Author Archives: kv237

Massage

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When I told my friends in other houses that I was going to get a massage as a part of Rose Scholars, they all thought that it was one of the luckiest things that could’ve happened. I felt that way as well. It was so nice to be able to go on a Saturday afternoon and just relax for ten minutes.

I appreciate that this event was an option this semester. I think it really shows the way that the school, an more specifically Rose House, takes into consideration- and is placing more of an emphasis on- the mental health of students. I believe that this is one of the ways, even if it is for a smaller group of students, that shows the progress towards higher awareness of the different mental health issues that are just starting to become more publicly recognized.

While I wasn’t particularly stressed that day, I do think that the massage helped brighten my day a bit. For someone that was more stressed than I was, it probably had an even greater effect. Small events like this can help in even better ways to someone’s overall health, apart from just being a relaxing experience.

Fire

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Fire, a movie set in India, is about the relationship that develops between two women that have married into a family. Each of them is married to a brother in the family, and the film starts with Sita, joining the family after recently being married to one of the brothers. Both of the women are unhappy in their relationships, with Sita’s husband openly having a Chinese lover, and Radha, being infertile, is with a celibate husband who does not want intimacy with her. The two women find solace in each other because of their marriages and become lovers themselves.

Being one of the first Bollywood films to incorporate and emphasize a story based on a homosexual relationship, the film has even more of an impact on the viewer. It explores themes that were not accepted by many at the time, and in doing so brings to light the different viewpoints on the subject.

Personally, I believed that the film was very impactful. I thought that the way that the film developed the relationship between Sita and Radha was particularly good. The small moments that passed between them before Sita kissed Radha showed the bond that was shared between the two women. Even after that moment, when Radha was doing Sita’s hair, the relationship could be felt by the viewer, and was established as an integral part of the film. The connections between the two was largely emotional, and by setting up their backstories and showing the way that their marriages functioned, one could see the way that the two came to each other.

CPR Training and Certification

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I thought that the CPR certification event was very efficient. When I heard that Rose was offering it as an event, I thought that it was one of the most practical ones that were offered. While all of the other events provided different experiences, the CPR training was very functional in its purpose.

I really enjoyed that the training was led by people that participated in CUEMS. It was nice being taught these skills by fellow students, because it helped to make the experience more of a conversation, rather than just being taught the process.

I had been CPR certified in the past and it was nice to get a refresher on the process. I was also able to get feedback from the people leading the class. I liked the fact that they taught us the process, keeping in mind that what we were learning might have a different context when at a college campus. Overall, I thought that the CPR training was a very good experience to have. It helped me to brush up on what I had learned before, and also helped to think of how it could be used in a college setting.

Yoga at Rose

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As someone who has never gone to a yoga class, the prospect of doing yoga at Rose was a little daunting. I don’t consider myself flexible at all, and memories of trying to do yoga through the Wii Fit when I was around ten years old kept flashing back. Although I’ve always known that yoga is a good way to get exercise into my week, it has never appealed to me enough to actually attempt a class. So I decided that I was going to the yoga event to check it out and get any doubts that I had out of my head.

Granted, my lack of flexibility did come into play in the session, but it wasn’t the big deal that I had made it out to be in my head. I might have not been able to do some of the poses as well as others, but I got there eventually. It was surprisingly relaxing to go through the motions, and I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would.

I came out of the class feeling refreshed and actually ready to start my day. I think it would be nice to try yoga out another time, and maybe even incorporate it into my weekly routine. I came out of this event having much more positive feelings about yoga, and I hope to feel the same way with even more of the future events.

Into The Streets

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My experience with Into the Streets was surprising, to say the least.

To begin with, I wasn’t entirely sure what the event consisted of when I planned on signing up. I found out that it had to do with volunteering in the community once I was in the process of signing up and trying to complete the paperwork to take part in the event. Some of my friends had also signed up to do the event, so I thought that we might be in the same place to volunteer. In the end, the group I went to was assigned to the YMCA outdoor site, and I was placed in a group of entirely new people.

Having just been told that I would be volunteering at the YMCA, I thought that we would be at a building, possibly clearing up the front of leaves. The farther the bus went, the more we realized that our destination was not what we had expected. Despite the unexpected nature of the event, my group as a whole had a good experience.

We were tasked with cleaning up the “playground”. When we first saw it, we didn’t know that it was the playground that they had been talking about on our walk to the clearing. There were just a few short tree trunks and long branches scattered around. The one that was assigning the tasks to each groups told us that he wanted the playground to look like a sun, which was the extent of the guidelines we received.

As a group, we were able to decide what we wanted to do to accomplish the end that had been established for us. With this goal in mind, we were able to organize the stumps and branches into something that we thought kids would want to play with. We also added our own ideas to the organization of the playground.

While we went through making the playground, I was able to talk to my group members, which was composed of freshman through juniors and even a grad students. We were able to talk about different aspects of living and studying at Cornell, which was a good way for us to feel more comfortable with each other while we went through the process. In the end, we were all very happy with the results, especially since we were able to make something out of what used to look more disorganized. Since we were able to see concrete result, we could see what we were doing to help the community.

The experience was very rewarding. It was great being able to volunteer outside while the weather was still nice and being surrounded by the woods. Not only was I able to see the end results of my time there, I met new people through my group. It was great working with people that were aiming for the same goal, as well as being people that were easy to get along with. I think that I would enjoy being able to be a part of it again in the upcoming years, and look forward to what else I might be able to do.