I've Got a Date with Cornell

As I pick out my outfit for tomorrow, paint my nails for the final time, and touch up the last of my packing essentials, I become excited for my date with Cornell; and for this event, I definitely won't be stood up. Of course, I am also nervous - I have never been away so long, and now I am under pressure from Don to become a temporary insomniac during my 3:40 AM trip to the airport, and 5-hour flight, as well as trying to keep my suitcase under his personal weight requirement of 42 pounds. However, these are small issues compared to the great adventure that awaits me; tomorrow evening, I will be in Philadelphia enjoying dinner with the rest of my cohort.

I am excited to see the other campuses (UPenn, Columbia, and Princeton), but since they do not seem to have a nutrition science major for undergraduates, I am really most excited to see Cornell (which has an excellent program in two different colleges - Agriculture and Human Ecology). There's also the excitement of being a tourist. I've never been to Philadelphia, so hopefully we will get to see as many points of interest as possible. My list of what to get is ever-growing, thanks to my brother (unfortunately, Max, you get one thing only), so souvenir shopping is definitely a must.

Although it will be fun to have my own hotel room for the first week before Cornell, I am looking forward to meeting my roommate in the dormitory. Dorm life will be another new experience, though not completely unfamiliar, thanks to many years of YMCA summer camps (living with one girl in a cramped room will hopefully be easier than living with ten girls in a cabin that's not much bigger). I will be sure to take many pictures, too, so that everyone (the wonderful sponsors of the Ivy League Connection, especially) can experience this trip with me - day by day, just as the doctor ordered.

Now it's time for the final step of any lengthy trip - spending time with the people I won't see for a month; because although the break from my family will be nice, in the end, they are the people who really got me here.