Cornell and Beyond

to fill the hole that facebook left behind

I’ve caught myself almost logging into my facebook profile several times now. (For those of you not in the know, I deactivated my account.)

Unfortunately this hasn’t directly translated into the extra hours of study time like I thought it would. Instead I’ve found other ways to procastinate.

My new favorite (or should I say favourite?): The Straight Dope

Because finding out why pigeons bob their heads is so much more enriching.

my own pearl of wisdom!

It took me a year at Cornell to learn what I’m about to tell you, so pay careful heed! Here is the most important thing I learned in college (Well, one of the most important things.)

Relax.

It’s as simple as that. I have tons of work to do, MCATS, exams, essays, labs. One could potentially never stop doing work, if the body and mind had that capability, which, I’m very thankful for, it doesn’t.

However, today was a particularly productive day bordering on non-stop work; I spent a good 7 hours in the library on and off. As my flatmate and I left the library at 10 PM she said she felt like a mole just emerging from its den. I’d have to say that’s a pretty apt analogy.

In previous years, I might have been hysterical with worry about a state of affairs like this. (In other words, piles and piles of work, with no end but plenty of deadlines in sight.)

But after a summer in Ithaca, I realized that it’s easy to forget the most important rule. (It’s amazing what being at school without having all the pressures of the academic year can do for the psyche.)

Relax.

Because after a certain point, stressing just doesn’t help. Quite the opposite. So I took my own advice and went for a lovely walk around town and the river, exploring all these nooks and crannies I had never seen before and identifying possible Sunday-lunch pubs with my friend. It made my day so much better just to get out of the doomsday mentality exam time tends to bring.

Maybe, yes, grades matter. But so does life.

And that particular pretentious philosophical moment should be good for the next couple of entries. And my alliteration, it seems. Cheers!

just trying to be helpful

I’ve had some e-mails (and by some I mean one) requesting pictures of Cornell. While I know my pictures of Europe have blown everyone out of the water, I figure pictures of the Leaning Tower of Pisa don’t quite replicate Cornell’s own Clock Tower.

Matt Hintsa, Cornell Daily Sun staff photographer, maintains his own blog. On the right hand side of his page are links to his flickr photos and Cornell Daily Sun photos.

The pics should give you a good taste of what Cornell is like, plus they are a whole lot nicer than anything I could ever put up. Enjoy.

PS- Those of you who are very vigilant will have noticed that I started a new category, UK summer term. That’s because when my classes start on Monday, I will be in a new teaching block, the summer term. (My four week Easter break doesn’t look so good now that I have 2 months left of school, while my fellow Cornellians back home have about 2 weeks.)

So far away, and yet so close to home…

As a college student, I think it is impossible to ignore the recent VA Tech shootings.

Although I am not on campus, I’m receiving constant Cornell e-mails on what our campus is doing to deal with this tragedy. (What a trite word, and yet, how else to describe it?)

Most recently, I just received an e-mail including a transcript of the Sage Chapel Memorial Service.

Here is an excerpt from President Skorton’s remarks:

“…We are here today to affirm that one-ness and to draw strength from
each other, to find peace in each other, to care for each other and to share our love.

We are one.

We are here to bear witness to the passing of the 33 members of our
family at Virginia Tech University who have met an untimely and
terrible fate.

We are here for all of those who are gone, for all 33…

…We are here to recognize that there are many issues to discuss, many
plans to be made, many disagreements to be settled, causes to be
sought, remedies to be conceived — but not today, not now. Now, we
are here to comfort and be comforted, to remember.

We are one…”

My friend at Cornell said to me that something like this puts everything into perspective. For all the stress, exams, and petty drama that a college student goes through, this is a reminder to keep in mind the things that are truly important. I think I’ve figured out what those things are for me.

What’s important to you?

My thoughts and prayers with the entire VA Tech community. And for that matter, all those lives around the world which violence has abruptly brought to an end.

international slumber party with strangers

Now, I know that the airport is not the most interesting part of being abroad, or traveling to Italy for that matter. However, I had a pretty unique experience at Stansted Airport when I went to Italy a couple of weeks ago.

I was in central London at the time of my departure, so all I needed to do was catch a 90 minute bus ride to the airport. However, matters get complicated when you realize that my flight was scheduled to leave at 6 in the morning. Considering you need to arrive at least a couple of hours before, this meant that my estimated time frame for departing central London would be around 3 in the morning. I did a quick cost-benefit analysis on getting a hostel for about 3 hours of sleep, and with the help of http://www.sleepinginairports.net I decided it would be simply wiser (and cheaper) to get to Stansted the night before.

I arrived around 10, and after lingering much too long over a coffee, I set out to find a comfortable nest for the night. I wandered to the other side of the airport and was amazed to find benches absolutely packed with people sleeping, dozing, or looking rather grumpy. The methodologies people used to get to sleep were diverse and creative, although I can’t say any looked very comfortable, considering most of the benches had arm rests in between seats. However, after much anguished searching, I secured a two seater no arm rest victory!

Needless to say, I got about 3 hours of sleep, if I was lucky, before I had to get up and stand in line to check in. (Which you may want to note is exactly the same as what I would have gotten had I just gotten a hostel.)

Which might be the end of the story. But it’s not. This is because when I was waiting to board at the gate, I decided I had enough time to go grab a snack. I took my own sweet time, and 20 minutes later returned leisurely to the boarding area and took my place in line.

Enter dashing American male, name unknown, approximately college-age. He looks at me and says, “Is this yours?” I see he’s holding a passport in his hand. I take it, open it, and what do you know, but there’s my picture staring back at me.

Turns out, I had been smart enough to LEAVE my passport on my seat when I got up to go get a snack. He had found it and with the help of another girl who recognized me sought me out and returned it. Since I hadn’t even realized that I had lost it until that moment, all I could say was “Thank you.” He looked at me strangely and said, “For someone who just lost their passport, you don’t look very panicked.” I didn’t realize that he didn’t understand that I hadn’t known that I had lost it. (Understand?) So all I could think of to say was, “Thank you very much.” He looked a little more satiated and he went on his way. And two minutes later, we start to board. It took a while to hit me that I was literally 5 minutes away from missing my entire trip to Italy AND creating a very unpleasant trip to the American embassy, all because of a little absentmindedness on my part.

Moral of the story: Always keep your passport in what I like to your “pouch.” (Those super cool satchels that hang around your neck and hold your passport, money and important documents.) I actually had a pouch but had taken out the passport to go through security. I’ll tell you one thing, there was top level security clearance needed for packing and unpacking of my pouch at all times after this incident. And thankfully, I made it back to Bristol with passport and pouch intact.

Also, if you know of any kind-hearted Americans who were in Stansted Airport on April 2^nd, 2007 and returned a passport to an oddly serene, sleep deprived fellow Yank, please pass along my sincerest thanks. And apologies for my less than stellar excitement at its return.

it’s a small world after all

I forgot to mention this little anecdote that occurred during my travels…

We were in Rome on Good Friday, which of course meant huge crowds. So instead of actually entering any of the must-see sites, we wandered around in front of them, shaking our heads at the 3 hour + lines and reasoning that it was almost as good to see the Sistine Chapel from the outside. (It’s not.)
After giving up on the Sistine Chapel queue in question, all of a sudden I heard someone shouting, “Cornell! Cornell! Cornell!”

I turn around to find a girl addressing me! She looked familiar but I didn’t know her, and she quickly established that she didn’t know me either, although we both go to Cornell. While waiting in line her friend had recognized me from the Cornell campus, and eager to seek out a fellow Cornellian, she had done the duty of running after me and screaming Cornell. Within seconds we established our one degree of separation. (She’s studying abroad in France with one of my coworkers back at the Cornell Annual Fund.) I thanked her sincerely for hunting me down, as I had been secretly waiting to find a Cornell connection in Italy. It made my day to see another Cornellian, and right now I realize how much I’d love to be back on campus myself, with my own favorite Cornellians. Yes, even though it is snowing there. In April. And it’s 70 here. OK, maybe I’m happy right where I am. But there’s no denying it, Cornell and Cornellians are a special lot! Big Red runs deep.

one of the most incredible things I’ve done since my arrival in England

I can’t believe I just did that…

I did the unthinkable, the unfathomable, the improbable, the extraordinary.

What did I do?

I deactivated my facebook account.

Whoa. I know. I said the same thing when I realized I had actually gone ahead and done it.

I’ve been pondering it for the past few months, for several reasons.

1) It sucks up my time. I log in, it’s 9 PM. I log off and glance at the screen, it’s midnight…I was just checking my messages! What happened, is what I’d like to know.

2) It sucks up my time. If I’m getting distracted while writing an essay, I’ll give myself a treat and check facebook, ever so briefly. However, the fact that I only check facebook for 30 seconds at a time is negated since I keep checking it every 45 seconds.

3) It sucks up my time. I have exams. I have MCATS. I’d like to think I have a life. (This last one might be wishful thinking ) I should NOT be on facebook multiple times a day.

4) It sucks up my time. Did I mention this one already?

You might say that I’m weak for deactivating my account and not simply restraining myself. Well fine then, call me weak. But how many of you out there could deactivate your facebook account? Touché.

Part II. My voyages in England (and Ireland)

Since this section is England 101 I might as well talk about the travels I did around England. (I’ve added Ireland in this section because it was sandwiched in between my England travels, and I have difficulty going beyond simply chronological anecdotes.)

Because I think telling you everything might just bore you into never reading this blog again I will instead pick out some of the highlights…

Chapter 1. London

It’s amazing that it took me 3 months to visit London. Then again, maybe not. It took me about 15 years before I visited Philadelphia when I lived in NJ, so that example of taking proximity for granted might win. Anyway, I QUICKLY made up for it this time by doing a whirlwind tour of all the major sites in about a week and a half. The London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Tate Modern, the Millennium Bridge, the National Gallery, West End Theatre, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, the list goes on. And on, and on, and on…

Chapter 2. Dublin

Getting to Dublin was half the fun. That’s because it was my first experience with that ubiquitous budget airline, Ryanair. Yes, you can get some dirt cheap tickets, but what’s the experience like? First, there are no seat assignments so it’s a free for all. Second, I paid almost 5 US dollars for a bottle of water. (Although, granted, that’s also due to the horrible exchange rate the dollar has been getting lately. But don’t even start me on that, I could complain about that one for quite a while. For example, my $20 burger and fries in Bristol…I told you so!) They also sell lottery scratch tickets, train tickets, and perfume on board. Well, I’ll certainly credit this airline with creativity! Dublin itself was nice, my friend Viv and I splurged on a professional tour to Malahide Castle, which was worth it, if for nothing else than to learn about the history of Ireland. Because it’s one thing to see all the sights, but it’s another to actually appreciate what you’re seeing.

Wow, I have so much more to tell you all about! Staying in hostels, losing my passport without knowing it, Italy during Easter, phew! It’s a good thing I do have this list because unfortunately my life is not very interesting now that I’m back in Bristol. It consists mostly of me waking up, going to a café to study, and coming home. Throw eating, bathing, and facebook into the mix and you have my last couple of days pretty much in their entirety. (Mostly everyone else in my residence hall are still away for break.) That’s alright though, because at least I get to relax. I only have about 10 more days of break to enjoy! (That was a bit of teaser, since I’ve had a month off in all…you poor students studying in America with a silly one week spring break are surely giving me sour looks at this moment! Don’t worry though, I have exams till June -that might make up for it.)

Seriously, I’m done blabbing now. Till next time, cheers!

PS- Find below pictures of my lovely, lovely visitors ; )

I am very lucky to have such great friends…and not just those pictured here

Part I. Worth a thousand words…

On the way to Malahide Castle in Dublin…

Yes, I did see Daniel Radcliffe, i.e. Harry Potter in the nude, but the play was much more than just that.  Seriously.

The Gravity Bar is the last stop in the Guinness Tour in Dublin; you get 360 degree views of the city, and a free pint of Guinness.  (Well, if you count a 9 euro admission as free.)

Yep, it’s that tower.  You know, the leaning one.

Naples, one of the most intense cities I’ve ever been in, and that includes Paris, Rome, and NYC.

Views from Pompeii -stunning.

St. Peters in the Vatican City.  Standing in front of it sent shivers up my spine.  I kid you not.

What I consider to be one of the most fun parts of travelling…wandering through the little side streets using your map and not your guidebook.  Pictured here are my friends and I doing just that in Rome.

Stay tuned for Part II…

and now greetings from Naples!

Again, this is going to be a tiny little blip of an entry, but just wanted to say hello from Naples!  I am about to leave for a day trip to Mt. Vesuvius, but before I do let me fill you in…since leaving Bristol I have:

*Seen Equus

*Almost lost my passport

*Sat in a Florentine piazza eating gelatto

AND MORE!

I promise I will make up this dearth of details upon my return to Bristol, but till then, ciao!