John Schroeder gave this week’s Rose Cafe talk, his presentation mainly focused on the relationship between Ithaca and Cornell over the 150 year history. Being able to learn from an expert on Cornell history was an amazing experience because prior to this I knew very little about the dynamic history of Cornell and Ithaca. This presentation focused on the history of Collegetown and aimed to give some insight to the big question of “Why are the rents so high in Collegetown?” Unfortunately this is such a complex question with so many facets that we could not reach a palpable conclusion. Instead, I felt a thousand new questions spring out of this one question and the new information I had received. I was particularly interested by this topic and John Schroeder’s experience because I am studying Civil Engineering with the intention to work in urban and city planning and found this to be an amazing experience to come into contact with someone in the field.