~ The New Adventure to Ithaca~

On the plane ride to Ithaca I noticed beside me was a younger guy who had a lot of red gear on so I asked him if he was from Cornell and he answered yes. His name was Kyle Dake, I told him about the Ivy League Connection and how I am doing summer college at Cornell—which he thought was great. He actually already graduated from Cornell not too long ago.

Kyle Dake doing what Kyle does

He literally told me everything I could ever think of about Cornell—I don't even know where to begin. We talked the whole entire plane flight to Ithaca. Also we talked about our personal lives and experiences a little, too, so I got to know him really well. I told him how I wanted to study international business and he said how Cornell was a great place to be because of the business, economics, and hotel school. So I have a lot of options. He mentioned that I should apply to AIM which is like a program for business and he thinks that would really suit me. He talked about how Cornell is really diverse people are from everywhere and Cornell has many schools internationally, so if I want to do international business it’s a great opportunity for me. 

He mentioned a lot about the campus and places to sightsee and how beautiful the campus is—and now that I’m seeing it I can totally agree one-hundred percent.

He advised me on different ways I could get in to the business school like transferring because the business school is competitive. He talked about what I could say on my application because I pretty much gave him my whole life story. He said I could use a lot of my extracurriculars to my advantage, which I started to feel more and more I had a chance. He recommended me to apply for early admission which I will be doing and hopefully they accept me. I really like all the opportunities this college has for me and even the campus is beautiful how can I say no?

He talked about everything pretty much. He talked about also how he had a fiance from Cornell and she majored in global communications so he also recommended that to me. He was a really good wrestler and won a lot of championships at Cornell and was really close to even going to the Olympics for wrestling which I thought was amazing. He even knew my professor who will be teaching my Inspiring Leadership course and he said he was a really awesome teacher so I felt relieved. 

So once I got to Cornell I just settled in and slept. I woke up early around 8 AM to go get my ID and key to my room. Cornell was nice and gave us lanyards, campus papers, and even a cute little backpack. After I went to breakfast I didn't eat a whole lot but everything I ate was good.

After breakfast the Cornell crew went to go to the Cornell store and gear up and Mike met us up there. I got a Nike Dri-fit that said Cornell on the side which cost originally $80 but I found it on clearance so it turned out to be $50, which was a steal. I also fell in love with a grey hoodie that cost about $37 which was pretty cheap compared to other college stores. I think Cornell had a lot of cheap hoodies and crewnecks and even a couple of t-shirts, but everything else was the normal overpriced college apparel. 

After the Cornell cohort got Cornell apparel we decided to take a creative picture. Don has always talked about how Vanderbilt took a nice picture on a Vanderbilt sign and sat on it. So the Cornell cohort wanted to be the cohort that Don talks about in future references. So we spent most of our time walking around campus to take this creative picture that Mike helped out with also.

Eat your heart out, Vanderbilt.

After we took pictures we went to the orientation which just talked about rules safety mostly. After we met up with our course class and was guided to a designated room and so my professor gave us a syllabus and talked about what we are going to be learning and doing. He mentioned his background and talked about speakers who will be coming. I thought it was funny because two of the speakers are from California so I thought that was cool.

I like the professor a lot. After class I asked him a question about the books and then mentioned Kyle who I met on the plane and he thought that was cool I met him and mentioned that he made history at Cornell and he’s really famous which I didn't know and so I got to know the teacher a little more than most. 

I walked to the dining hall after which was about a 15 minute walk, but what made it bad was the heat that was going on but I survived so it’s ok. The food for dinner was so good I had pasta, pizza, and breadsticks which were amazing. 

I met two new people who had a similar name to me just the pronunciation was different. Anyway I left and went back to my dorm. Then there was an event called “the ice cream social” so I made another friend who is from Hong Kong and we got ice cream together and had a really nice conversation and just hanged out the entire time.

I took a shower right after I was done because since everyone was outside the showers were EMPTY which was great and then finally I had a unit meeting so I got to know everyone on my floor more. I finally met my roommate I hadn't met her because when I was in the room she wasn't or vice-versa. I really like her she very nice so I know were going to become very close and she’s from China—which is cool. I'm writing my blog on my phone sadly because my laptop screen won't turn on so hopefully tomorrow it does and I can blog with ease. 




How The First Official Day of Exploring Cornell Went

So I woke up at approximately 7:30. I wanted to be early enough to pick up my room key and head out to the dining area before the first wave of people started checking into the dorms (which was supposed to start at 8:30). When I went downstairs to get my stuff, Cornell had given me a key card which held every part of my life at Cornell from how I would get into my dorm hall to how I would be able to eat food. The key card was literally the most important thing they gave me. They had also given me two keys: one to lock my room and one to access my mail. Also, they gave us a Cornell University bag that contained maps and information about my classes and Cornell. So I definitely received a lot of information. 

After picking up my things, we started walking towards the dining halls. But while walking towards the dining halls I really became able to look at how amazing the school really looked. It was absolutely gorgeous. I was stunned by the stone archetecture of the buildings and especially how they incorporated a more modern look along with the historical stone into some buildings. It was a very nice and scenic walk to the dining hall (Robert Purcell Community Center aka RRPC). 

We arrived at the RRPC. The dining hall was on the third floor and it was really awesome. They had multiple stations. The first thing I had noticed which was the intricate display of the various fruit waters. I thought it looked very nice. They had so many different fruits that they used but the cantaloupe flavored water was definitely my favorite.

The breakfast was awesome too! There were multiple students that were working there and they would help whenever they were needed. They also had a waffle maker which I found to be awesome because I miss making my own waffles. Also, I really liked how the cereal was in a prepackaged state instead of the ones that you would have to pour into a bowl because I like how portable breakfast can be at this school. The dining area looked very groovy and there were multiple seating areas as well. For breakfast I had a waffle, muffins and a little bit for french toast (which I did not really enjoy too much but the other two things were great!)

After breakfast, we headed out to look for the schools student store.. The route that we took was extremely long and with it being hot it didn't help with the discomfort. This is one of those places where I really suggest one to bring a reusable water bottle. I had left my water bottle in my luggage but if I brought it I could refill it at the dining area and then at least have something to drink as I walk around. The walk to the store took about 30 minutes though it definitely is a lot shorter if one knows their way or takes a different route. 

After reaching the store, we had ended up looking for what Cornell clothing to buy since the ILC would give us 60 dollars to buy any Cornell clothing we wanted. I had come out with a Cornell black jacket crew neck which I really liked because I really needed a new black jacket ever since I grew out of my  old one. I really liked the way it looked on me and I'm super thankful to the ILC. I had also purchased some Cornell sweatpants however I used my own money to get them since I really liked them. One thing I noticed about Cornell's store is how cheap everything is compared to the other schools we visited in Chicago. Maybe because Chicago has such a high sales tax or something else buy the price tag was definitely different at Cornell than the Chicago schools.

After Mike came down to Cornell, we had decided to try to take our pictures in our Cornell gear. We had heard so much about Vanderbilt and how they set the creativity bar so we the Cornell ILC'16 group decided to set it higher. We figured out a way to creatively make a picture that accurately represented our cohort. And now that your suspense is built up, I should now tell you that the picture will be released very soon...

After we finished taking our amazing picture, it was around 3 o clock so we headed inside to a large stage where hundreds and maybe even a thousand people were seated. It was such a massive room with a full bottom middle and a circular top with multiple rows as well. At this stage is where we would hear multiple people of the Cornell Summer College team tell us the summer game plan. They gave us many break downs of the rules and what we should and should not do. One rule that really stood out to me was the fact that we weren't allowed to swim in the Gorge waterfall area and even the fact that they dedicated a whole video to it showing how important the rule is. It made sense though because many people have died from underestimating how powerful the waterfall is so the information was very helpful. They then introduced funny speakers and overall it was a pretty good conference.

After the conference we then broke off into the guides that would take us to see our class instructors. I had met two girls in my class, one being from Minnesota under a similar program to ILC and one being from China. It was great talking to them because now I know some people within my class which is great and makes the experience a lot better to know that there are people I can have fun working with. 

My Public Policy professors are great as well. I'm going to have around four of them. Each of them will teach us a specific topic like mass incarceration, immigration, and health reform. I was also happy at the fact that my class made it easier on everyone and decided not to give us books but instead online articles to read on a website I used almost everyday in junior year. My professors answered many questions and told us to really take advantage of the opportunity. I really liked how they told us that we would be learning the logistics without the emotion attached to certain topics because I feel like I can learn a lot from that. They didn't tell us much after that. One of the professors showed us where the class would be and we started to head back.

As I started to head back with my new roommates I had realized something: I have absolutely no water. As someone who is a water fanatic and human I really can't see myself surviving without water and so me and my new classmates went to the Cornell store to pick some up. I really liked the Cornell Bear Necessities store because they had everything I would need to water bottles to laundry detergent. It was great. Another thing I really have to recommend is bring money to buy stacks of packets of water because there is no real access to real water in South Balch Hall. Well, maybe because I am picky when it comes to water but I don't consider a water fountain something I would want to be using as my main source of water for the next 4+ years of my life in college so definitely bring packets of water or money to buy some and just put under your bed or in the closet. 

After dropping off my packets of water I ended up heading back to the RRPC to pick up some dinner. Dinner was FANTASTIC. There was so many different options and so many things I had been craving. Breadsticks, Pizza Alfredo, home made chicken nuggets, fries. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. I absolutely loved it. The cooks are also very good. There was definitely a line at first to get into dinner but it was only about 3 or 5 minutes. Definitely worth it. 

An hour after dinner I headed back to my dorm to blog. I came out to get some ice cream from the Ice Cream social event as well and that soon ended when everyone was called to their dorm for a dorm unit meeting. In our meeting it was our Room Unit Advisor basically telling us the rules of housing and what we needed to understand. I was worried about the idea of checking in for Night Check because I'm scared that I might fall asleep before Night Check and it's something that you have to go to, even if you are inside, or else you will face disciplinary action. Hopefully I'll get used to it. 

And that was how my day ended off. It was very eventful and I have a feeling that tomorrow will be the same. Let's just hope that I don't end up with more blisters on my feet from all that walking. Note to self and others: Bring comfy shoes. Even if they aren't cute. If they're comfy you will grow to love them. 

Start of Something New

The struggle up the stairs

Our cohort got to Cornell right in time for the last early check-in time. A Cornell student, who is also the RCA (Residence Community Adviser) for the Mary Donlon Hall, met us at the bus stop where the shuttle from the airport dropped us off. We had to carry our luggage, which was also a huge struggle, up the stairs to the 4th floor of the South Balch Hall. They unlocked the doors for us and said we'd get keys and everything in the morning.

My door had a tall Starbucks cup with pink confetti inside and my name on it.  That meant that I was in a single dorm. I walked in and sure enough on one side of the room there was one XL twin bed and across from it was a wooden desk. In between the two was a window and it has a great view to the grassy quad in between the buildings, of course I didn't know that at midnight. I have three doors on the wall parallel to the hallway. One is a closet with drawers and shelves, and on the inside of that door is a vertically long mirror.The other is a sink with a small medicine cabinet and a light. The third is another closet, but there's a lot of hanging space in this one. There's also another piece of furniture next to the desk and it's a sort of book shelf with a little door on the bottom.

The outside of South Balch Hall

The table set up with lanyards and
the bags we'd get.

I was a little sad at first to see that I had in fact gotten a single dorm, but that also comes with its perks. I put my sheets on the bed and my Stitch pillow to kind of personalize it. About two hours later I decided to shower. Yes, I showered very late and it was scary.  The bathroom light was on yet the showers were darker because of the curtains that separate the bathroom stalls and them. Not long after I decided to sleep so I turned off my room's light, and it was super dark. I decided to turn my desk lamp on but got up before I was fully asleep to turn it back off. I strongly suggest a nightlight if the darkness is something you don't like.

This morning I woke up later than I wanted, but I had time to get my key and find the RPCC, which is one of the dining halls, and get some breakfast with the rest of the Cornell cohort. It was emptier than expected, but then I realized most people were still checking in. We then decided to find the Cornell bookstore to get some Cornell apparel! We failed at that too. On the walk there we saw Falls Creek and were amazed.

The Cornell bookstore's clothing items honestly seemed more affordable to me than the others we had visited. After much searching we all got very different hoodies or jackets, not so much because we have different taste in clothes but because we preferred different fits and we all look different. Once we all were satisfied and ready to represent the school we went with Mike to take some pictures! We put a lot of work into those poses.

At 2 PM we headed to Bailey Hall for some welcoming remarks from the dean. We got some regulations that bummed me out, but I understand it's for our safety. I had hoped the Gorge was accessible to swim in, but we're not allowed to because of how dangerous it is. We were reminded that we were here to learn, and they hope that we all make at least one friend for a lifetime. The words were inspiring, because they also reminded us that it's not so much about the grade but who we meet and what we learn. The whole presentation lasted about 2 hours, and then we were released to the front of Bailey Hall, where our instructors would be carrying signs for us to find them.

I found my group easily, and it seemed like a very small group. My class is made up of only 31 students and we're being taught by the professor, Sam Nelson, and his two assistants Armands and Rubin. My professor actually went on a scholarship for debate team to USC, and so did his assistant Armands. Rubin is a current student at Cornell and is also on the debate team. I'm looking forward to all I'm going to learn in this class because they all seem to have a lot of expertise on the subject.

The program orientations didn't take too long and by 5 PM we were dining in the RPCC. There was a whole herd of high school boys wearing "Cornell Basketball" jerseys. I'm assuming it was also a summer sports camp, but they were very smelly. I had quite a bit of food, especially breadsticks. I got a slice of pizza thinking it was pesto, but because I can't read I didn't realize it was broccoli and was very let down. I decided to be a buzzkill and go up to my dorm and work on blogging and by 7:10 PM I was down on the Balch Hall quad for the ice cream social. 

I didn't eat a lot of ice cream although it was very good, but I was more interested in joining the huge circle that was playing with a volleyball. I met some girls that way and two turned out to be in my dorm, which was pretty sweet! We must've played on the grass for about an hour before everyone went back up for floor meetings.

The floor meeting for us was a little long but it was straight forward and mostly common sense. We all introduced ourselves with an adjective then we got some papers to fill out about us. Then we got some rules: no alcohol, drugs, or smoking. Also, night check-in is at midnight on the weekends and 11 PM on the weekdays. After those times, our cards no longer open the doors to our buildings. The last thing we did was write adjectives on a bulletin board then most of us showered and waited for night check-in.

Tomorrow, we have a scavenger hunt and an activities fair. I'm looking forward to joining some clubs and being able to make new friends. I know these three weeks are going to go by fast so I'm definitely going to try to make the most of them. 

~A Dinner with Chicago~

On June 22 we had an informal dinner with some alums from UChicago at Lou Malnati's which consisted of the Cornell cohort, Simon, and Courtney. Simon is a student who actually was a part of The Ivy League Connection when he was at El Cerrito High School. 

During his time with the ILC he attended Columbia. He applied to a couple of different Ivy's, but he got into UChicago so that is where he is now. Courtney is a friend of Simons who has lived in the city of Chicago her whole life. It was cool to get a lot of information from them from first hand experience and it was an informal dinner, so it wasn't like they were representing a college so they didn't have any pressure to make it sound good. They spoke from the heart and very truthfully. 

They both talked about financial at aid at UChicago which was helpful. Courtney talked about how she was on the line of having and not having financial aid, but she said her family did need help. When she applied UChicago wasn't trying to give financial aid, but once she talked with the financial aid office they actually understood her situation and they helped her out. Which I thought was really cool because you can talk one on one with them and they actually see you and hear your story. It's not like they only think of you as just a random student and money, they actually see you as an individual and want to help.

Simon and Courtney talked about campus life a lot. Simon mentioned a lot of beautiful buildings around the campus and explained to us some student services they have like the umbrella service and what they actually provide for you. He said he really liked the campus and everything in it and he liked the Gothic feel. They also explained to us that there isn't much Greek life, but every year it’s expanding.

Simon and Courtney are political science majors so they mentioned more about their majors. Courtney, like I mentioned, is from Chicago so UChiacgo was pretty much the only school she applied to, she felt right at home there, but she mentioned that she wants to travel in the future—maybe London. 

They also talked about clubs at UChicago and Simon held a high position in a politics club. 

Simon also talked about housing. Simon described the dorm system as being split up almost in like a  Harry Potter movie. 

They also talked about how the school isn't really big on sports. 

Another thing that I thought was really intersting was that for their core classes they a variety to choose from so your core classes can actually typically be something your intersted in or can apply to your major. So pretty much you’re never taking classes that you absolutely don't want. 

I learned lot from Courtney who talked a lot to me about UChicago and what I could do for my major. She couldn't tell me much because she didn't know much about it. So she just let me know what type of jobs I could pursue and she mentioned the UN as an option for me which was cool to hear. They were both very informative they just couldn't tell as much as I wanted to know about my major in general but I learned it on the tour so it was fine, but other than that they were very informative and I was happy I got to meet them.

Cornell Dorms and Orientation

After finally arriving in Ithaca, New York, we got picked up by a shuttle and were dropped off near the Balch Hall dormitory. The rest of my cohort lives in that dorm, but I am part of Mary Donlon. A student RA met us near Balch and led us all inside and after another RA came to check the Balch dormers in, the first RA took me to Mary Donlon. The walk to Balch Hall and then Mary Donlon was extremely difficult. It wasn’t very long in terms of distance, but with a large suitcase, small suitcase, backpack, and weak arms it was the hardest part of my day. I honestly thought I was done with heavy moving at University of Chicago after just carrying my laptop around in my backpack, but I was obviously very wrong. I got escorted to my dorm room, which is on the second floor, and as soon as I set everything down I started looking for my backpack so I could finish my blog. 

It was then everything started going down hill. After looking around the room multiple times I realized I left my bag in South Balch when we decided to take a picture, so I ran down stairs and got an RA to bring me back to Balch and get my bag. When I got back to Mary Donlon, I walked up the stairs to my dorm and my subconscious decided that was the perfect time to read the numbers on the wall wrong so I ended up going in the opposite direction from my room. There were some good parts about going the wrong way though. I saw an open door with a girl in it and I thought it might be a good time to introduce myself since I would be living near her for the next several weeks. She is from Hong Kong and spoke English really well. I met a second girl in the hall who was lost like myself and I soon realized she spoke Chinese as well when she went to talk to the Hong Kong girl. I finally found my room after another couple of turns and it took me approximately a minute to realize how hot it was. I quickly started looking around for an outlet to plug the fan in. After going under the bed and desk I found the one outlet, which is what the lamp was plugged into, and quickly pulled it out without thinking. With the lamp being the only light source in the room, I obviously was in pitch darkness. I quick got out from the desk, stubbed my toe on the chair, and opened the door to let the hallway light in. I found my power strip and was finally able to plug the lamp back in for light and the fan in for air. After that I was able to unpack relatively quickly and shower. 

Mural in Mary Donlon Hall

My room is actually much larger and nicer than I expected it to be. The closet is rather spacious and there are also plenty of drawers to put my clothing in. The desk itself also has multiple drawers. All of the furniture seems to be very sturdy and relatively nice. The mattress on the bed is kind of weird, but better than nothing. I also didn't expect the room to come with towels, bedding, a pillow, etc. They seem to be decently clean, but I'm still using my own because I didn't carry them across the country to not use them. Also, my sheets were made for little kids so it's super cute. It has elephants, stars, and plants on them. Who wouldn't want to use those sheets when you're a high school girl? Just kidding, I'd rather use them because I'm pretty sure they're cleaner. The Mary Donlon Hall itself is extremely cool. It's super easy to navigate because it's just a couple of straight hallways on all the dorm floors. All the dorm floors have a little living area for people to hang out. The bottom floor is a large living room with multiple TVs and couches. The walls have murals with various things on them. Some have inspirational quotes where as others have animals, etc. There are communal bathrooms and I was really dreading that part. I was really hoping to get a room where I had a shared bathroom with some other girls, but that obviously wasn't the case. After being in there multiple times for various uses, it's really not nearly as bad as I thought. There are several things that make the trips there easier. I'm really good I'm experiencing all of this now so I can be ready for college where I will most likely be using communal bathrooms. 

French Toast, Egg-White Omelet, Potatoes

In the morning, I met up with the rest of the Cornell cohort and ate breakfast. The cafeteria had a nice selection—I really wanted a super cool picture that would blow Don away and make this cohort legendary. thought that since Cornell's mascot is a bear we could act as if a bear statue is trying to maul us and we're running away, but those thoughts were soon crushed when we were told there aren't any bear statues. Then, I thought since there also aren't any large signs of "Cornell University" that are cool then we could just make the letters ourselves. So, we set out to do that after Diana mentioned we should do it in different places around Cornell so we can show the scenery more. It honestly took a lot of work because wearing the hoodie in that weather was crazy and I was sweating so bad, but after a lot of trial and error we were able to come up with the letters that make up Cornell. Coming up with ideas to make our letters better and rearranging ourselves together was an extremely good bonding time and I'll treasure this experience forever even if I was dying in the heat for a long time. 

The NEW standard for future ILC cohorts

Gorge with Nets

We then headed to an opening session in Bailey Hall. They talked about all the different parts of the campus, different rules and expectation, and advice to all of us. They showed us this video about the amazing gorges there. That they are super amazing, but also super dangerous. One senior died on his graduation day because he slipped in there. As soon as he slipped in he wasn't able to get out. Another super interesting fact is that Cornell has a super high suicide rate so they place nets on parts next to the bridge so that students aren't as easily able to commit suicide. After that hour long session, we split into our classes and headed to different lecture halls to talk about the syllabus of the class with the professor. My psychology class is actually really two classes according to the professor. One on clinical psychology and the other more on the science behind it all. The professor gives an hour and a half lecture everyday and then we meet back up later with different teacher assistants to discuss more in depth. This course is supposed to simulate a college course, hence the name "summer college". The professor is actually a co-author to the textbook we use and majority of the money earned from the textbook is donated to a charity the class decides on out of several charities. We had to get paper out to cast our vote and those around me weren't prepared for this so everyone was asking me for paper and pens. It was actually pretty funny. I was able to make some friends from this. 

I then headed to dinner. Past alumni told me that the food at the Cornell cafeteria is incredibly amazing. So amazing that anything I might want to eat would be there. I agree that there were a lot of options that were good, but I didn't think it was all that amazing. After dinner they had an ice cream social. They served chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and lemon sorbet ice cream while everyone got in small groups and played volleyball or frisbee. I personally walked around the campus with some various people I met. At 9:00 PM, there was a floor meeting at each dorm. We were told the rules and signed contracts concerning the rules. Our bedtime on the weekends is actually midnight and if we're not drinking alcohol and have our IDs then we have the freedom to do almost anything. This is the closest I've ever come to a legitimate college experience and it's super cool. 

More on: Simon From UChicago

The night that we went to dinner at Lou Malnati's with Simon, the student from UChicago that attended the Columbia summer program though Ivy League Connection, we did learn a little about what he and his future roommate Courtney do at UChicago. Simon and Courtney both are majoring in Political Science, and Courtney also wants to minor in something else. Courtney wasn't sure about Political Science at all at first but because UChicago does the core classes, she took a political science class and loved it. They both like the core classes because you can fulfill with just about anything you're interesting. Simon is now working at the mayor's office, and this is mostly because how politics-centered UChicago kind of is. 

Courtney is actually from Chicago, so UChicago is basically the only college she applied to. On the other hand, Simon applied to a couple other schools, too. He did say that he enoyed the application because his essay aside from the personal statement was about explaining a joke without ruining it. He said he mostly referred to a lot of movies in the essay. But, everyone does their own thing with that essay.

As for clubs and other extras, Simon is in a politics club. UChicago has many different clubs, but there's a lot of theatre things going on. Also, if Greek life is something that matters to you, they said that Greek life isn't too big at UChicago, but it's been gradually rising over the years. Additionally, most of their sports are Division three. They both also explained the housing to us, which we went over again at the tour, but it was about being divided into houses within the dorms. 

I learned a lot from Courtney and Simon, but it made me realize that it wasn't going to be my top choice to go to UChicago, but I'm still going to apply because the campus is beautiful and they have a lot of good classes for social science. 

Goodbye to the City, Hello to Ithaca!

Today ended up being a much slower day than yesterday and Sunday as for the fact that this would be our last day in Chicago and we would end up having to leave during the afternoon for the airport. So after we woke up and packed up our bags, we went to eat breakfast and officially checked out of our hotel today. We ended up keeping our bags in the hotel while we caught a cab to check out the University of Chicago. 

We got to the University of Chicago in the morning and we took our seats as we waited for the presentation to start. But before it started I definitely took notice of the building that we were in. It was a huge cathedral that was extremely beautiful. It had stain glass windows and many different paintings all over the walls. 

As people filled in and the room completely full, the doors closed and we quickly heard the loud noise of an incredible piano player playing us an intro which might have been the University of Chicago fight song. It was such a grand entrance that I have never had at any college I have ever visited. It was very different. All of a sudden the dean of University of Chicago comes in to tell us about the school. I was super impressed at the fact that this happened because it's really nice of the school to let us have the highest person in power at the school come in to talk to us. Many reading this might think that it's a scary thought to think about but honestly I really liked the fact that they did this because it gives a sense of closeness and that even the the dean of the school is really encouraging us to apply. He was really funny and made the application seem like a process that was funny and easy to relate to. He answered a lot of questions and it was overall a good presentation. 

After the dean's presentation was over, they introduced a panel of current UChicago students who proceeded to answer questions about the school. Some easy to answer and some weren't so easy to answer but they overall did a pretty good job at telling the public how the student experience would be at the school. One thing the tour really opened my mind about is the fact that UChicago is one of the few selective schools that offers merit aid which I see as a huge plus. Because as someone who isn't sure that they will get a financial aid package knowing that there is a chance for me to get merit aid is something that is much more reassuring. I also like how UChicago is so much more open with their University essays. I feel that UChicago is one of the few schools that really understands what it means to show ones true personality and they really give a lot of essay prompts to help make sure that that point gets across. It makes it feel like they really want us at their school and want to see how funny and quirky and true to ourselves we can be and they give the opportunity to show that. 

After the panel, we headed off on a tour around the campus to see UChicago for ourselves. The school looked very nice and it was a pretty long walk (though it was also a difficult walk because of the heavy bag I was carrying). UChicago had a very nice atmosphere. It is also very green as most colleges are. One other thing I also noticed about the school is that it had a very diverse set of buildings. There would be the old looking vintage ones, the high tech glassy buildings, and some random pink and yellow buildings that stood out very brightly. Overall it was a school with a beautiful set of buildings

The Chicago tour ended off with a generous gift of popsicles on a very hot day. I was impressed with the school and what it has to offer and now I'm definitely sure that I want to apply to UChicago. We then went to the UChicago bookstore to check out the souvenirs and then took a cab (a very crowded one in fact) to a restaurant called Giordano's. It was a restaurant known for its Chicago deep dish pizza but I realized I'm not a fan of Chicago pizza in general so I opted to stay away from it. Instead I ordered an alfredo pasta which I have been craving for a long while now. We ordered appetizers of beef ravioli (though I had to avoid it because of the meat in it, and some garlic fries which were very good along with some lemon pepper wings which were also good. The alfredo pasta was pretty alright (Though I think I'm a bigger fan of my alfredo).

After eating we headed back to our hotel to pick up our bags and officially head out of Chicago. We had gotten an airport shuttle and it was pretty big and contained more people than just the cohort. However almost everyone in the shuttle was fast asleep because of traffic and tiredness. An hour later we had arrived in the airport and the procedure was pretty basic during that. Checking in our bags, going through TSA, buying anything we needed and going to the restroom. We then headed on the airplane that would take us to Detroit and officially said goodbye to Chicago.

The plane arrived in Detroit in less than an hour, however now we are an hour ahead of Chicago which makes us officially at East Coast time with 3 hours ahead of California. As we were headed towards our gate that would take us to Ithaca, we noticed a ton of different things about this airport, first of which being Chick-Fil-A (which has amazing waffle fries), second being a super cool fountain that would shoot out water in sporadic motions, and third being a hallway that changed different colors. 

After that we ended up back in the plane to Ithaca, and reached Ithaca in less than an hour. When we hit the Ithaca airport, which was incredibly small, we got our luggage and then got a shuttle to go to Cornell. There was one girl in the bus that was going to attend the summer college and her sister came along with her to drop her off. They were both from Southern California so it was nice to see some Californians for a change. However, because we arrived at around midnight to Ithaca the bus was very dark so we could not see. 

The bus then dropped us off at South Balch Hall in Cornell which is the hall that I stay in. It was way too dark to really see but the hall was massive. The buildings at Cornell were very old 1700s greyish castle style. It was beautiful. In our hall I was only able to go through the upstairs but we ended up meeting our RAs (room advisors) who told me my room number. I had a room on the fourth floor and when I stepped into my room I noticed it was a single. I'm actually really happy that I got a single bedroom because even though I wouldn't get to have a roomie to share the room with and meet, a single bedroom gives me my own space. Also, I am always able to meet people just by stepping outside my room or even just going to class. I love the fact that I can just stay up with the light on or put the fan however position I want. I am someone that just really like having their own space in general. I was especially happy that I get a sink to myself because that will really save me a lot of time in the mornings. Overall I am super happy about my room.  I will describe my dorm room in the next blog. 

So after the day was done I basically saw myself off to bed at around 2 because there wasn't really much else for us to do because we arrived at our dorms so late in the night yet arrived earlier than most other people in the Summer College that would be arriving the next day. Overall it was a very good and tiring day. I can't wait to see what life at Cornell will be like!