area in both St. Louis and Chicago. Not only that, but we will also attend to some of the best five-star restaurants in these cities. Thus, I bid Mr. Ramsey a very grateful and early thank you.

Group Selfie after Meeting (Katelyn and Mr. Chan-Law missing)

We also talked about how after Chicago we were to catch a transfer flight to possibly Philadelphia to Ithaca, New York. There we would commit to our respective courses and at the same time have some fun as a group on the weekends like go to Niagara Falls or catch a flick at the Cornell cinema. After the course is over, we are to attend a graduation ceremony and catch a transfer flight from Ithaca to possibly Detroit and back home.

All in all, the entire meeting was essential--for it was helpful and most of all was meant for us to get to know each other a little bit, so as someone said "We wouldn't want you guys to be total strangers before flying." As the Summer approaches we are all getting more and more excited for what lies ahead.