Joots - An Evening of Fun

This Friday night, the Vanderbilt cohort got together at Zachary's Pizza on Solano for an informal dinner to get to know each other better. Once I had gotten to the restaurant, at around 5 PM, I found that everyone had already found a table and were sitting down inside. After I sat down with them, I joined the conversation, which would last throughout the evening. Everyone in our cohort is able to connect with each other in some way, and it's going to be great when we all go to Nashville this summer. For example, Ms. Hansen and I spent a few minutes just talking about the U2 concert it turns out both of us had gone to just a few weeks earlier. The best thing is, we both like Mumford and Sons (the opening band) a ton. Our conversation roamed around a bit as well though. At one point, we were talking about anime, and another point about vintage clothes, and many other varied topics along the course of the evening.

At our table, taking a quick pause to get a photo

While we were talking, however, we first ordered some food, starting out with salads and ending up with a large deep-dish pizza, filled with chicken, mushrooms, and spinach. We had a surprisingly easy time of ordering the pizza, it seems like we all have similar pizza tastes! We all ate at least one slice (and I ate two, man was that pizza good) and kept talking throughout. The picture of us at our table was taken by the server, who was kind enough to take a picture of us for the blog before going on her break. Once we had finished and the server, one covering for our first one, had left us a tray of lollipops to choose from, we decided not to end the evening there. We went down the street a couple of shops and went into the store Greetings. For those of you who haven't gone to Greetings, it's this small, hole in the wall type store. It's kind of like a hidden gift shop, and it sells some really cool (and funny) items. Some, however, aren't quite for kids. There are fridge magnets, socks, greeting cards, and various other little things. Greetings was close to closing by that time, unfortunately, so we couldn't stay long. Ms. Hansen did pick up a couple of paper doll books though, and we all agreed they would make great gifts for the little girls she was giving them to. I hadn't actually heard of paper dolls before, but it sounded like everyone else had played with them growing up. Another thing I seemed to have missed is about hair and nails, being the only guy. During the dinner there was some talk about hair, nails, and clothes, so I did what I could with what limited experience I have in that area. After we had finished in the store, we walked back out into the street, thinking about what else we could do. We talked a little about what was close enough to Solano Avenue to walk to. We decided on going to Indian Rock next, since Maddie had never been and the view is spectacular from there.

The rest of my cohort, ascending Indian Rock to see the view

For those of you who haven't had a cohort take you up there, Indian Rock is this big rock that you can climb up to get a great view of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Bay Bridge, as well as downtown Oakland and other sights around the bay. We walked up the paths from Solano and we stayed there for an hour, still talking amongst ourselves. I found it funny when more people started arriving and they brought their dogs. Maddie was really happy to pet the dog that was closest to us, a younger looking dog that had a lot of energy. Other groups of people included people who had pizza from what we thought was Cheeseboard, and a guy who was talking to one of the dog owners about their dog. He took out his phone and everything, researching the type of dog that they had. I believe he said it was a Westie, but the owners didn't know for sure because the dog had been rescued. Eventually though, it was time for us to start heading back. We went back to Solano, where everyone was parked, and bid our farewells then. Before we had gone however, we decided what our next blog pic was to be! We decided to re-create the Abbey Road photo with the Beatles, but it would be us at Vanderbilt. I had this idea when we were crossing the crosswalk at the top of Solano, and we were all spread out in a line. Yet another reason to look forward to going to Vanderbilt! I'm chock full of them, and super happy I get to go with my cohort. We had a lot of fun tonight. Up next, we have the orientation Monday, so I'll see them all there!

The Vanderbilt cohort atop Indian Rock!