Last week I was lucky enough to attend the creative Flora Rose House event of ice skating. I was unaware that it was at all possible for us as students to skate at the ice rink. I have not skated in quite a while and was excited to get on the ice. It is easy to forget the feeling of not being in control while stepping on ice. When I was younger I was in figure skating classes and loved it until I fell and broke my ankle and never went back. After that my only other experience has been in Chicago’s millenium park. Therefore, skating in the rink was different than what I am used to. Overall, it is fun to be able to engage in a winter activity that many of us do not get to do on a regular basis. I will make sure to go ice skating after winter break and next year with my friends. I am happy that I got the experience as well as know that this a possible activity for winter.
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Ruby Frost
I have never seen the Commons so busy. This is my first year at Cornell and therefore my first Apple fest. It was a super cool experience. We started the day listening to a podcast about types of apples and then we discussed the types of apples that Cornell grows. After, we walked over to the commons and saw it flooded with people and stalls selling everything and apples. The weather was beautiful and everyone there was in such a good mood it was a great day. Me and my friends picked up some concord grapes that ended up making our room smell amazing. In addition, we got some mac and cheese for lunch that was incredible.
Before this Saturday, I knew that we had the Cornell orchards but I did not realize the extent of it. I did not know that Cornell bred its own varieties. In addition, we discussed the naming of apples- especially Ruby Frost. I had never thought about the naming of apples and it was interesting to hear the reasoning behind some of the names and was surprised that the names all made very logical sense. Finally, I tasted many apples at the fest and they were incredible. I will definitely be going to back to the fest next year.
Transfer Tales
Transferring universities is a unique experience that allows students to understand the culture of two different universities as well as learn more than those who stay at one university their entire undergrad. The SA Andrew along with Dr Hill led three transfers in a discussion about our transition. This discussion ended up reaching a place where Dr Hill and Andrew were giving us advice on Cornell in general. I liked this Rose event because it was genuinely helpful in trying to find our niche here.
During the discussion I learned a lot that I did not know about Dr Hill. He is a very accomplished man who has studied at the best universities in the world. He told us how he had never been involved during his undergrad and was able to attend these highly regarded schools by forming connections with professors. Dr Hill worked hard to not only become close with the professors who were teaching him, but also professors at universities that he was interested in eventually attending. The culture of Cornell puts pressure on students to get involved with as many clubs as possible, and although they are helpful it is overwhelming to feel that we will fail if we do not join these organizations. Dr Hill really put it into perspective and along with Andrew.
I personally transfered from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and Cornell University is a very different ball game. I am so happy that I was able to spend a year at my state school with my friends from childhood! Yet, coming to Cornell I felt like I was never going to be able to keep up. It is nerve wrecking to leave a place that you already know you love to go to a place that is unfamiliar. Luckily, I am very happy here and it was nice to see other transfers were struggling with the same things as I was.
ImmunoTherapy
At dinner in Rose, Shiv talked to us about immunotherapy research that he is conducting. We first discussed the current treatments for cancer which include chemotherapy. I knew that chemotherapy was preventing cells from dividing but I was unaware of the opinion that many oncologists and cancer researchers thought of the treatment-that it is outdated. On the other hand, immunotherapy is directly focused at only attacking cancer cells. From my understanding, it is a treatment that uses certain parts of a person’s immune system to fight diseases. Shiv explained his research as trying to retrain the human immune system.
It is almost impossible to find someone that has not been affected by cancer. This could either be from a family member, friend, teacher, etc. Talking about the future of these treatments is essential because the likelihood that we will be affected by the new treatment is very high. I have never been interested in science or medicine very much, but it is cool to see what our bodies do. The human body is so incredible and we only realize that when something stops working correctly. I wish that I was able to make a difference in this field.
Stress Table Talk
I went to the table talk with GRF Seema. This table talk was interesting in the fact that Seema only voiced facts about stress and let us discuss our own opinions based on those facts. We learnt that there is an optimal point for stress and after that point your quality of work starts to rapidly declined. This was interesting to me given that I find that I am my best productive self when I am stressed beyond belief. This left me wondering if the optimal point is different for different for different people. We also discussed how to deal with stress and what helps many people. According to Seema reaching out to people helps us with stress and is also a bi product of stress. This is because when we need help with something we reach out to more people to get help on a problem set for example. In addition, we talked about unhealthy ways to deal with stress and all shared our stress stories. I enjoyed this table talk because it was genuinely helpful and casual enough that everyone was comfortable to talk.
Presumed Dead
On Friday we watched the Martian in the Flora Rose Cafeteria. The movie is about an astronaut who is on a manned mission to mars when a horrible storm hits. During the storm the main character gets knocked by debris and is presumed dead and left behind. We quickly learn that he is alive and must survive for a long time on the planet by himself. In order to survive he must create water to farm food and he is able to farm potatoes using his botany knowledge. In the end the scientists at NASA are able to find a way to bring him home alive after a lot of debate.
An interesting theme in the movie is isolationism. Many novels and movies address this theme but literally being on a different planet is an extreme version of this. Throughout the movie we see how the isolationism affects how he handles his problems and how he handles the communications with NASA. The amazing thing that he does automatically is something that many people wouldn’t be able to do in this situation- have hope. From the first second that he realizes he is alone he starts doing productive things that will increase his chance of survival. Yet when he finally makes contact with NASA he gets annoyed and they equally get annoyed with him. In addition we see him starting to feel slightly crazy but still holding on to the hope to be saved. We truly see his eagerness to return when he shaves his beard and cuts his hair on the day that he starts to begin the process of being saved. Overall, this movie hits the theme of being isolated and holding on to hope at the same time.
Farmers Market on the Water
Last Saturday a group of students and myself met in the Flora Rose lobby to walk a little over a mile to the Ithaca Farmers Market. On the way over we saw off campus houses painted bright colors and kids playing outside. It was awesome to see Ithaca as more than just a college campus! When we got there we took a picture in front of the market before we were set free to roam around by ourselves.
The market was amazing! To be honest I did not expect the market to be as nice as it was. The market is under a covering that is strung with lights, and there is live music being played along the dock. There are a many many vendors selling honey, plants, fruit, jelly, clothes, jewelry and full meals! We went booth to booth looking and purchasing things that appealed to us. We left with full bags and stomachs.
The Ithaca Farmers Market has been around since 1973 and is open every year from April until December along the Cayuga Lake Dock. The covering for the market was built completely by volunteer labor. According to the Farmers Market website, there was also a period of time that the market was held in a Cornell parking lot. Finally, the market is over 40 years old and has been rated #9 on Americas best farmers markets, and I can see why.
Here are a few pictures that I took while there:
