Late to the Party, but Just in Time for Pizza

Catching golden hour in the city--
the cause of my tardiness.

Last night, I got to see the rest of the UChicago cohort again, this time in a more casual setting. We had dinner at a restaurant in Berkeley called Jupiter. I was taking pictures in San Francisco and had decided to take BART to Berkeley. However, I accidentally boarded a Dublin/Pleasanton train, so I had to get off at the West Oakland station and wait for a Pittsburg/Bay Pt. train to come, which delayed my arrival to Berkeley by around 20 minutes (we had agreed to meet at 8 PM).

When I got to the restaurant, it was a little after 8:20 PM. I had walked by it several times in previous trips to Berkeley, so it wasn’t that hard to find. Despite my tardiness, everything was going smoothly, until I tried to actually get inside the restaurant. As I was stepping over the threshold, a bouncer stopped me and told me that the restaurant only allowed individuals above the age of 18 after 8 PM. I don’t even have a driver’s license, so there was no way of trying to trick my way in. I asked if I could contact a member of my party to retrieve me, and the bouncer obliged. At this point, I stepped away from the doorway and texted Ms. Sciacca. After around 5 minutes, she still hadn’t responded, and both the bouncer and I were still standing kind of awkwardly near the entrance as people entered and exited the restaurant. I guess he either felt bad for me or wanted to get away from me, so eventually he relented and told me I could go inside as long as I didn’t order any alcohol, which I wasn’t planning on doing anyway.

I went upstairs, which was where Ms. Sciacca had said earlier the group was sitting. I said hi to everyone, and the food arrived probably no later than 3 or 4 minutes after I sat down. They had ordered 2 pizzas (before I came); I didn’t get to see the menu, so I don’t know their official titles, but one of the pizzas had a pesto base and the other one had a more traditional tomato sauce base. Both pies were thin crust and delicious, but I typically enjoy tomato sauce-based pizzas more because they usually have a lighter, fresher taste than heavier varieties like pesto or white pies. I only remembered to take photos for the blog after the pizzas were pretty much finished up, which is regretful because they were very visually pleasing.

The scene at the table, post-food.

After we ate, we went to the large outdoor area downstairs and took a group photo. There was live music, and in front of the band there was this little kid dancing. He was pretty cute, and the band playing loved his enthusiasm. We watched him for a while, then left the restaurant.

Cohort picture, taken in the outdoors area behind the restaurant.

After we exited the restaurant, we chatted for awhile in front of it as we waited for parents to come. I was going to take BART home, but didn’t want to leave before everyone else, so I stayed for a while. Lindsay and Jahnvi were picked up fairly promptly, which left Cecilia, Ms. Sciacca, and I. We talked about the benefits and drawbacks of khan academy and then a little about the stressful nature of the ACT’s time limits. After around 10 minutes, Cecilia’s parents came, and the three of us parted ways.

Even though I was a little late, the dinner as a whole was fun. I got to talk to the rest of my cohort, which is always a good experience, and I feel like the four of us grew a lot closer to Ms. Sciacca. July is approaching, and it’s going to be great.