I really enjoyed the Rose Café lead by Lisa Nishii this week because I feel like she offered extremely important advice that is rarely given. I believe that Dr. Nishii’s emphasis on taking time to explore what it is about which we are most passionate and having faith that things will work out is a point that students today need to hear and do their best to internalize. Indeed, students often feel pressure to find a resume-enhancing internship, and the priority thus becomes landing any internship but preferably one prestigious enough to powerfully enhance their resume. Finding an internship or opportunity that will enable a student to explore his or her passions seems to take a back seat. Additionally, I think that there is so much pressure to keep moving along the fast track to success that it can be not only easy to forget why we decided to start striving for that destination in the first place but also easy to lose sight of how exciting the journey can be.
Accordingly, I very much appreciated how Dr. Nishii took the time to allow us to remind ourselves and our peers what we love about Cornell and why we wanted to be here. Like many Café attendees, I also am really amazed by the opportunities and experiences that Cornell has to offer, from attending the lectures of and conducting research with some of the most renowned scholars in the world to attending an event with Justice Sotomayor to stumbling across a cattle auction on your way to the Dairy Bar, as I once did. As Dr. Nischii said, now is likely the only time that we will be immersed in an environment like Cornell’s, so we really should make an effort to let ourselves enjoy it whenever we can. As I was sitting at the discussion and taking in Dr. Nischii’s advice, I realized that when I reflect back on my time at Cornell, I am almost certain that I will not be thinking that I should have spent more time studying and stressing, but I might be wishing that I had explored Ithaca and the surrounding area more or that I had attended more lectures of visiting scholars or prominent professionals. Dr. Nischii’s discussion has given me an extra push to invest efforts in enjoying Cornell and all that it has to offer.