Around the Horn

Finals are finally over, or in my case, have been for the past 6 months, but all of my friends are finally on the same page with having fun and living up the last few days as a college student.

Is Senior Week fun?  Absolutely.  Is Senior Week relaxing?  Depends on how you look at it.  Starting in early April, Senior Week tickets for events, including white water rafting, spa days, brunches, cruises, and wine tours, go live for the mad rush of Seniors who buy to their liking.  I opted for a couple of events spread throughout the week.   Outside of events my friends and I went to the movies (Star Trek and Angels & Demons), visited a ton of bbqs and parties, soaked up sun at the Plantations, went to the driving range, and of course, hit up the Collegetown bars at night.  At the same time, the Senior Week planning committee also planned free events on campus, starting with a carnival in Barton, a Casino Night in Duffield, and free dinner catered by Dinosaur BBQ (YUM! Love those pulled pork sandwiches).

A brief picture log of a few of my week’s events…

Starting off the week with a little bit of winetasting at Cayuga Lake wineries…

A Twilight Cruise with some close friends…

A sunset dinner cruise on Seneca Lake…

And a refreshing day hike of Buttermilk Falls!

There wasn’t an excuse not to do something every day, since “final”, “thesis”, and “grade” did not apply.  This is the life of leisure.  In good company, weather, and food and drink, no better way to celebrate the past 4 years.  The Class of 2009 knows how to party, and we sure went out with a bang.

I decided last Wednesday to fly back home to LA to surprise my mom for Mother’s Day.  As much as I like to seize the day and embrace spontaneity, tickets for Virgin America were MAD CHEAP (as in <$250 round trip), and that pushed me over the edge.

While travel can be a pain, I had nothing to complain about with my flights.  In fact, with Bryant hyping up Virgin Amerca, I couldn’t wait to get on the plane.  Virgin America’s planes are hip and have the hookups, literally; they offer WiFi and live TV on their flights.  Instead of busting out an IPod, I browsed through their music library and formed my own playlist.  There’s even in-flight chat.  I didn’t use it, but it’s a potentially cute and/or creepy way to contact a cute boy you see up 2 rows.  The tray tables are not the generic gray blah:  they are shiny white plastic!  Walking onto the plane, I felt like I entered a night club instead of a potentially-claustrophobic cabin; did I mention the cabin lights are purple?

36 hours in LA was surreal and fleeting, but the smile on my mother’s face was worth the 30 hours of travel.

My friend Mike (the tall one) is on the Board of Cornell Tradition and coordinated a National Volunteer Week kickoff event a few weeks ago.  A team of students met up on Saturday and dispersed around various sites in Ithaca for a one-day service project.  Team Mike, which included myself and a few of my close friends, was sent to the Ithaca Children’s Garden by the lake, and we were in for a full day’s worth of shoveling and sawing.

Is it sad when I say that before Saturday, I had never pushed a wheelbarrow or used a pitchfork?  I learned the hard way that you cannot roll a wheelbarrow with one hand…I guess living in suburbia really only teaches you how to play a mean game of roller hockey and pop wheelies with your bike.  As a first timer, my eyes lit up when I saw that pile of mulch by the toolshed.  One of the projects was to pitchfork the mulch into wheelbarrows, then transport the goods to the other side of the garden and spread the mulch to kill the weed grass.  Scooping the mulch was hard work–watching the spores fly around the mulch area wasn’t that comforting either, but by the end of the day, the garden was spruced up and ready for the kids.

As a former Big Red student athlete, it was always hard to make it to other sporting events other than your own, since juggling 6 practices a week, weekend regattas, and a full course load leaves little time to breathe.  However, this past Saturday, I had a full bodied experience off the water and turf–as a Big Red fan.

Cornell Athletics is having an amazing spring season.  From Wrestling, Polo, and Lacrosse, to Gymnastics, Softball, and Basketball, the words “vying”, “clinching”, “Nationals”, “NCAAs”, and “finals” are splashed all over the Daily Sun sports articles.  From early morning to late afternoon, I traversed campus with my friend Lauren (who plays on the Women’s Basketball team), hitting up five different Big Red athletic events to cheer on some of my close athlete friends.

9:00AM
Location:  Collyer Boathouse
Event: Women’s Rowing vs. Dartmouth
Katy, Matt, and I woke up bright and early (after a fun Friday night out)to see our 5 rommates at their only home race of the season against the Big Green.  It was definitely hard for me to watch the races go by, since I would much rather be in the boat in the chaotic heat of the moment, rather than watch the shells go by.  Strong finish by the novices, and some great family support for the Seniors.

12:00PM
Location: Schoellkopf Stadium
Event:  Women’s Lacrosse vs. Notre Dame
After a pit stop at the Ithaca Farmer’s Market for some breakfast burritos, I met up with Lauren and Brian to watch the beginning of Women’s Lacrosse.  The Notre Dame team finished first in their league, and the Big Red were staving off the Fighting Irish, as we watched the Big Red surge to a 6-3 lead in the first half.  The final score?  11-9, Irish.  Things to note:  the very active communication among the players, and the baller coach that was just as engaged with the game as the actual lax-ers themselves.

12:30PM
Location:  Niemand-Robison Softball Field
Event:  Women’s Softball vs. Dartmouth
This was a best of 3 match for the Ivy Championship.  The Big Red sailed through the first game of the double header, winning 4-0.  The second game was not as great; Dartmouth won 5-1.  Jessy Berkey, a friend of mine from middle school, held down right field with some awesome pop-up catches.  I played softball in high school, and it was great to hear the popping of the gloves and the metal clangs of the bats once more. And stepping in remnants of sunflower seed.

2:25PM
Location:  The Robert J. Kane Sports Complex
Event: Track & Field vs. various schools
My friend Jessica runs the 400m hurdles.  And fast.  From the gun, Jessica smoked out the competition, jumping over the hurdles with ease, crossing the line a good few seconds ahead of the pack.  My other J friend, Jeomi, is a jumping goddess, but decided not to compete at the meet due to a sore hamstring, or what she called a “hammy”.

3:00PM
Location:  Schoellkopf Stadium
Event:  Men’s Lacrosse vs. Hobart
The last home game for the seniors (although I just found out that the NCAA first round against Hofstra is this Saturday at home; I will be there), I finally made it to a Men’s Lacrosse game.  Watching it live is a lot more exciting than on TV…although still just as hard to see where the ball is going.  Almost as quick, but a little more visible, are the players; watching my friends Max and Pierce sprint across the field like rockets, they would definitely smoke me out in a 40 yd. dash.  Not unless I fall to the field first from injuries sustained from a 70 mph solid rubber lacrosse ball hitting my shin.  I am cringing at the thought.  The Men squeaked by with a 8-7 win over Hobart.

At the end of the day, it felt good to see what other Big Red athletes are up to, how different sports train and play, and to see how bad my sandal tan could get.

Under a pleasant April sunset, the Class of 2009 kicked off their Senior Class celebration with a reception at the Johnson Museum.  A group of 600 Seniors gathered in the lobby for some catching up, hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and open access to the museum exhibits.  However, no Senior Sendoff is complete without a champagne toast–not just a nod to our many 21st birthday celebrations in the past year–from our lovely President David Skorton.  The mood was a lot more subdued and nostalgic than College Ave. on a Saturday night, and Skorton’s somber yet hopeful speech appropriately reflected what many of us will face in a month.  While I count my blessings everyday that I have something lined up after graduation, some of my friends are still on the lookout for jobs.  It’s a tough time to be a recent college grad, but knowing that we have a strong and extensive Cornell network behind our backs is reassuring, a reminder that we still have time to figure things (read: life) out, and that everything does come together in the end.

Skorton thanked the Class of 2009 for inviting him to the reception, mentioning that a perk of the job was being able to toast the outgoing Senior Classes each year.  Someone in the crowd then smartly retorted that another perk is the “sweet parking spot” right outside Day Hall, to which Skorton admitted in good spirits.

Cheers!