Finals, Finals, Finals

It hasn’t been three weeks.­­­ I just got off the plane a few days ago and I’m still here exploring the lakes and buildings in Ithaca. Except that the last day of class is tomorrow and then I’m home in two days. When did this happen? Let’s get back to talking about today.

Although class started at the regular 8:30, the room was already full at 8 from those who got up extra

Working in the bin lab.

early for the project. A lot of finals happened today. Final lunches, final hotel lessons, and most importantly, finals.

Mark and Reneta gave a short lecture before releasing us back into the bin lab for work. Everyone rushed in, gathering papers and data to complete the work. After three good hours of analysis and computing, everyone went to the Trillium for what may be their last time. While most students enjoyed their first meal with Mark, the ILC has other plans in store for Shanti, Stephen and I.

We saw Chan-Law and Janna Bugliosi, the associate director of the Cornell Summer College program. For the past few weeks, I received e-mails to meet with Janna, but due to the rigorous hotel schedule, the meeting was canceled. I was upset that I couldn’t meet her because I’m was looking forward to sharing my opinions about my experiences here thus far. Luckily, it worked out in the end, even if our meeting only lasted half an hour because we had to rush to class. Janna was very polite and outgoing. She was very welcoming and carefully listened to our experiences. Afterwards, everyone went back to the lecture hall for the final lecture.

First and final picture with my group.

It didn’t feel like it was nearing the end, with Mark’s enthusiastic character stirring up giggles from the class and Reneta’s calm demeanor, but it was. We discussed a personality activity and compared our results from three weeks ago to the results we had just now. The results alone show how much we’ve changed after the short amount of time. I went from an analyzer-stabilizer to a stabilizer-stabilizer. Then we went back to the bin lab to complete the remainder of the assignment.

There was only one break in between two and nine. The TA’s kicked us out of the room so we could all get some dinner, and a group of us went to College Town and ate at the Plum Tree Restaurant. After a bowl of Ramen, it was time to meet the computers again. Our group stayed until ten, editing, working and formatting the paper together. Finally, it was time to print.

To think that there could be so many finals after just three weeks.