Based on my somewhat-romanticized view of the college experience, I always imagined I’d eventually learn about Cornell through gradually and passively, in an osmosis-like process. In this sense, I could imagine myself, after about an year of university, being able to show my university to family and friends in a way similar to a tour guide: getting people excited about the stories of the places and people that make the university.

However, I’m in the middle of my second year, and I still know little. Very little. So this clearly doesn’t work. And I often felt bad for not knowing things I thought I should know.

This is part of the reason why I was so glad to have attended prof. Garrick Blalock’s talk. He explained to us Cornell’s history from the very beginning and, particularly, the history of West Campus. We were told about the original plans for the dormitories in West (which were only partially made), the origins of buildings’ names, the buildings which were made but soon demolished, and also details. Lots of small details in buildings which I pass through on a daily basis; some of them explained, some more misterious. I started realizing there are plaques I pass through daily but never read and architectural details back from the gothics’ creation which I didn’t even notice.

Learning about it all was very interesting, and now I also know a bit more about where I live and about my university in general. Did it fundamentally change the way I see the university? No. But it does make my walks around campus a bit more meaningful, and it does make me more curious about what I don’t yet know about Cornell! 🙂