Friday, July 10, 2015

The Last Hurrah

Yesterday was easily one of the funnest days I've had during this trip.  I proved myself worthy of being one of the best debaters in class and got to play ultimate frisbee in the pouring rain without a care in the world.  I only imagined that this last day of class and my final night at Cornell would be an adventure straight out of a children's book.  Unfortunately, fate had other plans.

Last night, following my frisbee-session, I felt a little under the weather, but I thought it was just becasue I was really tired due to the nearly two-hours of running around.  I woke up around seven feeling groggy and slightly-nauceous, but I chalked it up to being hungry.  Weirdly enough, when I went down to the RPCC, I was barely able to prepare a bowl of cereal.  The orange juice and milk despensiries weren't working at all and I was reduced to a strawberry danish and a banana.  I ate enough to fill me up, but I was still feeling slightly sick.  Again, I brushed it off.

I studied in my dorm room until around ten, then decided to head down to the Trillium.  At this point in time, the breakfast had digested and I was feeling a little hungry, which was exactly what I wanted.  See, when I took my final, I wanted to have the most energy possible in order to perform to the best of my ability.  In order to do so, all I purchased at the Trillium was a Starbucks Doubleshot Expresso. I planned to drink it when I was really hungry so it wouldn't be absorbed by any food.  Onto this in a little while.

I walked into my classroom for the final time at around eleven o'clock, an hour and a half early.  I was there so early becasue I wanted to study.  I didn't want to take the normal route and read; what I did instead was grab a piece of chalk and start to write all my notes onto the chalkboard.  I threw on the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack and got to work.  Around 11:11, Dr. Sharkey walked in and simply said "You kids are really something."  He then left and told me he was going to make the quiz, which I found amusing because he had procrasinated as much as I had procrasinated.  Following his leave, I resumed my work to the sound of tunes such as "Fooled Around and Fell in Love," "Come and Get Your Love" and "Escape," which made for great studying.  By 11:45, I filled up every section of the chalkboard and all I could do was admire my work.  I was feeling hungry, so I chugged down the Expresso and got to examining my work.  Around 12, some students started walking in and asking "Who did this?" to which I rasied my hand with a slight grin on my face and responded "Me."

My "Masterpiece"
When test-time rolled around, I was overly-prepared and I was able to breeze through the test.  The expresso sure did help a lot and I was wired for nearly the whole test.  Unfortunately, half-way through the test, that nauceating feeling started to re-reise and this time much worse.  At one point, I had to stop writing and decide whether or not I was going to sprint to the bathroom.  I managed to tough it out and finish the test.  Upon handing my test in, I walked to the bathroom and repeatedly washed my face.  There was a bench that conveniently had a trash can next to it and I proceeded to put my arms on the can and tuck my face into my arms.  The feeling came back stronger than ever and it felt awful.  I don't know how long I was staying there, but it felt like an eternity.  I walked backed to the room and explained to Dr. Shareky the status of my condition, and he told me to decide whehter it was pre-debate nerves or an actual sickness, which I understood.  I walked outside, then back to the bathroom, where, unfortunately, I found out it was actual sickness and the nauceating feeling couldn't be held back.  I walked back into the classroom a little disgrunteled, but stood my ground and declined into my chair read to witness the debate.

The debate itself seemed like a blur to me.  I remeber laughing a lot and occasionally slamming my hand repeatedly on my tiny desk in admiration of an argument, but I'm having difficulty remembering exactly what occured.  It makes sense to me, considering my condition at the time.  I do remember that the motion was "This house beleives that in impoverished areas, all unversities's archives should be published digitally."  The Cornell debate team proved why they were the best in the world, but at the same time, my classmates put on a valiant fight.  When the debate ended, I headed back to my dorm and fell into my bed for a couple hours.  

When I awoke, it was dark and I was feeling slightly better.  I realized that I had to pack so I threw on Netflix and got to work.  All-in-all, it took me about three hours to pack and do laundry, whch hasn't the most exciting aspect of my trip.  It's sort of been an anti-climax, but even at that, it's great to know that my next blog is going to be published, hopefully, from the convenience of my own home.  

Tetris Has Prepared Me!

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