Happy 2nd of July!

Our first weekend has come and gone, and now it's back to work. Our lecture today covered the beliefs and ideology of John Locke in the mid 17th century. The main theme throughout both the lecture and discussion session was about Locke's natural rights to "Life, Liberty, and Property" and the consequences of infringing on these rights. After a week of lectures, I noticed that it gets more interesting as Professor Kramnick goes on in the lecture. Maybe it's the coffee kicking in, but I definitely get more and more engaged as the lecture progresses, so by the end, I really don't want it to end. 

After class, Eric, Alex, and I found this neat little group study room in the Uris Library where we reviewed all of our reading for our midterm on Wednesday. We actually quite quite a lot of work done in that time span that we decided we should go there after class everyday to trade notes and go over what our TAs said (I have a different TA from Eric and Alex). After our review session, we explored the so-called "Harry Potter Library" which was jaw-dropping, but unfortunately, I did not have any picture-taking devices at that time. We then went to the Technology Center so that Alex could get wifi on his iPod Touch. We then headed back to Donlon Hall and watched the movies Armoured and Bridesmaid. Funny story, in the middle of Bridesmaid, I went to the bathroom and discovered that I had a bloody nose (probably from the heat, so drink a lot of water!).

Our review board in our secret hideout

After a quick dinner, we all went to play pool for a while before watching the fireworks. I guess I forgot to mention that Cornell actually has it's 4th of July fireworks on the 2nd. Eric Wilson, Alex, and I went with our friends Samantha (better known as Sam), Morgan, and Alyssa. We eventually picked a spot on the hill and waited for about 45 minutes for the fireworks to begin, only to be disappointed that our view was blocked off by a tree. However, the majority of the fireworks were big enough that the tree didn't pose a huge problem. The finale was absolutely amazing with bright flashes everywhere and the boom of the rockets resonating throughout the city.

View from before the fireworks began

Overall this day was extremely productive with the discovery of our review room. The fireworks were amazing and my pool-playing is actually really good! I now have to put that all behind me since I need to study for my midterm on Wednesday!