The Contradictions of the Saints

Statue of Ezra Cornell located
 right outside our discussion room

Our class today addressed Saint Augustine and Saint Aquinas. They were two religious authorities who, in their separate times, created very different theories on human nature and what the government's role should be. The lecture was very interesting, and the discussion even more so. If I have learned anything so far it is that political theory, and especially the Bible, is full of contradictions. After lunch we had writing workshop in which Ulas gave us back our first drafts of our papers from Monday. His comments were very helpful and made me think in a whole different way about my essay and its content. Then we rewrote our essays in a final draft. I really enjoy the dynamic of our discussion section and writing workshops. Ulas acts as a discussion leaders and guides the conversations as opposed to controlling it. It makes me feel very comfortable and is much more engaging.

We had a meeting with Mr. Chan-Law today in which we discussed our out-of-school plans for the rest of the 3 weeks. We decided that next Friday (which Freedom and Justice has off instead of The 4th of July)  we would go and visit Colgate University then see the new Spiderman movie. We also decided to visit Cooperstown on Saturday the 7th. Then we went and got our ILC supplied Cornell University sweaters. I got a black and red Underarmor sweater which I am very happy with. It is way too hot here, but I am very excited to wear it when I get home.

After dinner we hung out in the tv lounge in Donlon Hall. We watched tv and blogged. Then we went outside and played frisbee for a little while. The rest of the night I spent relaxing at a various areas around Donlon Hall until I went to sleep. I am falling in to a consistent rhythm here at Cornell, and feel very at place. I miss my family and friends, but experiencing being away is great.