Author Archives: yz923

Thoughts about healthcare system

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Last Monday,  I participated in the table talk about healthcare system. We talked about many problems raised with whole society healthcare system, for instance, the delay of healthcare service. However, as an international student, I think about this problem with my own healthcare experience in Cornell.

Since I have the student health insurance, I got the best quality health care I can ever obtain in my life. I have two times referred to doctors in Cayuga Medical Center. Both of these two doctors graduate from top tier medical school (like Columbia), and gave me good treatment. What really impressed me is that they not only offered me good treatment, but also explained to me why that was the best solution for me. They are both polite, and respect me a lot.

From this perspective, I would say that the healthcare should be a right. If everyone can get this kind of healthcare service, people can get health both physically and mentally.

how much a student can contribute in emergency situation

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Last Saturday, thanks to Rose House, I have the precious opportunity to learn about how to save a life in emergency situation: We got the CPR training. The demo from the staff of Cornell Emergency Medical Service was very friendly and helpful. We had roughly 5 procedures for CPR. Every time one procedure was taught, the staff looked around the guided us. What interested me a lot is that the staff is a junior student, not some full time staff as I thought before. This provokes my thought that the huge potential a student can achieve and contribute to the saving of lives in emergency situations. The staff, who is a junior student, is very professional in emergency saving skills and also demonstrated us his skills very explicitly.

 

This enlightens me to think about the best part of Cornell: it offers students various opportunities to dig into different fields. “Any person, any study” is not only in classroom: it is also something outside of classroom, like CPR training. We may forget some specific knowledge we learn in classroom, but we will never forget that we can save someone’s live in real life.

Commercialization of holidays

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Last week I attend the table talk about Halloween in Rose dining hall. What really attracts me about this table talk is the commercialization of holidays. I felt no surprise to hear that Americans spent the second highest amount of money in Halloween, which is only lower that Christmas. Even though I am a foreigner, I understand that people regard this day as an opportunity to dress up, have candies, spend happy time with families and friends. What is particularly interesting is that we can think about nowadays, whether the main content of holidays becomes consuming. For example, in China, Halloween is absolutely not a traditional holiday as it is in America. However, I know that not to mention in metropolitan cities, like Beijing and Shanghai, even in tiny cities like my Hometown, in Halloween/Christmas or other holidays in western world, businessmen have all their advertisements to encourage people to purchase their products and celebrate the holiday. Maybe commercialization of holidays is not necessarily a bad thing as some people think, but it is definitely a kind of phenomenon worth thinking.

History of buildings in Ithaca

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It is really great to hear from Mr.Schroeder to talk about the history of buildings in Ithaca. I know some of the names of these buildings, but I do not actually know the history behind them.

It is good to know that every building has its own beautiful story behind. Mr.Schroeder also talked about some interesting facts: For instance, Cornell does not need to pay property tax, because US wants to release the burden of educational institution to motivate the construction of universities. However, as an elite university, Cornell is very rich, so it is worth thinking that whether residents in Ithaca should, to some extent, pay for Cornell’s prosperity.

 

It is also interesting to know that when approving for the construction of new buildings in CollegeTown, the new building should to some extent consist with old buildings.

 

See a real life artist first time

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Before this rose cafe talk, I thought that artist is very far from my real life. However, after seeing Carbonaro, I realize that artist is actually everywhere in my life, especially in Ithaca, such a small and beautiful town. As a barber, Carbonaro seems a little different: He does not have very strange hair style different from normal people. I was very impressed by his fruitful experience: As a Drama major, he graduated from Ithaca College. He used to work in Broadway, in museum, ect. I totally agree his idea about how people choose their outfitting/hairstyle: According to different budget, we should choose the hairstyle that does not burden us to maintain it. It may not be expensive, but we feel comfortable with it.

 

Because I am preparing for an interview, I also benefit from his advice: As a student, we devote most of our time studying. However, that does not mean that we do not need to care about our looking. The reason is that we need to present others what we want ourselves to be, so that we can be confident and successful.

 

Carbonaro is an artist, not only a barber. I love his view about hairstyle and lifestyle.

happiness in apple fest

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I have never been to apple fest before. This year, the apple fest impressed me so much, because all people were so happy there. Farmers, travelers, local residents were all enjoying the season of harvest. I also know a friend by this festival. She is a transfer sophomore student in CALS, and we talked a lot about how she felt in Cornell, what she enjoyed most, especially the excellent dining halls we all love!

 

The hot apple cider is a little sweet, but I did feel the pleasure of harvest by it. Now I understand that the apple is only a symbol, what really important is the happiness of harvest and sharing this happiness with people around you.

How Ruth’s childhood shapes his life

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Ruth’s story is so attractive to me, because her life choice and academic path are strongly related to her childhood experience. I am so impressed by her determination, her devotion to protecting the nature (dedicated to agriculture development), and her humor and optimism. I am also impressed by the way his father educated her when she was a child: Respect the nature and do not over-exploit the resources (such as woods). I also love her interesting way of being educated: listen to lecture under the tree, go to the market for entertainment, ect.

 

I hope and believe that in future, she will have other opportunities to come to US, continue her research and share more interesting stories with us.

understanding what it means to be in a community

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The very first Rose Scholar lecture I ever attended by Professor Blalock taught me what it means to be in a community. He impressed me a lot with his attentiveness and respect for students. We talked about many specific issues, including how to solve the bathroom problem in Gothics I live, what kind of guest lecturers we would like to invite for our Rose Cafe activities and so on. I understand that in a community, we should care about and listen to others, and we would be cared about and listened to by others. I feel so lucky that I can live on campus  to enjoy the warm feeling of living such a lively community like Rose.

The complex of Human Nature

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Last week, Judge Miller came to Rose Cafe and talked with us about some crazy cases he met in his career and how he viewed about human nature. I learned and thought a lot from his talk. It is true that people sometimes judge others with bias. More specifically speaking, people sometimes tend to view others according to the worst thing they have ever done. However, humans are not black and white. First, people who seem to be criminal may not be the actual culprits. Second, even if a person is criminal in something, he may still have other sides of human nature: He may love his wife, his children, and his other family. He may have many interesting hobbies such as planting. When they have paid for what they should pay for their criminal behavior, they should have the opportunity to be in the society again. No matter how many dark sides of human we have seen or heard, we should still believe the goodness of human nature and do not judge others.