Goodbye Cornell!

The last day at Cornell finally arrived. I woke up at 7:00 in the Statler instead of the dorm, 2 and a half hours before our graduation. Mr. Chan-Law drove Eric, Rachael, and I to the airport early to check in our bags. We came back to the Statler to dress up for the graduation. It was nearly 9 AM, but I was struggling with my tie. After finally fixing my tie, Eric and I met up with the rest of the ILCers to eat our breakfast at Collegetown Bagels.

Collegetown  Bagels from the Car.

Finishing our bagels, we arrived at the Statler building just in time at 9:30 AM. Everyone already there were well dressed and were just hanging around, before Mark brought everyone inside a classroom. We discussed how the graduation was going to work, how people were going to walk, and how he was going to pronounce everyone's names. Quickly afterwards, we set off to the auditorium. It was a small graduation because it was only our hotel class, which made it feel closer because I knew most of the students. Music was playing and it felt like an actual high school graduation. In the beginning, we had student speakers talk about our experiences at this three week program. Two of them were from my group, Linna and Josh. Shortly later, Mark called out each of our names. We all got a certificate for this program and a copy of our final report. Finishing off our graduation, the TA's put together a special PowerPoint that had pictures of everyone.

At the end of the graduation, everyone stayed to say their last good-byes and take pictures. Eric and I were there for about 20 minutes  before heading to the Statler to finish packing for our trip back. It was sad, seeing people that are from different states or countries for the last time because it is unlikely that I'd be visiting them anytime soon. I will still try to keep in touch with as many people as I can. As Mr. Chan-Law was driving us to the Ithaca airport, I tried to get my last pictures of the amazing campus.

A Last Look at the Statler Building Where my Class is.

After about an estimated 15 minutes of driving, we were finally arrived at the airport that would take us away from New York. We ate our sandwiches from Collegetown Bagels as lunch on the benches there before setting off. The airplane was like the one from last time, with propellers. I sat next to Alex on the plane, and the chairs were comfortable for such a small plane. An hour later, we arrived at a familiar place, Philadelphia. At around 5 PM ET, we grabbed lunch at the airport. It felt right to get Philly Cheese steaks, so everyone except Rachael (she's gluten intolerant) got one. After our quick lunch, we went on our final plane. It was a sad moment, sitting there, knowing this would be the last time here for a while.

Our Airplane to Philly

Fast forward 6 hours of flying on a plane, we were back home. Our long happy voyage has come to an end. We all said our farewells to each other when we checked out our luggage. I had a lot of fun with all of them, and hopefully, we'll have a reunion some time soon.