Meet and Greet at Zachary’s

Some of the art showcased at
Zachary's Chicago Pizza

Tonight was the first time the UChicago cohort was able to meet our chaperone, Mr. John Hillyer. We had all been in contact for the past couple of days to organize our meet and greet. Mr. Hillyer suggested we meet at Zachary’s Chicago Pizza at 6 PM on Saturday night. I had never heard of the place but I thought it was very fitting that we have our first meeting and discussion about Chicago over Chicago style deep dish pizza.

I arrived at Zachary’s after Mr. Hillyer and I was able to spot him right away because of the description he gave of, “tall guy with blue polo shirt, tan shorts, blue hat, and beard.” Soon after we were joined by Maxime, Isaac, Shreejal, and Jahnvi, a past UChicago cohort member. Together we were able to squeeze into a table in the corner meant for four but occupied by six.

Once we settled in, Mr. Hillyer suggested we order right away because apparently deep dish pizza takes 40 minutes to make! We decided on two medium pizzas that would satisfy both the meat eaters and the vegetarians of the group.

The pizza we waited 40 minutes for

While we waited we discussed much of what to expect once we got to Chicago. Mr. Hillyer shared what we could expect for the first few days of our trip. We also got to learn more about his experience with the ILC. He shared that he has been a chaperone for more than five years. Having someone with this much experience certainly makes me feel more comfortable with making the trip.

We also got to hear a lot of first-hand experiences on the UChicago campus from Jahnvi, a member of the 2017 UChicago cohort. She shared what we could expect in class, in the dorms, and provided us with many other tips. Getting to hear from someone who has already experienced everything we are going to go through was definitely  beneficial and I am thankful she could make it to dinner. The 40 or so minutes we spent waiting for the pizza went by pretty fast because of our discussion.

After the pizza arrived we did less talking and a lot of eating! After having a couple of slices of pizza, multiple drink refills, and discussing more, we decided to call it a night. 

I greatly enjoyed this dinner because it provided me with a better idea of what the experience in Chicago will be like. I loved getting to know Mr. Hillyer and Jahnvi and hearing their past experiences. I hope I get to hear more from ILC alumni further down the road.