Ivy Years

This will probably be my last blog post here.

NEW (OLD) BLOG: www.ivy.phoebeyu.com

Words cannot express the immense amount of gratitude I have for Cornell. Three years ago TO THE DAY, I arrived in Ithaca for the first time, having only before caught glimpses of the campus on glossy brochures, Google Maps, and friends’ Facebook albums. I brought with me two suitcases that contained my entire life, and left behind in Vancouver everyone I knew. As the Prepare volunteer’s car sped toward West Campus and the scenic beauty of my alma mater came into view, I distinctly remember feeling a combination of excitement, awe, and trepidation. I wondered (didn’t we all?) if I was the right fit for Cornell and vice versa. I wondered if I would do well here. I wondered what it would be like to look back on my college experience and how I would’ve given anything, in that moment when I first saw the clock tower on Ho Plaza, to know what the future had in store for me.

When I first walked into that second-floor suite in Flora Rose, I would have never guessed that the girls in my suite would become my best friends at Cornell. I would’ve never guessed that we would take weekend trips out of the country together, meet each others’ families, and celebrate every success and drink to get over every setback together.

Three years ago, if you told me that I would meet the love of my life on a Shortline Bus from New York to Ithaca, I would have laughed, checked your sanity, and laughed some more. Yet here we are.

I took a gamble by switching from two very sensible and practical majors – finance and computer science – to something I have to explain every time I introduce myself – industrial and labor relations. Boy, was I lucky I did. It’s true, ILR has the most amazing and caring professors at Cornell. Under the guidance of Professors Friedman and Compa, I managed to cobble together a thesis on labor relations and multinational-companies in China. Professor Gold let me TA for his labor law class, even though I spent an entire semester being terrified of getting called on, socratic style. Professor Jackson taught the first economics class I’ve ever understood. My advisor, Professor Lieberwitz, is a role model, though I will never forget the time I lost my voice and she made fun of me in class and threatened to dock participation points. Christina Homrighouse asked me to co-teach a seminar with her in the Johnson School, which pretty much makes her the coolest faculty member ever. Professor Nelson taught me the value of rhetorics and introduced me to a wonderful debate partner who’s off to do great things. The list goes on and on. The point is, my education at Cornell was not a process in which authority figures passed on knowledge to students. Instead, it was a collaborative learning effort where professors respected, valued, and even learned from what each of us contributed. More than anything, Cornell as an institution recognizes the dynamic, ever-changing world we live in and seek to provide education in a way as to be relevant, engaging, and globally-minded.

Without Cornell, I would have never had the opportunity to study abroad at Oxford. I’m sure you guys all know how much I enjoyed my time at St. Catherine’s College given all that gushing that permeated this blog.

 The Cornell in Washington program afforded me the opportunity to work for what I think is the greatest institution in this country.

My experiences with my business fraternity, Phi Gamma Nu, was also one of the important highlights. This network of brothers is so supportive and talented. Also, shout-outs to Mock Trial, Forensics, KAPi, CCG, Hilltop, Entrepreneurship@Cornell, etc.

I started writing this entry with the aim of covering the major components of my Cornell experience. Now I’ve realized that it’s simply impossible to do these three years justice. I came to university with very little and it was thanks to Cornell’s generosity that I was able to finish college. Truthfully, I counted my blessings every day to be able to simply wake up and attend class. Through it all, I’m incredibly grateful for the love and support my parents have provided me along the way. I know I don’t say this enough, but mom and dad, you guys rock and I love you guys so much.

As I spend the next few years in New York City trying to make my mark on corporate America, I will never forget the humble place I came from and the warmth and fervor with which Cornell welcomed me into her embrace.

Any person, any study.

Phoebe Yu
Industrial and Labor Relations
Cornell University
Class of 2012

P.S. – I will go back to blogging at ivy.phoebeyu.com. Hopefully the posts will be a bit more frequent!

First, a shout-out to the ILR International Experience Grant which gave me the opportunity to travel to Beijing this winter break. Without it, I would not be able to conduct research for my thesis on a recent labor law in China. Thanks for the support!

So some thoughts on being in Beijing (I was here very briefly last year during my internship in the south, but I haven’t in recent memory experienced Beijing winters).

- Every time I cross a street, the thoughts going through my head are, “AHHH! AHHH! AHHH! AHHH! AHHH! GONNA DIE! OMG THAT CAR IS HEADED STRAIGHT FOR ME! AHHH!” The concept of following traffic signals doesn’t quite exist and while I’m sure there had been major improvements in driving etiquettes since the Olympics, I still fear for my life every time I step off the curb. I devised a way to overcome this fear: cross streets WITH a group of people, even if it means marching when the light clearly tells you to stand still.

- People are SO friendly here! We all know that cultural stereotype that a certain portion of Asians are aloof and quiet (a stereotype I despise). However, as somewhat of a wild generalization, the Beijingers I met are super chatty, friendly, and helpful. Case in point – My airport shuttle dumped me at a random curb on the Third Ring Road (basically a highway that circles the core of the city) and sped off. Completely disoriented, I tried to hail a cab for a good five minutes until a stranger came by and told me that cabs won’t stop here and I should take an overpass to the side streets. I also noticed that people will strike up conversations at bus stations or in the subway, which is something that rarely happens in New York.

- The academic community here, for labor relations at least, seems to be very tight-knit and well-connected. I was meeting with a professor at Renmin University and after she found out what I wanted, she shot off phone calls to execs at the national union and the legislative branch of the government to try to set up meetings for me. I sat there, completely stunned.

- Lattes at Starbucks cost upwards of USD$5.00. Converted back to RMB, that can buy you two hearty meals at a local eatery. The crowd at Starbucks here is also a bit different – yuppies or older business folks instead of the throngs of students back in the States. I totally admire the baristas who can take complicated orders in ENGLISH (the equivalent would be expecting baristas to comply if you walked into any Starbucks in the U.S. and said your skinny-non-fat-no-foam-double-shot-expresso in Spanish)

- The Cornell name carries a good deal of value here. Yes, I have been cornered by education-obsessed Asian parents because they found out that I go to an Ivy League school. It does play to my advantages when the name of my alma mater will open doors for me and grant me meetings I would have never gotten otherwise.

More updates to come! Hope everyone had a great Christmas (they don’t really celebrate it in the part of Beijing I’m staying in, sadly)!

I remember walking past the poster below in Goldwin Smith some time in the beginning my sophomore year. Spending a semester studying and interning in Washington D.C. with Cornellians? Sounds kind of awesome. And it remained a dream when I decided to study abroad in my junior spring. Still, I must have read the Cornell in Washington pamphlet half a dozen times, admiring the selection of classes and internship in the nation’s capital.

So it was indeed a blessing in disguise when a mishap with my thesis forced me to change around my schedule this semester, adding the last ILR course I needed to graduate. Inexplicably, a transfer with only four semesters of coursework in Ithaca – who has studied abroad – got the opportunity to do Cornell in Washington.

I took it, of course.

Senior spring is when most Cornellians “take it easy” and cross off a couple of things off their 161 List (Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds, anyone?) before crossing that fabled stage at graduation. But possibly being slightly off my rocker, I’m spending it in a city I’ve never been to and rubbing shoulders with political types whose convictions I barely understood three years ago (hey, in Canada we have a beloved Queen as our head of state!). I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have already gotten an internship that I’m really excited about – more details to come.

Lisa, who is in charge of Cornell Blogs, has kindly agreed to let me blog while in DC next semester. I promise I’ll be more frequent in my posts!