Saturday, June 20, 2015

Day One at Cornell

Today was our first full day at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Despite getting to sleep after 1:00 AM, I woke up at 7:30 AM to a cool breeze blowing through my dorm room window. My roommate hadn't arrived yet, so I was still alone in my room. I tried to see if the internet was working, and unfortunately my computer's wireless capability was turned off and it wouldn't be for another several hours that that problem would be resolved. (by pressing Fn + PrtScr)

In the meantime, to avoid the stresses of having to write and being unable to access the internet that connects the lives of millions and their blogging sites, I decided to take a shower. It probably took me way longer than it should have to figure out how the shower worked, but at least I was the only one showering at that moment so I didn't hold anyone up! 
Cornell Campus
After returning to my room and unpacking some more, I met up with Shanti and Julie to meet the others for our trip to Target. This would be our only trip to Target so get supplies for our stay, such as laundry detergent, so it was important to not forget any necessary items. 

Target not only supplied us with laundry detergent, but reliable internet access too! Many of us were able to finish our blogs from the day before, which had been held up because of sketchy internet service on campus, which was a huge relief. 

When we returned from Target, we all went to the dining hall for our first lunch, We met Thao's friend who rooms next to her, Kate, who is really friendly and fun to be around. She stayed with our group throughout lunch and came with us to the orientation afterwards as well. The dining hall was a bit hectic, but well set up. There was a long line to get in, but it moved fast and once we were in the eating area there were no more lines to wait in. There were many tables set up around the food areas, which meant there were plenty of places to sit. The food selection was wide as well, varying from pizza, pasta, to hamburgers, salads, and cereal. There was ice cream, cookies, and banana bread for dessert too!

We finished our lunch and walked to Bailey Hall for our first meeting for Cornell's Summer School program. We were first greeted by the summer college director followed by the residential program director and Glenn C. Altschuler. Glenn was a fabulous speaker, who entwined the audience to his voice through his jokes and his sly comments. My favorite was his line that he was selling his book in the Cornell store for $40, and two for $85. 
Bailey Hall
After the general presentation was over, many of the summer courses held smaller introductions to their programs in different rooms. Justice and I went to our Debate and Rhetoric meeting and were introduced to our teacher, Rodney Sharkey, who is Irish. I really like him, he is thoughtful and smart and I'm excited to learn from him. Our class has 24 students in it, all juniors and seniors in high school, and a mix of boys and girls. Although I only met a few students, everyone seemed smart and respectful and I am looking forward to class starting on Monday!

After dinner a lot of students gathered on the grass around Balch Hall and played frisbee and volleyball. It was really great to meet new people and enjoy hanging out in the cool, Ithaca weather. At 7:30 PM was the ice cream social, but because there were a thousand students I decided that waiting in line for ice cream was not high on my list of priorities! There is homemade ice cream everyday at lunch and dinner in the dining hall, so the ice cream wasn't too important. However, even though I didn't have ice cream I talked with a lot of new students and played frisbee with a group of people I had never met before.



Only one more day before classes start!

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