Dairy Bar Daydream

Five Question Friday is from the blog http://fivecrookedhalos.blogspot.com/ .  I had a ton of fun answering the questions.  The only rule for Five Question Friday is that you repost the questions with your answers in your blog!

1. If you could buy any car, money not an option, what would it be?

I’m not too big on cars…as long as it gets decent gas mileage and has a lot of cargo space, that’s the car for me.  A slime green car would be great though!

2. What was your worst first date ever?

I have only ever had one first date and it was amazing! We went out to the best wings joint in town (Wings Over Ithaca), and then I had to go grocery shopping so we stopped at a grocery store.  We walked around the store for nearly an hour just laughing and being ridiculous; I ended up forgetting what I had actually gone in their to buy!

3. How old were you when you fell in love for the first time?

I think I was about four years-old when our dog had a litter of 8 puppies.  That’s when I first fell in love with animals and decided I wanted to become a Veterinarian one day! While my career goal has changed since then, I have been lucky to fall in love a second time-16 years later-this time with a wonderful man who makes me laugh and smile everyday!

Who wouldn't fall in love with these guys?

4. When was the last time you reconciled your checkbook?

I’m not sure what “reconciling” a checkbook looks like.  If that is the same thing as balancing my checkbook then I did that earlier this morning! After a five day excursion to 2 countries, my checkbook sure needed it!

5. If you were going to fashion a “Wanted” Ad for a best friend, how would you word it?

Wanted: A trustworthy, compassionate, kind, caring, and humorous person who loves life. Love of animals and agriculture highly valued, along with an acceptance for vibrant colors such as slime green and neon orange.  Responsibilities include providing a comfortable shoulder to cry on; possession of an affinity for all ice cream; willingness to attend midnight releases of fantastical fiction movies and books (i.e. Harry Potter); ability to cheer louder than anyone else; and hold philosophical conversations via IM that no one else would understand or be able to follow.  Interested persons should e-mail a current resume and cover letter to searchforabestie@me.com.

**Note: We are no longer accepting applications at this time.  This position has been filled for the past 15 years.

Happy Belated Easter! Instead of opening Easter Baskets and hunting for colored eggs, I spent my Easter weekend cruising the Baltic Sea with some great friends! Danna, Adam, and I met our friend Corey* (who’s studying in Parma, Italy for the semester) in Stockholm on Friday to begin our travels (or continue them)! We boarded the Silja Symphony where we spent the night at sea, heading to our first stop- Helsinki, Finland.  When I booked our cruise, I had no idea that it was a themed cruise; however the theme was very fitting for four Cornellians: “I <3 NY.”  With banners of the Statue of Liberty hanging from the ceiling on the main deck, it was interesting to see the impression of New York from a Nordic perspective! After a night full of fun, laughs, and wandering, we docked in Helsinki at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning! For the day before Easter, plenty of people were out and about! We walked through the Old Market, where farmers and fishermen alike were selling their goods.  Helsinki does not seem like it is a huge tourist city, despite being the capital of Finland.  We were able to navigate the tram system, which took us to a really neat Rock Church.  The entrance of the church was carved out of rock; the rest of the church was built underground! Unfortunately the church was closed for repairs, so we didn’t get to experience an underground church.  The tram also took us to the far side of the city where we found a street market with some very tasty pastries! We saw some amazing sites

Me and my travel companion, Little Russ in Helsinki

but before we knew it, we were on the bus to a different harbor terminal for our two hour trip to Tallin, Estonia! Since we were on the boat for two hours we decided to just book seats on the deck.  And after walking around all day in the beautiful weather, everyone in our group was soon fast asleep!

When we docked in Tallin, we were all well-rested and ready to start our next adventure! Our hostel- Marine Keskus Hostel- was conveniently located right next to the harbor! Estonia is a small country located north of Latvia and west of Russia.  During our stay in Tallin, we were only 360 km from Moscow, Russia! Saturday night we watched the sunset from a deserted pier next to the harbor and went back to our hostel to relax for the evening.

Easter morning dawned sunny and bright in Tallin.  It was a jam-packed day of site-seeing, experiencing the culture, and often asking a lot of questions! We started our morning at another street market where we all found something to remember the experience by.  Afterwards, we wandered into the Old City.  The Old City of Tallin is actually surrounded by the New City which is different from Stockholm where the cities are built on separate islands with bridges connecting them.  We entered the Old City and Adam and Corey ventured up onto the top of what remained of the City Wall.  Danna and I walked by the street vendors and discussed if we should get hats.  Now, this may sound so simple, but I have to tell you, these are some of the coolest hats I have ever seen! I can’t fully explain these hats, so I’ll have to show you instead:

The picture quality is poor because it’s blown up, however, these hats are so long that you can use them as a scarf too! I can’t wait for the first sign of snow next winter so I can wow everyone with this hat  For the rest of the afternoon we walked around as much of the city as possible and saw some amazing buildings and sites!

Tallin Town Hall: the oldest Gothic Town Hall in Europe

One of the many churches in Tallin.

The remaining tower of a castle and the pink Parliament building!

As we boarded our next boat (the Baltic Queen) to travel back to Stockholm, we unanimously agreed that Tallin had been our favorite part of the trip! Tucked away in the very northern part of Europe, it was not an over-developed tourist city, but a very relaxing and culturally-rich experience! I would love to go back and spend more time in Estonia!

Monday morning had us back in port in Stockholm, Sweden! After traveling to the city center on the metro, we decided we would all like to visit the Vasa Museum, which was on one of the smaller, out-skirting islands in Stockholm.  The Vasa Museum is built entirely around a War ship-named the Vasa- that sank in the Stockholm channel on its first voyage in 1628.  333 years later the Vasa finally was lifted from the bottom and broke the surface of the water.  Because of the low salinity in the Baltic Sea, the worm that is responsible for so much of the decay to wooden boats cannot survive; which meant, that 95% of the Vasa was still preserved.  Scientists spent years cleaning and rebuilding the boat to accurately depict what it would have looked like in 1628.

The top of the Vasa, as seen from the 7th floor of the museum

The Vasa from the ground 1st floor

The museum was phenomenal and it was amazing to learn the story of this ship.  The reason the boat sank, is that after the boat was almost complete, the king demanded that the architect put in a second level of cannon ports.  When the ship was in water and carrying the proper amount of ballast to keep the ship stable, these ports were too close to the water.  So they lessened the weight of the ballast-which made the ship tip much more easily. This is the reason the boat capsized and sank.

We ended our day with some Swedish ice cream and our good-byes to Corey at the train station.  Adam, Danna, and I traveled back to Uppsala and Corey went to his hostel to await his early morning plane back to Parma.  It was definitely an unforgettable Easter!

* Wondering what it’s like to study abroad in Parma Italy? Check out Corey’s blog “Pass the Cheese, Please!” at http://blogs.cornell.edu/coreyabroad/

As an elementary student, I can remember being asked to write and illustrate the answer to: “When I grow up, I want to be…”  Ever since I can remember I knew I was going to one day become a veterinarian; at that time it was just a dream-not to mention a fad; every first grader in my class wanted to be a veterinarian.

In high school, the common question was: What do you want to go to college for?  Being an extremely stubborn and passionate student I could answer this question easily: “I’m going to study animal science with the end goal of becoming a veterinarian.”  No longer was veterinarian the common theme amongst my classmates-I was the last woman standing.

In college, nearly every person you meet will probably ask you, “What is your career goal?”  For nearly all my life, I had the answer; a veterinarian. Now, after two years of college, the answer is “an Ag Teacher.” For some of us it changes, for others it doesn’t.

Once we become adults and people believe that we are doing the job we always wanted, people (especially children) will revert back to “What did you want to be when you were a kid?”  It’s a vicious cycle!  You can spend nearly a quarter of your life answering questions about who you were or who you want to be. However, how many times have you been asked: Who are you now? I’m not sure I’ve ever been asked to describe the person I am right at this moment in time-and I think that’s a problem.  I have spent twenty years of my life defining myself by my goals, ambitions, and past experiences; and while those things have shaped me into the person I am, they aren’t who I am!

I’m sure a psychologist could explain this obsession with the past and future versions of ourselves.  I am definitely not a psychologist but my opinion-and it’s a simple one- is that it is just easier.  It is easier to focus on the person you were because you can’t change that person.  It’s easier to focus on the person you want to be because you can still shape that person in your mind-you can get rid of any annoying habit you might have or picture yourself doing your dream job.  But trying to change the person you are now takes hard work!

I hope you take my rant into consideration next time you meet someone new; that instead of asking who that person was, you ask: “Who are you now?”

Hi, my name is Kaylie Catherine (Sebastian) Ackerley.  I’m a 20 year-old animal science student at Cornell University.  I’m a young woman who collects quotes, who loves to read, who hates down time, and who secretly loves collecting the absurd rhyming Dr. Seuss books.  I’m in love with an amazing man for the first time in my life and I wouldn’t trade a second for anything in the world.  Most days I think too much and I’m my own worst critic, but that’s only because I’m afraid of disappointing the people who love me.  I know that tomorrow may never come around so I’m packing as much life and meaning into each day I’m here and that is why, if you look out during a rainstorm you may see me dancing in the rain.

“Today you are You, that is truer than true, there is no one alive who is you-er than you!”        ~Dr. Seuss

You have just completed your 300 page autobiography.  Please submit page 217.

Lesson 1,124: Anonymity is Impossible
“…and this is Kaylie Ackerley.  She is a freshman here and is also serving as the New York FFA State Treasurer,” the State FFA Executive Secretary-my boss- Miss T introduced me to the two CALS admissions counselors.
“Oh! You’re Tara’s student from Tri-Valley!” Exclaimed Diane.
“Yes ma’am.  Miss B was my FFA Advisor and Ag Teacher,” I answered with a puzzled expression.
“Oh, then you’re duct tape girl! It’s great to finally be able to put a face to the name,” answered Cindy, the other counselor.
By this point, my face is redder than the Cornell Big Red foam fingers from basketball games; my boss is laughing harder than I am, and the admissions counselors are looking slightly taken aback by our actions.  Only when I wouldn’t look at them and my boss is nearly rolling on the floor did Cindy realize what she had said.
“I honestly meant that as a compliment.  We see thousands of applications come across our desk each year.  It’s a pleasure when we get an essay like yours that is refreshing and shows us something unique about the individual, but it is even better to see who the author of that essay really is,” Cindy explained.
“She’s right.” Diane added.  “In all the time I’ve been doing this job, I have never read an essay like yours; one that made me feel like I knew you yet showed your personality all in a few pages!”

When I came to Cornell, I was excited to have a new start; to go to a school with thousands of people so I could be who I wanted to be and have the anonymity that I never had in high school.  I was delusional; anonymity is impossible.  Someone will know you no matter where you go-whether you have met them before or through a common acquaintance or maybe a random essay you hoped would get you into college one day-there is no such thing as anonymity.

**Disclaimer: The names of some characters have been changed.

This past week, I have fielded quite a few questions about life in America.  Earlier in the week, one of my Swedish housemates asked me “So tell me, what’s the deal with American cops and donuts? American shows always make reference to it, but I don’t understand!”  I was taken aback: out of all of the questions I expected to have to answer, donut-loving cops was not on my list! What was even more difficult was trying to explain where this joke came from.  Feeling completely dissatisfied with my explanation, I began to do some research on “Google Images”.  I typed in “donuts and cops” and I was amazed by how many images came up! And this is the image that is portrayed all over the world of what the “United States” really is. Does anyone see a problem with that? I think it’s quite tragic!

The other question came from my Irish housemate.  He is a huge fan of the TV shows like “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons”.  He was watching one of them and asked, “Are bullies really like that in the US?”  I asked what he meant and he said, “Well, you know, like if I was being bullied in Ireland, my family would have had my back.  You wouldn’t just let your family get beat up would you?” One again, I was at a loss.  I had never been in that situation; yet it was the one thing that my housemate wanted to know about.

Both of these conversations made me realize that the image that my housemates-and most likely many others- have of the United States is not the same one I have.  Their image is of the TV shows, movies, music, and jokes that make their way on the air here.  There are some crucial differences-differences that can be seen in the collages below:

Perception of the United States

USA by an American

NOTE: all pictures were obtained through the images.google.com search engine.

On Wednesday, thousands of Cornell students were up much earlier than any college student should be!  Fortunately, I wasn’t one of them! Once a semester students are asked to choose classes for the upcoming semester.  One of the great parts about being abroad is that we get to send in our classes to our advisors and don’t have to put up with the inevitable slow internet connections and possible crashes to the PeopleSoft software.

After carefully making sure that I am meeting all of my degree and general requirements, I was able to come up with a schedule that any senior college student would envy: class on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday! I guess those semesters of taking 20 credits paid off! However, my motivation is slightly different than just having an easy senior year.   With my two extra days off each week, I’m hoping I will be able to get a full time job; and if not a full time job, then I hope I’ll at least be able to substitute teach to gain more experience in a classroom!

It’s kind of weird to think that this schedule represents the first semester of my senior year.  It doesn’t feel like I have been in college for three years already.  ”Time flies when you’re having fun and getting work done!”

http://www.schedulizer.com/5dja

What do you get when you take 13 Swedish choirs at one gasque, with time for a 5 minute performance for each choir and no dress code? If you said the Nationskorfestivalen 2011 (Nation’s Choir Festival in English) then you’d be correct! When I signed up to take part, I had no idea how time consuming it would be! Our day started with sound check at 9:45 a.m. We had approximately ten minutes to get used to how we would be standing on stage, sing our song through once, and exit the stage!  Once we were finished, Danna and I were talking to some of the Swedish members of the choir about our costumes for our evening performance.  The song we were performing was the theme song from a very popular Swedish movie called “Ronja!”  Ronja is a movie all about a medieval robber.  Unfortunately, when I had planned my costume I didn’t know we were dressing like “medieval” robbers!

So it was off to the second-hand stores in search of a last minute costume change! Before I could don my new costume, we had an afternoon performance, where each choir would perform one song; this concert was open to anyone from the Uppsala community who wanted to hear the melodious sounds of the Nation’s choirs.  Snerikes performed a song called, “Stemning” which we actually sung in Danish!

After the concert, we had about an hour to change into our costumes and meet at the Nation hosting the choir festival, Vastmanland-Dala (or V-Dala for short)!  This is where the competition really heats up! Each choir performs one song and competes for the coveted “Golden Fork”! If your choir wins the Golden Fork you basically have bragging rights for an entire year; some choirs take these rights very seriously.  For example, the choir that one in 2010-Norrlands- actually had members of the choir take the fork with them on their travels around Sweden and the rest of Europe! This is serious business!

Everyone really enjoyed our choice of songs and my costume was pretty good for being put together last minute!

While many students appreciated our costumes and our choice of a childhood favorite song, what I appreciated most was the conversation. Some of my friends told me that they wished they had made more friends from the country they were studying in. Being an exchange student, it is very easy to get to know other exchange students; it’s more difficult to get to know the people who live and call Sweden home! The great part about this gasque was that the conversations we had had absolutely nothing to do with the choir festival.  We talked about animal welfare conditions in Sweden compared to the United States; what a traditional Swedish meal is (Pea Soup and Pancakes for dinner on Thursdays…even the Swedes didn’t know why though!); the hardest adjustments to life in Sweden; and even our favorite junk foods! My new Swedish friends couldn’t fathom a way that you could make a Snickers bar less healthy…that was until I told them about Deep Fried Snickers bars from the New York State Fair!

This was by far, my favorite gasque of the semester; however since I’ve been to so many balls and gasques in the month of March, I’m excited that I have a short respite and won’t be attending another until the beginning of May!

Unfortunately Snerikes didn’t win the “Golden Fork”; however we lost to worthy opponent who created their own lyrics to a popular Rihanna song.  My congratulations goes out to the 2011 Golden Fork winner Varmlands choir! Rumor has it that Snerikes was a close second; then again, I suppose that’s what all of the other choirs were told as well!