The Home Stretch!

Today was a relaxed day, as Sunday's at Cornell seem to usually be, full of finishing homework and playing games. Unfortunately I missed breakfast as I slept in until 10 then showered, and by the time I was ready to eat, breakfast was over. I met up Calvin, Alex, Eric, Frank, and Hannon and we spent our time before lunch playing pool. In my time here I think I have actually managed to get worse, and there is certainly no improvement. After a few games of pool, we went to eat lunch. The afternoon was spent reading, revising my paper, and playing whiffle ball. We played a few more games of pool after dinner, then I finalized my essay revision. Finally before bed I watched some of Iron Man with Hannon and some other of my floor mates. This is my last Sunday in New York. It is hard to believe the trip is almost over. It has been, and still is, such an amazing experience. I do not want it to end, but at the same time I miss my family and friends home. Tomorrow my last week in New York starts!

The Final Full Weekend in Ithaca

We started off the day meeting at the Robert Purcell Community Center to play pool and then heading for lunch soon after that.  The day in general was spent with friends or behind the books.  After lunch we went to our headquarters, the Donlon lounge, to work on our revisions for the Plato essay.  We exchanged essays to catch any mistakes and then took a break to play wiffle ball.

You could say that we were inspired by yesterday’s visit to Cooperstown to buy a wiffle bat and ball to play once we return back to campus, and that was exactly what we did today.  The weather was beautiful, about 70 degrees with no humidity, when we went outside to play.  It was another great bonding experience with our group. 

The evening was spent finishing up our essays.  Calvin and I took a trip to Bear Necessities, a convenience store located in Robert Purcell Community Center, to grab a quick bite to eat before returning to Donlon. The day was not particularly eventful but was still fun and productive. We turn in our second draft of our Plato essays tomoorw and have our final on Friday.  I cannot believe this will be our last Sunday in Ithaca though! Time has gone by so fast and I really am going to miss my time here

One Last Weekend

This day was the last time that we were able to sleep in. Since we woke up so late, breakfast was closed, so we went to play pool at the RPCC for about  45 minutes. After our brunch, we were determined to do our work.

Everyone was at the Mary Donlon lounge to do our homework, because it was the only air-conditioned place in the dorm. After an hour of working, we got bored and we went outside to play some baseball with the plastic bat and wiffle ball (which Eric broke during the game). After finishing our game, I played Boxhead with Alex and Calvin. They were intense games, and for some reason, Alex was pretending he won (he didn't).

Back to focusing on class, I went to do my Hotel Management assignment. We had to do a service to anyone that had to be following the Golden rule, Platinum rule, and Double Platinum rule. The Golden rule, which almost everyone knows, is to treat people the way you want to be treated; the Platinum rule is to treat people the way they want to be treated, and the Double Platinum rule is to treat people beyond expectations. I just realized that one of my good deeds followed all of these rules, so I used it in my writing. I helped my friend decide what coin to use in the vending machine. It seems lame, but I went beyond my friend's needs, and looked up coin collectibility online to make sure he didn't waste a good quarter.

After finishing my assignment, Eric and I went to the optional office hours to revise our CHESS strategy and ask the TAs anything we had problems on. After about two hours, we headed back. I finished the day by studying for our quiz tomorrow.

The Last Sunday

With our last weekend at Cornell, we decided to take full advantage of it by spending most of our time revising our papers. The day started off with a quick game of pool (I'm pretty sure all of us missed breakfast since we all slept in) and then off to the dining hall. Once we were done, it was straight to work. Alex, Eric Wilson, and I were revising our papers, while Frank and Eric Wang were reading about their hotels. After a long initial revising process, we decided to take a break and channeled our inner motivation to play baseball from yesterday's trip. We played some wiffleball outside in the hot weather. Every once in a while, one person would go back into the lounge just to cool off; this process happened quite often throughout. After about an hour, our wiffleball broke due to the sheer quality of our batting skills. Once we felt the effects of exercising and hot weather, we went back to the lounge and resumed our work that was interrupted by computer games.  

After a while, we decided to head up for dinner since Frank and Eric had office hours for Hotel. Once they left, Alex, Eric, Hannon, Matt, and I went to play pool. However, Matt actually fell asleep throughout the whole time. I do have to say, I feel that my pool skills are coming along (although it may just be luck). Once we were done, we were expecting to pay at least $5 for the hour spent, but the front desk apparently forgot to write down our starting time, so we ended up only paying $1.25. Not bad at all.

When we got back to the lounge, we decided to read each others essay to get some more feedback. This turned out to be a great idea as Eric pointed out some mistakes I didn't catch even though I read mine earlier. I later went to Bear Necessities (Cornell's convenience store) with Alex to get a few snacks since I get a little hungry after check-in hours. The day ended with some light conversation with Alex, Eric, Hannon, and Matt. I guess I never mentioned this, but I spend almost all my time in Donlon, and since I live in Balch, the day ends once I check in, unlike all my friends in Donlon who hang out in the lounge after check-in.

Well, the day certainly hasn't been the most eventful, but it was enjoyable (even though we were working on our papers for most of the time). 

Reading, Relaxing, and Studying

I took advantage of today to sleep in a bit before I hung out with Eric, Calvin, Frank, and Alex before and after lunch by playing baseball with our plastic bat and wiffle ball we pitched in to but for the baseball hall of fame.


We all took turns, hitting, pitching, fielding, and playing catcher. It was nice to get to kick back, joke, laugh, and have fun before we cracked down on our studies. After we cooled down in the Donlon lounge, I finished my readings and then did my original idea for my service project which was editing the Freedom and Justice group's papers. I enjoyed reading their essays analyzing Plato and The Republic because one, their writing is interesting, and two, I already read parts of The Republic during my AP Language and Composition class with the ILC at Yale chaperone Igor Litvin.


My service idea changed when we all took a break from work to play a little more baseball. Eric was chasing a ball down when, out of nowhere, he yelped and started limping. Frank and I helped our buddy out by getting him everything he needed to treat his foot which had started to swell. We ventured a guess that he stepped on a bee that stung him so we told Eric how to remove the stinger. While it turned out to not be a bee sting, Frank and I are still contributed to helping Eric.


After a quick dinner, Frank and I went to the optional office hours to do one more run through with CHESS, and I think Frank and I know what we can do to reach the goal of $70,000 weekly department revenue.

One Last Free Day

I really slept in this morning. I had been so tired for the past few weeks that I somehow managed to turn off my alarms and sleep until 1:30 PM - effectively missing breakfast and lunch at the dining hall. Last night a classmate called asking for help with his essay (he is taking a summer course, too, back home); it sucked to get out of bed (it was about 1 AM), but it helped me with my project for class too (help someone in need who I don't know very well). I was not sure what I'd do for my own project, but I was happy to help even if it had not helped me too. I'm good at writing, and the prompt was similar to one I had done previously, so I'm pretty sure he'll get good marks. 

Since today was my last free day before the upcoming chaos, I decided to walk into Collegetown. The main portion was not very big, and the side street stores were all closed or up for rent. I did get to try the highly-recommended self-serve yogurt place, "Crazy Yogurt;" I wasn't crazy about it, but it wasn't bad either (plus I was hungry).

I read a little when I got back, took a nap (even after ten hours of sleep, I still found myself yawning), ate dinner, and found out that the nearest post office was conveniently a five-minute walk from class. Tomorrow morning I am going to send postcards to my brother Max - who is currently attending a YMCA leadership program/camp - and my boyfriend Marc (if anyone's interested, today marked two and a half years together for us). I also went for a fifty-minute run today. I found the post-office, enjoyed Disney-themed songs played on the clock tower bells, caught a beautiful sunset behind the arts and sciences buildings, and discovered a new way to get to Bailey Hall.

My homework is all done, my phone calls have been made, and I think now I will go on Netflix to enjoy a movie or show before I go to bed. Free days are nice.