The Crazy Cornellian

Orientation was only a couple of days, but there sure was a lot going on.  I spent a good amount of time helping out the club I’m in, the Cornell Japanese Animation Society (CJAS).  We’re known around campus for our impressive chalkings.  Chalkings in case you don’t know are a common form of advertising at Cornell and many other Schools.  Students write down events and such in chalk on walkways in hope that people will read them while walking around.  Ithaca isn’t perhaps the best place in the world to do chalkings as it rains so often, but the weather has been nice lately and getting fresh blood is crucial for organizations.

Different groups have there own signature chalkings.  The Hangovers have their many smiley faces, The Cordials have their colorful martini glasses, and CJAS has their anime characters.   Competition over chalking area is fierce especially during orientation.  Also, it’s important for organizations to follow SAO guidelines.  For the most part these rules are followed, but not always.  Also, writing over another clubs advertisements is a big no no, just wait for rain and then there will be lots more room to use.

CJAS really only has two skilled artists but lots of people can help out with the tedious parts of chalking like filling in colors thoroughly and doing lettering for information (if they can spell).  So I don’t have much drawing skill, but I am an expert at filling in the colors.  I remember all those long grueling hours of training as a child for this.  This orientation we did three chalkings around campus.  My fingers hurt after a while, and my pants turned strange colors, but I did discover the answer to a long pondered question. Can you get sunburned in Ithaca? The answer is yes.

I also went to ClubFest last Sunday.  I helped out with the table for CJAS and wondered around.  As usual there was a lot of enthusiasm from clubs and a big turnout.  My only complaint is that they had really loud music. I hurt my voice trying to talk to people.  It seems silly to have ClubFest when people have trouble talking to each other.

Right now it has been only two weeks since I got back to Ithaca.  Classes have started and I’ve already had problem sets due.  So many things are going on that it already feels like I’ve never left.

Greetings Class of 2012 and transfers; welcome to Cornell! Today all new students arrive to Cornell and orientation begins. I remember those exciting and nervous times being a freshman two years ago, waiting anxiously for my parents to leave and throwing something together last minute for the “required” reading project essay. Well I hope everyone has fun before the crunch of classes begins.

The orientation guide this year is called “The Orientation Files” and labeled “TOP SECRET”, but you can access it at the orientation website. It’s pretty silly, filled with comics that have tips for students. I’m not sure if it really works, but I give Cornell credit for trying something different. The reading project book this year is Lincoln at Gettysburg. Eek, it’s only a stub on Wikipedia, you Cornell Wikipedians really need to work on that one (I know your out there). I would, but I haven’t read it and I’m lazy ; ).

As usual, the Cornell website looks all jazzed up with their two moving in headers. You should be able to still see them at http://www.cornell.edu/img/home/main/backtoschool/2006/bts-1-movingin.jpg and http://www.cornell.edu/img/home/main/orientation05/orient05-road.jpg after today. As you can see from their URLs, they are from 2005 and 2006. It’s slightly deceiving as it looks like that this is from moving in today. I think these are the same images used last year, not sure.

I’m not in Ithaca yet, but I can’t wait.

Update: You can find photos of this years Move-in day on the Cornell Chronicle

There has been a ton of stuff that’s happened since my last post long ago in April. Well to sum it up, I survived the semester. I passed all of my classes and did alright on 3 of the 4 (let’s not talk about the 4th….). The end of the semester was fun. There was CornellCon, with anime, video games, and sword fighting in late April and of course Slope Day in early May. Last slope day I was stuck finishing up a lab, but this year I had some free time and actually went. Partying isn’t really my thing, but it was fun just to wander around and check out the scene. I also went through the cool underground tunnel from Olin Library to Uris Library that’s open on slope day. I took some cool pictures of the slope from Uris, too bad McGraw tower was closed (I actually still have never been up there shame on me).

So two years down, two more to go. Sophomore year was a good year, although not without its share of difficulties. Things could have better, things could have been worse, but what’s important is that I avoided disaster and stuck with things. After two years of classes I have narrowed down my interests to Physics (huge range of topics), Astronomy, Computer Science, and possibly Math. The more I learn about them, the more I find out how little I actually know. There is so much cool stuff out there to learn, unfortunately I’m too lazy to learn everything I’d like to : ( But I have two years left and I hope to make the best out of them. I know I’ll have a tremendous amount of work to do, but considering how much I’ve learned from the past two years of mostly intro classes, I’m really excited about continuing my education and hope I can keep with it.

Yay, it’s finally time for break. I’m going home to get some serious rest. This is a nice week-long break, although it ends on Easter Sunday arg. My suite is eerily silent as all my suite mates are already gone for the Cornell Glee Club China Tour. Unfortunately I do have work to do on break: a problem set for 322 and I need to implement Conway’s Game of Life for a project in CS 312. I’m not going to be doing much on break so I might as well get work done. It is now about the half way point in spring semester and I’m doing okay so far. My grades aren’t too good but I’m definitely passing everything and that means a lot! It has been a fun and exciting semester so far and I’ve already learned a ton of stuff. Some things haven’t worked out as nicely as I’d like but that’s how it goes.

I’m taking a bus home today so that means yes, I’m cutting a couple of classes and yes, I’m missing Dragon Day. Although I’d like to go to these, I feel a heavy case of laziness setting in and I need a break from school. Yes, Yes, I’m missing Dragon Day, how un-Cornellian like of me. I went last year and it was fun (I mean who doesn’t like a bonfire in the middle of the arts quad?), but it isn’t nearly the all glorious Cornell tradition that tour guides like to paint it as. The Architecture students are really into it as usual. They crashed Duffield the other night dressed up as “Engineers” (I was there; it wasn’t pretty) and ran through the arts quad all painted in green and wearing very little. Anyway, it is finally time for some relaxing. Goodbye Ithaca.

Update: I just learned from the Sun that apparently what happened at Duffield is called the “Nerd Walk”.  The article here.

Last weekend was Fall Break with Monday and Tuesday off (10/8, 10/9). While most people went home for break, I stayed here. I just wanted to relax without all the hassle of traveling. It was the first time off this semester and now I can’t wait until our next break during Thanksgiving. Most of the break I spent being lazy and it was oh so very enjoyable. There was no meal plan during break, which was a bummer, but there is always college town and it’s pretty close to me on west campus.

On Tuesday of Fall Break the Dalai Lama came and spoke in Barton Hall. The event was packed and drew an interesting crowd of people. It was recommended to show up two to three hours early. When I showed up only one hour early, the line was extremely long (see picture). Luckily it moved quickly and I got in with no problem. The Dalai Lama spoke of the need for compassion, tolerance, forgiveness, and non-violent resolutions to conflict. He was very informal and laid-back, often pausing to tell a joke. Although I strongly agree with most of what he had to say, it was things I’ve already heard. Either way, hearing a world leader talk is not something a person can do very often; I’m glad I went.

For more on The Dalai Lama’s visit, read Matt’s, Alex’s, or Jen’s post on it. Also check out the Chronicle’s article on it. I apologize for my long hiatus (eek over two weeks!). I’ve had a severe case of Laziness, but now I’m trying to shape up again. Why is being productive so difficult for me?

ClubFest is the annual showcase of Cornell clubs. It’s a good opportunity for students to find clubs to join and for clubs to recruit new members. It was held today from 1-4pm and I went for the club I’m in, CJAS. There were lots of clubs and people, free ice cream, and group performances. Most of the clubs there were political, academic, or race related, which I am not very interested in, but there were also some really cool clubs like juggling club, bowling club, outing club, and oh yeah, CJAS (hooray for shameless self-promotion). It was a fun event and I liked seeing all the different things people are interested in at Cornell.