I played CHESS

Today was by far the most enjoyable day since I came to Ithaca. The class has began to become more interactive. We worked on the computers twice today, once with Mr. McCarthy and another with Mrs. McCarthy.

With Mr. McCarthy, we learned the steps to designing our own template. It is quite a complicated task to do. The text must be in perfect alignment, the structure of the paragraphs have to be correct, and the indentations have to be done a certain way, not like the common method of substituting tab for indent. Tonight at office hours, our assignment was to complete our own template design. I was completely confused about what to do, but my project group members and the TA's assisted me well. I do appreciate how patient Mr. McCarthy is. He is always aware of the common and uncommon mistakes people can make while using Office 2007 so he willingly guides the students through it. I hope my professors in the future are just like him.

In the session with Mrs. McCarthy, we got to do some hands-on work with the CHESS hotel simulation program. It is was so much fun! I did not want to get off the computer. Today was just practice for the actual assignment. In order for a hotel to succeed, one must keep track of the percentage of occupancy, the Average Daily Rate, and the department margin. I was able to reach 81% of occupancy, which is already a percentage of guests staying at my simulated hotel. My Average Daily Rate, or the room revenue divided by the number of occupied rooms in the hotel, are was also higher than the ones listed on the front board of the computer lab. I was feeling pretty happy since I seemed to be above average with my hotel. I am feeling really confident about the actual assignment now. Unfortunately, we had to return to the main classroom and sit in for another lecture, on presentation skills. It was not a boring lecture, it was exceptionally amusing in fact. I just really wanted to continue playing with the hotel simulation game.

After class, we had extra time so we walked to the nearby Collegetown. Yueming, Stacy, and I went to the eat at the Collegetown Bagels. While walking there, we were able to see a part of the campus we had never passed before. We passed by the Olin Hall of Chemical Enginering Building, and the Myron Taylor Hall a part of the Cornell Law School.



At first, I did not have the greatest impression of Cornell University, but after today, I now have found a new intrigue of Cornell. I hope to be able to explore the campus even more and see all the charms this institution truly holds.


~Louisa