Living so close to campus is just as awesome as it sounds, but the two-minute commute to campus can be dangerous when you underestimate how long it takes you to walk places and oversleep. I am a master at both of these, especially during this insane year. I’ve never been a morning person, and I have short legs, what can I say?
Lately, but this ridiculous week especially, I’ve been coming to my 10:10 classes between 10:11 and 10:15. It’s been slightly more of a challenge since I sit in the front of my first two classes in the morning, my foolproof way of staying alert at that hour. I try to open the door slowly, walk inside, turn gracefully, and gently shut the door behind me. Unfortunately, this does not work when you are wearing squeaky rain boots.)
Though I have figured out how to do this without too much interruption, I don’t want to make a habit of it. I miss being known as the one who was five minutes early to everything. Hopefully, I get enough rest this weeked to turn it around by Monday… and maybe not hit snooze when my alarm goes off at 9:15. This week’s level of crazy, I hope, has been a rare one. My visiting family was in town this weekend, and it was pretty easy to prioritize them over schoolwork. I managed to oversleep on Tuesday and run to class with wet hair, no jacket, only half of the books I needed for that day, and, as I discovered later, two different earrings. On Wednesday, I woke up at 6:30 for pre-enroll, a time-honored Cornell nightmare. I was so tired from lack of sleep and anger at our registration system that I napped through the first five minutes of my 2:55 class. Yes, 2:55. In the afternoon. I’m shocked at myself, too. So let’s hope this does not become a habit.
October 31, 2009
Having Homecoming and Trustee Weekend back-to-back this year was fantastic… and seriously prevented me from getting real work done two weekends in a row! As I’m getting closer and closer to graduation, the unfinished items on my 161 Things to Do Before You Graduate list start to loom large. And when the weather is nice and Cornell spirit is everywhere, my books become less and less attractive.
Having the Trustees back on campus for one of their annual meetings is always a treat. Once a year, a handful of us get to meet the generous donors whose contributions made it possible for us to attend. Ignoring the “business casual” instruction in favor of my favorite cocktail dress and Cornell red heels, I got to enjoy the reception in style. Getting a chance to talk to these Cornellians in such a setting had even more meaning after just a few weeks in my Economics of the University class. I’ve gained much more of an understanding of the trustees’ role in guiding the university… and quite a few statistics about endowment policies to toss into conversation.
Later that night, I was one of the 300 volunteers to assist with the Fall Gala. Though I’m not at liberty to discuss this event, I can reveal that there was copious cheering, an appearance of the Big Red Bear, performances of Cornell songs, glowsticks, and a saxophone solo from none other than President Skorton. I’m willing to guess most other universities don’t have as much fun as we do when our alums return.
October 25, 2009
If the true test of a vacation’s success is how little work one does, my Fall Break this year was one of the best. As I discovered on Monday night while packing to head back to school, I hadn’t even opened the backpack full of reading I brought home. No major consequences, though, I just didn’t get as far ahead on work as I had hoped. And I had an excellent time at home: Taste of Georgetown and heading over to my cousin’s house for an Ecuador soccer game on Saturday, hanging out with my nieces on Sunday, and visiting my friends at the University of Maryland on Monday. Most definitely a break well spent!
It was wonderful to be home, since I do find myself strangely homesick these days. I never experienced it during freshman year, since I was probably too caught up in the novelty of college life to despair, and also because I was fortunate enough to have one of my best friends from high school at Cornell, too. In sophomore year, during the election season, I started to terribly miss being near Washington. This year, I miss home so much more. Maybe it’s because I’m more certain than ever that I’m headed back after graduation. It’s also a huge “grass-is-always-greener” situation: as much as I miss working in DC and can’t wait to get back, wearing jeans and going to the library does have its benefits. I guess the key is just enjoying whatever you’re doing.
October 15, 2009
My third Cornell birthday was wonderful, as most celebrations that last for three days tend to be. We kicked it off with the ILR Open House on Saturday, when the School opens its doors to high school seniors from around the country. I truly love talking to new students and getting them excited about ILR. In all of my conversations with prospective students, I managed to highlight the key experiences of my life in ILR: connections to faculty and advisors from day one, lifelong friendships, interesting coursework, and that time I mistakenly took Calc II in freshman year. The event seemed like a huge success, and I’m so proud of everyone who had a tremendous role in organizing it – major shout-outs to ILR Admissions and Student Services for your amazing work. And fellow ILR Ambassadors, you made the day fantastic!
Later, we crammed an absurdly large group into the Mahogany Grill downtown. I love trying new restaurants, and I think there are probably two hundred in Ithaca I haven’t visited yet… I should get on that. After dinner, my roommates hosted our first big gathering in our awesome apartment on North Campus. What seemed like the majority of our freshman floor was back together, playing Apples to Apples and feasting on leftover brownies from Open House. Sunday was all about studying for my midterm on Monday, though I did manage to make it to the Carriage House for brunch (four words: brie stuffed french toast) and watch some Mad Men (so obsessed) before the night was over.
And let’s pretend that doing well on Monday’s exam was kind of like celebrating? That and a small gathering at my dear friend’s apartment after dinner for his birthday surely counts for something.
All in all, a lovely extended celebration that didn’t set me too far behind during prelim season. Perfect!
October 6, 2009
I’m in New York City for the first time in years, and what do I do? Spend some quality time at the New York Public Library. It’s beautiful, and I think my friend Michelle was actually being serious when she said she wanted to get married here. Catherwood is still home for me, but I do understand why people love this place!
I have a few hours before I get on my train to Washington. I’m making an unexpected (and a surprise for one of my parents, so keep it on the down low!) trip home this weekend. This is the first time I’ve really left campus for a major trip that wasn’t during a break, so this week was my crash course in the intricacies of traveling in and out of Central New York. I’ve never really had to scramble for travel arrangements before now. People from the DC area are extremely fortunate to have the Cornell-Bethesda Bus, a service privately chartered by the region’s Cornell parents. It picks up on three locations on campus for all of the breaks and delivers us home to a mall in the suburbs. (Coincidentally enough, my parents met at this mall, a fact of which I am reminded every break.) Without this service, travel is much more difficult: direct flights to Washington are very hard to come by, and taking a bus to DC tends to be a sixteen-hour nightmare.
Without the ease of the CBBus, I had to really sit down and figure out my plans this week. I consulted all of my travel experts and learned quite a bit about the airport options around Ithaca (there are way more than I could have imagined) and which bus stations are sketchiest at night (sorry, Rochester.) On this leg of the journey, I took a Campus 2 Campus shuttle from Ithaca to the Cornell Club of New York City. And how awesome was it to see Cornell flags flying over East 44th Street? It was a lovely way to travel: huge leather seats, free wifi, lots of food, surrounded by bigshot Cornell seniors in the city for interviews. After the bus, I’m walking down to Penn Station and taking an Amtrak train down to DC. I’m hoping to use my considerable charm to get an earlier train, since I overbudgeted my time.
The bus this morning was a great experience, and I am definitely planning on making more trips to New York before graduation. Some of them might even might be for reasons other than concerts! Maybe this is the point in my life where I really start enjoying travel and what the rest of the world has to offer? I went to a Cornell Career Center-sponsored presentation from the State Department yesterday, and I am seriously considering going out for an internship abroad this summer. Junior year, I believe, is a very a good time to be breaking out of my old routines – the fact that I’m in a library right now is besides the point.
September 25, 2009
It seems like I only settled on my schedule last week, and that’s probably because I did just settle on my schedule last week... thank you, long Add/Drop period! But just when I’ve gotten comfortable, I’m already facing two prelims and a paper? You’d think I’d be better at this by the third time around. Instead, I think Freshman Patricia chose classes a lot more carefully, or at least wasn’t so trigger happy with Just the Facts – Cornell’s online Student Center, where we add and drop courses at will. The way I see it, even though my extended dilemma regarding what to keep and what to drop set me behind in work, I’m happy that I gave myself the necessary time to make the best decision. And I think I did: two of my classes are dealing heavily in health care reform, one of my recently-discovered passions. I love my Civil War class, and the same goes for Economic Analysis of the University. I’m a little biased, since the latter is taught by my awesome advisor, whom I have learned is just as wonderful in front of a group of 40 ILRies as he is one-on-one. Academically, it’s definitely shaping up to be a great semester.
I’m just getting back from Olin Library now (yes, mom, yes, I got home safely!), but I made some major headway on studying for Thursday’s prelim. And, to be fair, part of why I’m so slammed this week is because of my fantastic weekend. On Saturday, we watched Cornell school Bucknell in the season-opener football game. As a Redskins fan, leaving a football game without wanting to switch allegiances is a rare treat. On Sunday, I led a group of Tradition volunteers to Judy’s Day at the Cornell Plantations. This year’s theme was Exploring the World Through Plants. I was assigned to the Day of the Dead tent, where I helped adorable little kids decorate chocolate skulls. The weather was perfect, our volunteers were awesome, and I was definitely pleased with myself for trying something new. Hopefully, I’ll spend lots more time outdoors this year… or at least after this weekend, when one prelim and one paper are behind me!
September 22, 2009
Or so we hope, right? My third year at Cornell is off to a fine start! Though I had an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime, I-can’t-believe-I-got-to-do-this summer in Washington, DC, it’s still good to be back. The best part of the beginning of the year has been all of the ILR freshmen I’ve gotten to meet as an Orientation Leader and Student Advisor. The new ILRies I’ve met have all been wicked smart, happy to be at Cornell, and very clearly looking out for each other. Note to all Cornell freshmen: please keep this amazing attitude for your entire four years!
I’ve also been visiting ILR freshman classes with the fine folks at ILR Career Services and Student Services, two offices without whom I’d be completely lost. I think they’re the only people on campus who are more slammed than their students during the first few weeks of school. But they’re handling it so gracefully, setting quite the good example for me. My biggest lesson this summer was that striking a balance between being passionately dedicated and even-tempered is the key to doing a good job in a high-pressure environment. Let’s call finding that balance a new semester’s resolution.
So yeah, pretty pumped to be back. This semester is offering a lot of new experiences, too:
- Off-campus living! We’ve settled into our awesome apartment on North Campus, and it’s fantastic. We have an absurd amount of space, more closets than any of us (even me!) could need, and a huge kitchen. The location might be the closest I’ve ever lived to my classes. I’ve been working out at Helen Newman Hall on North Campus like the good ol’ days. Cons include our sketchy laundry facilities (people in dorms: enjoy a laundry room with an actual floor while you still can) and having my friends pretty far-flung. Other than that, it’s perfect.
- Classes outside ILR. My schedule’s still in flux, but I’m taking at least two courses outside of my major: ANTHR 2468: Medicine, Culture, and Society and HIST 3430: American Civil War and Reconstruction. And how different can you get? We all know I’m the #1 fan of ILR, but this university has so much to take advantage of, and I’m really trying this semester.
- Finding a meaningful Tradition activity. I visited the Collegetown Neighborhood Council today, so I have lots of good ideas going forward. The best one so far is an Adopt a Park project! I’d love that.
Stay tuned for actually figuring out my schedule, obnoxious bragging about the strength of my immune system and why swine flu has got nothing on me, and tales of being the “eleventh wheel” in friend groups when everyone is dating each other. Junior year, like work this summer: never a dull moment.
September 9, 2009
I apologize if I had any of my dear readers worried that I had finally succumbed to Intermediate Micro! Nope, thankfully, I survived five finals, two days of packing, and one six-hour drive. I’ve been back in Maryland for about a week now, and I haven’t yet had too much time to reflect on my epic sophomore year. I’m not even completely done unpacking, much to my dad’s woe. Instead, I’ve been bouncing between all of the malls in the DC Metro area, trying to stock up on the “business formal” clothes I need for my job. I began work on Friday, looking sharp, of course. It’s been exciting, challenging, and overwhelming all at once!
Though my head is still spinning, sophomore year ended on quite the high note for me, academically and personally. I got another pleasant surprise of a GPA, though when I think back on how many late nights I fit into one semester, maybe it shouldn’t be much of a surprise. For all of the low points of this semester, I learned so much about picking the right classes and balancing extracurriculars. And Fall ‘09 is looking very exciting! I’m thrilled to finally take a class with my beloved advisor (ILRLE 6480: Economic Analysis of the University), among several other cool ones. I should be able to choose a much more reasonable pace with my various jobs and Tradition responsibilities. I’m also looking forward to our housing plans: I’m living in an apartment off-campus with two of my closest friends! We’re seconds from the Arts Quad and a nice walk from my favorite pool. I can’t wait to have a real kitchen again. I plan to learn all of my parents’ cooking secrets this summer.
I will pop by periodically over the summer, but feel free to drop me a line any time, especially Cornell ‘13 folks! Enjoy your time off of school, wherever you may be.
May 24, 2009
I wrapped up my last class of sophomore year this afternoon! That whole halfway-done-with-college thing continues to freak me out, but remembering that I still have to pass my classes is another story entirely. For the epic turn of events that made April the best month of my life, this semester has been my most challenging; two jobs was one too many, and days when I got to bed before 1 a.m. were a rare treat. But now, I have a very, very exciting summer ahead of me, and this weekend, I get to pause and relax before finals.
Tomorrow’s plans should be a no-brainer since it’s Slope Day… but it’s a little more difficult when you a) don’t drink, b) do not like the Pussycat Dolls, and c) can’t stand large crowds of drunk people. Slope Day is observed on the last day of classes each Spring semester: Cornell converts Libe Slope into an outdoor concert space and invites a band to entertain us after a rough semester. Ultimately, it isn’t much more than a drinking holiday. Though billed as a day to enjoy the music, I don’t think that most people are still coherent enough to enjoy it by the time the band starts. This year’s act is the Pussycat Dolls, and I can’t say I’m a fan. As a classic rock lover, I have some minimum requirements for my favorite musicians, namely that they play instruments and sing. Neither can be said for the Pussycat Dolls, though I will admit that it’s impossible for the Slope Day Programming Board to please 20,000 Cornellians with one band. I don’t envy that task, especially since most people here wouldn’t be thrilled with my choice of Slope Day performer (two guesses.)
Slope Day is pretty much the only time of the year when I realize I’m in the minority for choosing not to drink. It’s not as rare for a college kid as you might think. I have had zero trouble making friends who don’t drink, though I know it was a much easier process since I started Cornell with one of my very close and very sober friends from high school. We had no trouble finding people who didn’t drink: in a school of 13,000 undergrads, there’s no shortage of weekend activities, nor a shortage of people to do them with. My close friends include a fair share of teetotalists, moderate drinkers, and one big frat boy, but none of us ever feel pressure from each other. It’s all about being secure in your own choices and respecting other people’s decisions. And hopefully I’ll find something cool to do tomorrow!
April 30, 2009
In response to a comment from a prospective student, I’d like to take some time to describe my experience, with a specific focus on the very busy April I have had with Cornell Tradition.
Last Saturday was the National Volunteer Week kick-off event, where I think I had the most fun I’ve had volunteering… ever? The weather was perfect, and since we were working alongside the gorge, the breeze was wonderful. Today, I just got back from Bowl for Kids’ Sake ‘09, a fundraising bowl-a-thon to benefit BigBrothers BigSisters Ithaca. With my impressive 78, I might be the worst bowler in BFKS history… though I did beat President Obama’s score from last April.
Tradition’s prestige and financial benefits have made a huge difference in my life at Cornell, but I still have the desire to engage more with the fellowship. I have yet to really make a commitment to a community organization. I worry sometimes that my personal definition of public service doesn’t really fit into the Tradition mold; I see being a public servant as inextricably tied to my career, all about doing good research and passing the right laws. While I have generally enjoyed all of the events I have coordinated, I know I could be getting much more out of it if I found a long-term activity. I believe very deeply in Cornell’s public service mission, and Tradition has tremendous potential to be a vehicle for it. I am optimistic that I will be able to find a long-term and personally meaningful opportunity in the fall.
For now, though, it’s 87 degrees, and I’m inside! Time to get out of the library and play on Libe Slope.
April 25, 2009
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