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.

Last Saturday, I went with two of my friends to fulfill another 4-year-long dream:  attend a Pao Bhangra performance.  Hosted by Cornell Bhangra, it is the largest Bhangra exhibition in North America, pulling teams from all over the country to perform at Barton.  This year, NYU, USC, and a few other DC-area teams visited Ithaca.  However, none of the teams were as impressive as the Cornell Men.  In front of a crowd of 2,600–a new record–the men leapfrogged, swung around, and showcased their hop-skip-and-jumping skills.

The performers’ traditional outfits were visually stunning.  With traditional head dresses (turla) and kurta and pants ensemble, they are brightly colored and intricately embroidered.  Definitely give props to the men; the garments probably kept in heat, but the performers looked like they were having a ball on stage (shout out to my friend Arjun).  The ladies team DC-BC sported color combinations that reminded me of sour gummy worms.  Flares of pink-blue and orange-green tones; unfortunately, they did not have my favorite sour gummy worm combo, red-yellow.  It was great to see the traditional and contemporary worlds collide, when one Cornell group danced to a remix of MIA’s Paper Planes.  The music was hoppin’, and I left Barton ready to rock out!

Sarah and I lovin' Florence

A lost in translation moment: From the Florence airport, Sarah and I took a 15 minute taxi ride to our hostel, a small apartment 30 seconds from the Uffizi Gallery, a five minute walk to the Duomo. The hostel was cash only, so when we checked in, we used up all of our cash and needed an ATM and a place for dinner. The hostel recommended a cheap place called Gusto Leo. This was when we realized that we didn’t know how to say “ATM” in Italian. The host greeted us outside the restaurant, eager to seat us, but got confused when we started pecking at a wall, motioning for an ATM. The host clearly spoke no English, but only understood the word “Cash.” We were soaked from the rain and cashless, on our last strings of patience (we had waited at the Barcelona airport for 6 hours…) until thankfully, an American guy walked by and asked if we were looking for an ATM. There was an ATM a few blocks away. For your reference, “Bancomat” is ATM in Italian.

Breathtaking!

The next morning, we set off on a personal tour of the Tuscan countryside. We spent the morning cruising around the Chianti Classico wine region, visiting three wineries: Castello Vicchiomaggio, where Leonardo daVinci stayed the summer he painted the Mona Lisa; Castello Verrazano, think Verrazano bridge in NYC; and a smaller villa Fattoria Montagliari. We also had olive oil and balsamic vinegar tastings (aged 20 years…rich and delectable) and a tour of a wine cellar.

Crostini, anyone?

Some villages we stopped by included Castilina, Monterriggio, the “crown” of Tuscany”, and San Gimignano, the “Manhattan” of Tuscany, complete with 12 remaining family towers. We also visited Siena, walked the square, St. Catherine’s home, the 17 different animal districts, the Duomo and Santo Domingo.

After a whirlwind trip to Europe-more updates to come over the next week-I arrived in Ithaca at 6 pm last Sunday.  Completely dazed and jetlagged, I had completely forgotten (rather, wrongly assumed) that Girl Talk, the mash-up DJ sensation, was set to perform in Barton Hall at 7 pm.

A friend welcomes me home…and offers me an extra ticket to the sold out concert.  Reluctant at first, Ryan’s “carpe diem”/once-in-a-lifetime speech wins me over, and I decide to go to the concert, skipping a much-needed post-travel shower (you know how you always feel so gross getting off a plane?).  Not that this would matter, since the huge crowd reeked of sweat anyway.

My friend Katy and I were bumped back and forth in the crowd for 10 minutes before we decided to take a water break and dance in the periphery.  Why make like a sardine when you can rock out on the sides, with a 5-foot radius for your dancing pleasure?  We stay on the edges, busting out our unique dance moves, minding our own business (”dance like no one’s watching…” possibly the most popular quote among high school girls). Before we know it, a girl working the show pulls us over and asks, “Hey, would you guys like to go up on stage?” Um, is that even a question? We get the wristband hookup, and make our way on stage.

Girl Talk was amazing.  The biggest and best dance party of the year.  Every song/sample was geniusly matched, with a mix of old and new. I managed to snap a shot from stage:

This morning, I got an email from my friend Scott. Attached:

That would be yours truly tripping out in the back.  Proof that Cornellians know how to have a good time.

For the second year in a row, Cornell Men’s Basketball is in the NCAA March Madness tournament.  They released seeds yesterday, and our #14 seed Big Red will face #3 Mizzou.  In Boise, Idaho!  Definitely wishing the guys best of luck, and you can count on me watching the game on Friday.

Like many others who try speed up the drolls of March, I’ve decided to try my hand at filling out a bracket.  In the mean time, I’ve come across a few bumps along the road:
1.  Is filling a bracket randomly just as successful as a “well-researched” bracket?  Alex is insistent that his bracket–with hours of research–is near perfection.  While I might pick winners based on funniest mascot (Western Kentucky’s Big Red Blob, who can resist?), Alex spends hours poring over reports, video, commentary, all to see which team plays a better 1-3-1 zone defense.  What does that even mean?

2.  The Cinderella stories, the potential upsets:  As far as I understand, no one has been able to fill out a perfect bracket.  There are upsets, teams who had no chance in the first round, but show up in the Sweet 16.  Could Cornell be that Cinderella team?  I put Cornell through to the second round, simply because if they lost, it would be expected, but if they won, you’d be that un-school-spirited Cornellian who didn’t believe in your own team.  Tsk, tsk, shame on you.

3. Where are some of these schools? It was a geography lesson for me, looking up the schools such as Robert Morris (Moon Township, PA) and Xavier (Cincinatti, OH).  Some I hadn’t even heard before (Virginia Commonwealth, Morgan State?).  I picked some based purely on the fact that if their names are so unfamiliar, it wasn’t random that these teams made the playoffs; they have to have some decent skill.

Things should be interesting in the next few weeks.  Bring it on, Alex.

The Cornell Cinema has been screening a series of documentaries and films that center around water.  Last night, my roommate Katy and I went to see Up the Yangtze, which centers around an impoverished family trying to make ends meets.  Realizing their inevitable eviction along with little-to-none government compensation they’ll receive as “illegal citizens”, the family decides to send their oldest daughter Cindy to work on a Yangtze cruise ship.  The damming completely exploits China’s history and integrity; the workers on the ship are taught what to say and how to act, the entertainer on the ship sings “it’s so easy to learn Chinese-y” while the tourists dress up in “traditional” yellow emperor robes.  The entire cruise centers around the fact that ancient villages and sites will soon be under water.  At the same time, the tourism industry helps China because it offers so many jobs and opportunities, to which many are grateful for.  The cinematography is absolutely stunning, seeing the juxtaposition of vanishing natural scenic beauty with concrete and metal.  As much as our media focuses on alarming economic growth and looming prosperity of China, the documentary rightfully counters the light-speed cities with the dire situation of many rural citizens .

Fellow blogger Alex and I, along with a few of our friends, hit up the slopes of Greek Peak last week.  For many Cornell students, Greek Peak is a great skiing and snowboarding option given its proximity (about a 25 minute drive) and its deals on season passes for students.  I haven’t skied in eight years, and since we were going with a mixed group of semi-beginners, intermediates, and the one expert being Alex, I crossed my fingers in hopes of surviving a day of frigid cold and steep slopes.

After leaving the rental shop with the shortest skiis possible–the 10-year-old girl in front of me had longer ones–we were out into the cold.  We warmed up on the Magic Carpet, at my request.  From there, we scaled up and skiied down a bevy of green and blue courses.  Alex would take up some black diamond ones, since the green dot is probably a sign of boredom to him rather than a sign of comfort for me.  The mountain was busy, to be expected on a weekend, but not crowded.  We rode the ski lifts with little wait time.  However, but 4:30, the windchill picked up, and we were ready for home.  With windburned cheeks and reverse-raccoon syndrome (an outline of our ski goggles), we drove home happy and slightly sore.

The night before I was due back in Ithaca, my mom decided on a whim that we go on a dinner date and see Slumdog Millionaire, much to my delight.  However, the moment my mom suggested the 7 pm showing, I signaled a red flag.  My mom passes out at around 8:30pm so routinely that my dad has programmed the bedside lamps and the TV to automatically turn off at 10 pm.  When it comes to shows, the TV usually watches her or she sleeps off $100 worth of a $150 Cirque du Soleil ticket.  There is a point to this preface, but let’s move on.

After coming home from work, my mom and I grabbed a quick dinner at our favorite Mexican eatery–Baja Fresh.  Fully fed and carbonated, we headed into a theater with only a sprinkling of people.  For two hours, I sat tensely, eyes darting with the quick cinematography, adrenaline pumping with all the chase scenes, heart melting for the kids and slums of Mumbai.  The storyline weaves the lessons of how one’s childhood experience affects the future so subtly, how love and resilience can triumph in even the most dire of situations, and how fate can bring fame and fortune to the most unassuming being.  The film brings attention to the alarming and chaotic situation in India, how much more the world needs to step up and offer a helping hand.

I was in tears at the end of the movie: that hasn’t happened in awhile.  I looked over to my mom, and she was awake: that hasn’t happened in years.  On top of it all, Slumdog has been sweeping the awards shows, most recently at the SAG Awards this past Sunday.  I definitely recommend catching a showing, and hope that you make that your final answer.

I enjoy watching The Office on NBC.  The writing, acting, and mockumentary format make the ridiculous storylines so believable.  Well, after tonight, it just upgraded to platinum status.

Just a little background on a specific story line: Dwight Schrute, who moonlights as a beet farmer, anime lover, and loves to wear shades of mustard yellow shirts, is by far one of the strangest paper salesmen on staff.  Andy Bernard, the Cornellian sycophant, is engaged to Dwight’s secret office love, the uptight accountant Angela.  In an effort to tick Andy off, Dwight shows up to work in a Cornell sweatshirt and proceeds to adorn his desk with Cornell peraphernalia.  While in the break room, Dwight tries to push more buttons:

Dwight: “So how do you think we’re gonna do against Penn this year? Nathan Ford’s arm looks pretty strong.”

My jaw dropped.  Nate just got a shout out on primetime television.  It’s totally deserving, and pretty darn awesome.  Nate is so down-to-earth and an amazing athlete, and as obnoxious as the writers try to shade Cornell, I do give them cred for getting their facts straight.

An opera class would never be complete without a visit to the opera house…in Syracuse.  Half of the class ventured to the Crouse-Hinds Theater to see Die Zauberflote, or Mozart’s The Magic Flute.  I love how the class is so small, but because there is so much material to cover in a 50-minute class, all of the students never have an opportunity to get to know each other.  That’s nothing that a 1 hour drive can’t solve, and I got to know four of my classmates during our commute.  We come from all different majors, from Math and Engineering to Psychology and English; it’s lovely knowing that music really does transcend and connect to different audiences.

While the Syracuse Opera is not the Met by any means, it was still a treat to dress up and listen to a live opera.  Having studied the Magic Flute in class the previous two weeks, all of us were well-versed with the libretto, so the opera was easy to follow, and we could enjoy the musical ingenuity of Mozart.  The production was light-hearted and comical, a good cap to a prelim/paper heavy week.