Candid at Cornell

Let me start off by apologizing: I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a while! Remember how I said I’m taking 6 classes this semester? Well, in these 2 weeks leading up to fall break I’ve had 4 exams, 2 problem sets, a group project, and various other commitments. As of 9:55, I’m done! I just finished my last exam before break, and am now ready to relax and catch up on life.

Instead of arranging this post into some coherent, organized piece of writing, I’m going to randomly discuss things that have come to my mind in the last couple of weeks. Ready?

• Pass/fail stresses me out. Because AEM students need a chemistry or physics course for graduation, I’m taking CHEM 1150, an introductory class for non-chem majors. The professor is laugh out loud hilarious (which you can guess when you read the funny course description here), but because of my heavy courseload I’ve decided to take this one Satisfactory-Unsatisfactory (with an “S” grade being C- or above). That way, I’m fulfilling a requirement but it doesn’t go into my GPA. Only problem? I don’t know how much I can relax in the class. Understanding I don’t need to work my butt off for an “A,” that means I don’t have to take amazing notes or study for the class daily. But at the same time, I don’t know how much “leeway” I have. Hell, knowing me, I’ll probably just overstudy for it and wish I didn’t take it pass/fail. (Also, it’s fun to go to class because there’s a balcony in Baker 200, so you feel like you’re seeing a broadway show as opposed to learning electron configurations.)
• I walked into a secret society tapping coming back from the library one night–and it creeped me out to no end. Coming back from Mann at about midnight, the campus was silent and dark. As I was walking across the Arts Quad to get back to my room, all of a sudden I saw what seemed to be 15-20 cloaked individuals doing a synchronized ritual with candles on the grass. I honestly can’t recall it exactly, because I was dying to get out of there, but after doing some research I learned it was probably a secret society tapping. See this photo from a couple years back of the tradition I saw last week (except I didn’t see a horse):

• I got accepted into a Dyson leadership program, BOLD, which should help me in my business career. I haven’t done too much with it yet, but it seems like it’s going to provide me with some good experience. I’m always looking to grow, and we get to do cool stuff (like go to ropes/challenge courses to test our skills outdoors). Learning how to lead is a good thing, right?
• Just in case I forget that I go to “ag school,” I run into cows on the ag quad every now and then. Okay, thats an exaggeration. It was for Ag Day (to celebrate agriculture), and it was still pretty cool. Nothing says stress-relief like seeing cows between classes; I’d call it an udder success.

All in all, this is a really well deserved break for me…so I’ll be soaking up my time in Connecticut before I hit the ground running again. Now that I have some time to breathe, I’ll try to write more frequently…

Happy fall break!