Scavenger Hunt!

The Arch of Balch Hall

I woke up this morning at around 7 o'clock to find myself actually getting up at 8:36 AM. My cohort

and I tried to get breakfast together, but some of us woke up earlier than others. Breakfast is always held at the RPCC, which is a two minute walk from South Balch. I was so tired this morning to a point where I was closing my eyes when eating breakfast. I sat with Helen, Shanti, Stephen, and Frank at the RPCC. 

After eating breakfast, I played frisbee for five minutes with Helen, Stephen, and Frank, but decided to go back to the dorms to get some more sleep. I woke up at around 11 o'clock to get ready for the scavenger hunt today at 12 PM. 

During the scavenger hunt, my floor and I went outside to meet other people from different dorms. There are technically three dorms, Balch Hall, Risely Hall, and Mary Donlon Hall. I had fun being the enthusiastic one when playing the ice breakers. We started off by being in a circle, and played a game similar to "I Love My Neighbor." I forgot the name of the ice breaker, but a person would stand in the middle, state his/her name, and a fun fact. If people from the outer circle have a connection then they leave their current spot and move to a new one. We used water bottles, bags, and jackets to mark where a spot was. I believe that we did this for a solid ten minutes, and then it was off to another location. We went from place to place, playing ice breakers that involved dancing, walking, and creating connections. The last place that we went was outside the engineer building. We separated ourselves into two groups and the purpose of the ice breaker was to say a fun fact and to see if anyone from the circle had a connection. As the time went by, we all linked together. The purpose was to show that even if we come from different places, we still find connections with each other; so it's important to have an open mind and an open heart during the summer program. 

I really enjoyed the ice breakers because I was able to meet a lot of people. I met Karthik and Melissa today. Karthik is from Seattle and I connected with him because he plays the violin and he loves the book, A Thousand Splendid Suns. I haven't met anyone who has played the same instrument as me and has the same interest in books. I enjoyed talking to him, but I also had fun talking to Melissa. Melissa came to South Balch late, the last person on our floor. She lives in SoCal, and what I connected with her with was community service. She is in Key Club, and I am in KIWIN'S. These two organizations are alike in the aspect of giving back to the community. Someone came up to me and said that I seem like a cool person. That was very thoughtful, because I sometimes feel as if I try to hard to be me.  It was amusing to go around campus with the different groups from the different dorms. 

My View of Cornell. Actually, it's Hong Kong 

It began to rain when we started heading back. From a drizzle to a strong sprinkle, I just wanted to go back to the dorm. After coming back to the dorm, I hung out with my floor mates, watching videos, and talking about our lives. We had fun showing each other scenery from where we came from, and I told them about the Ivy League Connection. I talked to Jessica, Rachel, and Melissa. I learned about Hong Kong from Rachel. From the beautiful scenery, to the panda invasion, talking to my floor mates is interesting and eyeopening. One thing that I was never conscience of was my use of "hecka" and "hella." I never thought those words were unusual until my floor mates told me about it. It's astonishing to learn about frequent words that we all use since we are from different parts of the world.

After our conversation, Jessica, Melissa, Rachel, Helen, and I went to get dinner at the RPCC. Afterwards, Helen and I went to Mary Dolon to sign up for clubs during 5:15 PM to 7:15 PM. I looked around to see the many clubs available to us students. There was an ultimate frisbee club, a yearbook club, an arts and craft club, and much more. I decided to join to clubs, the dance club and the League of Legend club. I really wanted to learn how to dance, but I'm nervous to see how many amazing dancers there will be during our meetings. The League of Legend club was not intentional. I do not play L.O.L., but I have many friends who do, and who want me to play. I signed up for this club to see if I can find any other options than playing L.O.L; hopefully there will be Nintendo products there. 

My day ended pretty well. I had fun being the energetic, enthusiastic individual during the ice breakers, and I am excited to see what I will learn in my clubs. Tomorrow is the first day for my psychology class, also known as, The Individual in the Social World. Am I nervous, yes. Am I excited, yes. Can I do this? Yes.