Caitlin’s Blog

Hi folks! I know it’s been an embarassingly long time since my last post…what can I say, Cornell has been keeping me busy. This semester especially has been tough, though thats mostly because of my Middle Eastern Politics class, which is seriously hard. We’ve had two prelims so far plus a thesis paper, and about a million more pages of readings than anyone could possibly do…it’s a little overwhelming. No, it’s actually a lot overwhelming. Arabic continues to be one of my favorite classes, which is great because I’ve basically decided both to be a Near Eastern Studies major and to do the Intensive Arabic Program next year. This would basically entail 16 credits worth of Arabic classes in the fall semester (Intermediate I and II plus Advanced I and II) and traveling to and studying in Jordan in the spring semester. I think it’s supposed to be a pretty small group, but that’s self-selection more than anything else.

I also had to deal with housing pretty recently. I got lucky, drawing a pretty early timeslot, but even by the time I was able to log in, most of the housing on West Campus seemed to be gone. I was originally planning to get a suite with some of my friends, but we weren’t able to find any open suites in any of the dorms. I ended up in Hans Bethe house, which is exciting because it’s one of the nice new ones, but the friends I planned to block with are in Lyon. Lyon is one of the most beautiful buildings on campus from the outside, as on of several which are known as The Gothics, for their gothic arches, square towers and beautiful stonework, but on the inside its substantially more dreary. The night we all signed up for houses, we went to have dinner on West and explore our new homes, and my friends weren’t altogether thrilled. Having lived in one of the really old buildings on North campus, I understand; there’s spiders in the summer and drafty windows in the winter, and when you turn the heat up, sometimes the radiators make a horrible screaming sound. I’ve just been trying to convince them that they can come visit me in my lovely single in Bethe any time they want!

I finished my work a little early tonight (which is why I had time for a post!) so I think I’ll get to sleep at a reasonable hour tonight so I can avoid sleeping through any of my classes tomorrow.