*Blue skies, white clouds, and green trees! Everything looks so serene!
*Snapshot of the grassy area by Kay Hall.When you see pictures like these, you know one great day is coming your way! And that's exactly what happened today.
Not only were there clear blue skies and warm sunshine, I felt better from the start of the day. It was very kind of Mr. Crossley to take all six of the Hercules students out to our final brunch at Banfi's in the Statler Hotel. Besides eating the great culinary creations, we all had time to sit around one round table and catch up.
After our meal, we headed back to the dorms to do homework. The F&J students needed to finish reading and writing their second draft for their final Plato essay while the Hotelies needed to plow through the rest of our text packet of required readings. Although we all had a lot of fun this weekend, we knew that our priorities are still our classes. Afterall, it is as Professor Marc McCarthy stressed, "This is summer college, not summer camp."
In the peace and quiet setting of my room, I finally realized just how much I love this whole college experience. I know for certain that I will miss seeing all of my new friends. It will be strange waking up in a week and not seeing my roommate Rachel. It will be strange not listening to Elyssia and Jessica's jokes. It will be strange not laughing along with Sheena. It will be strange not going on this website and blogging about my day. Most importantly, it will be strange not hanging out with Louisa and Stacy everyday and Justine, Julia, and Ramiah on the weekends.
Knowing me, I will probably shed a tear the day we depart from Ithaca, New York, but I have made myself a promise. I will not think about all of the people and activities I will miss. Instead, I will strive to make this last week even more exciting and eventful than the first two. Knowledge, memories, and a few souvenirs are all that I can take back with me so I plan on having as much fun learning and socializing as possible.
Even if the weather does decide to change back to the rainy, humid state, I know the next six days can still be as beautiful as today. Just in a different way.
~Yueming W.
Yueming,
ReplyDelete"Knowledge, memories and a few souvenirs" -- is really quite a lot. Not to mention that the "knowledge" is quite life-changing. I'm delighted to know that you loved the whole experience and that you have made such strong connections with your roommate and new friends.
Congratulations on finally having such wonderful weather (truly appreciated on the east coast and often taken for granted back here on the west coast) -- the pictures are beautiful.
I know this last week will be as eventful for you as the first -- and we all look foward to hearing about it.
As you reflect on your experience, please think about writing to next year's students and the teachers who might be reading. They will all be inspired by you -- and this is your opportunity to share insights and make suggestions.
I'm looking foward to hearing from you each night -- enjoy your beautiful week.
Yueming,
ReplyDeleteA lovely blog. And it almost brought tears to my eyes until I got to the part where you made it sound as though you might—just might—miss the daily blogging. You may not want to admit it in writing but I can imagine that ALL of you will kneel down and thank the gods that your blogging days are over.
The photos are better than great, Yueming, and between the blue skies and all of the greenery it’s hard to imagine it’s the middle of summer. California’s a beautiful state but one day it’s Spring with lush green hills and the next day it’s Summer with brown as far as the eye can see.
[I made a summer trip many years back to Oregon and I swear, Yueming, that when I was looking out the window of the plane I could tell where the border was. IT was as though it was brown, brown, brown and all of a sudden it was green, green, green.]
When you talk to people who have served in the military they’ll tell you about the bonds they made with their fellow soldiers. I think the fact that they lived, ate and slept as a unit and faced potential disasters at every turn bonded tem much the same way you’ve developed bonds with some of the people at Cornell. What you do with these newfound friends is yet to be seen.
Thanks Yueming. You are fortunately one of our two students who will remain with us next year in the Ivy League Connection. I do hope that you will take Ms. Kronenberg's advice and become our "pied piper" at Hercules High School. We need for you to really emphasis how important the ILC is to students who may apply in the future.
ReplyDeleteWe do not want our most talented students to miss out on the chance to make our district better and to actually create a "College going culture" at all of our high schools.
Thanks again for the beautiful photos, they show Ithaca and Cornell University in their full beauty. I can only imagine what the school looks like in the Fall and Spring.
Enjoy your final week on campus. Please also remember to sign up for the Cornell informational session and College Tour. It will give you a different perspective to hear about Cornell from current students.
Take care.
Charles T. Ramsey