When Ryan Lombardi, the VP of Student and Campus Life, mentioned to us about how Cornell students had been described as “intense” by other faculty members, it really woke me up to the environment that I currently live in.

What really stood out to me during Mr. Lombardi’s discussion was this concept of comparison on the Cornell campus. As a transfer, I have certainly had my bouts of stress and “fifth-life” crises in the past few months. Sometimes they get overwhelming and there’s nothing that you can do but wait for it to leave you, or perhaps confide in other people and hope that they can help to assuage the situation. We all compare ourselves so much to others that we end up losing focus of ourselves. This leads to unhealthy tendencies and very inconsistent sleep schedules, which are romanticized in college culture. It’s almost as if we are all competing to see who can be the most unhealthy on campus.

Overall, the discussion made me reflect on my time here at Cornell, and while I do get stressed at times, I do genuinely appreciate how much this campus has pushed me to be the best version of myself. I have greatly enjoyed my time here and hope for more good (but probably stressful) memories to come.