Letters
3 weeks out of graduation, I’ve finally finished my last Cornell-related project (first alumni reunion orchestra performance!), and only have a couple of loose strings to tie together to tuck away College. The World Cup is in full swing, which means that even if the weather is beautiful, I am inside typing away on my computer, where I can watch the live stream from ESPN3 (thanks Nick!). I’m still in complete denial of being a newly minted alumnus and am getting (probably unnecessarily) sentimental and nostalgic. Which leads me to write thank you letters —
Dear parents, siblings, family, & people who give goodwill to Cornell and CAPS,
Thanks for putting us through this. Without you all and your consistent support, we wouldn’t be here. We also wouldn’t have gone to college, not just that last walk around the Arts Quad, the moment onstage at Barnes Hall, or the one last group picture on that bright, sunny day. We’re indebted to you all, and I hope we’ll soon be as generously supportive as you are for us.
Dear Profs. Xu Xin, Bush, Cochran, Chen Jian, Carlson, Mertha, McNeal, & our Chinese teachers,
Thanks for your patience in putting up with us and seeing us through the past four years. You all spent so much time on our behalf, not just in the classroom or office hours, but for meetings and seminars for the program, and for trips when you took us around D.C. and Shandong. We may’ve learned a thing or two from Edgar Snow and Francis Fukuyama (and Bob Ross JUST KIDDING we are mostly Katzensteinians through and through), but we learned so, so much more from you all.
Dear Duan Hong, Hao Xinmiao, Haiyan, and Darla,
Thank you so much for all the work you’ve put into keeping us and the program orderly! We’ve learned that universities are very complex and that China is very complex, but we have also learned that Chinese universities are very, very, very complex. If you guys didn’t simplify the complexities, I’m pretty sure there would’ve been a riot, which would’ve been very undiplomatic and completely against the CAPS mission.
Dear Classes of 2008 & 2009,
Thanks for all your advice and your candor. We really were lucky to be able to look up people as great as you guys, to have someone who’d show us around their version of Beijing. It was awesome to be with you guys in Ithaca and Beijing, and I certainly hope our paths will cross many more times in other cities.
Dear Classes of 2011, 2012, 2013+,
I haven’t had a chance to really get to know every one of you, but those I’ve met are all pretty fantastic and I have a hunch that you’re all pretty great people. You guys did a great job back in April with your project, and I hope you’ll keep doing it in the coming years, and that you won’t hesitate to approach us with questions, should there be any. Oh, and good luck trying to top us (Class of 2010) off on the awesome scale. Do you guys have it in you? I’d like to see you guys at least try. 🙂
And, last but not certainly least:
Dear Class of 2010,
We’ve fought over the seminar table for the best seats in Professor Bush’s class (Professor, did you know that some of us would arrive 20 minutes early, just so we can see you AND your slides without giving ourselves a neck muscle workout?), and with 叶老师,we’ve cooked pans upon pans of dumplings together. Aside from our many potlucks, we traipsed around D.C.’s museums and culinary offerings, and some of you were more adventurous and hunted down the city’s best 4-month fitness center deal. We braved the streets (and traffic) of Beijing, shared plates upon plates of food (lots of broccoli) from the Lanzhou restaurant, and ordered beverage upon beverage at SanlitunR. We worked together and provided half the manpower for the American booth at the International Culture Festival, and then travelled to Shandong for a weekend of temples, Qingdaos, and of course, the Gou-le man. We (okay, mostly Matt/Nick/Jon/Pwin) paddled out on Kunming Lake on one of the most beautifully cloudless days of the semester and scaled the Great Wall (Scott, how you did it with a cigarette in hand is still a mystery to the rest of us), where we drew some heads with our photography project. We’ve haggled for the best prices on name chops (Christine, you totally take the cake on this one), deliberated the name of the Inaugural Beijing Scavenger Hunt biking gang (too bad half the tires were blown), and kicked around jianzi with our alums (hey Max&Max/Andrew/Justin/Liz!). We woke up at scandalous hours for Chinese class and walked through deep snow, shivered in our dorm rooms on our very firm beds (very, very firm), mooched wireless signal from 4-402, and got in touch with our childhood past by building, un-building (dismantling?), and trying to build again a (faux) Lego helicopter. While we have our individual differences (occasionally balancing and bandwagoning with each other) and come from a broad range of backgrounds and interests (ice cream, anyone?), the fact that we all gravitated towards the same major and spent hours working with each other so harmoniously goes to show how we are absolutely, positively, indubitably amazing. I had an incredible time with you guys, and feel truly, truly lucky to have had the chance to get to know you all.