Friday, July 2, 2010

The End of the Beginning

Our first week at Cornell has already passed. I only wish there was truth in that Beatles song 8 Days a Week. It wouldn’t be that much of a difference, but you get the message; I just want to stay here longer. I’m still meeting new people and having fun experiences. Three weeks just doesn’t seem long enough to spend at Cornell. Saturday the 17th will surely be a sad day.

Anyway, now that that bit of sadness is out of the way, let’s discuss Camp K. Today we concluded our Plato lecture. Today’s main discussion involved the Allegory of the Cave. This is one of Plato’s well known allegories. It begins with a group of people tied up in a cave with a fire behind them. The only things they can see are the shadows on the wall. Eventually, one of them breaks free and escapes the cave and sees reality. He then goes back to the cave to enlighten everyone about the real world. The metaphor is that the people in the cave are “normal” people who have misconceptions about what reality is and anyone who sees the outside world is a philosopher who has been shown the truth. It was obvious that Prof. K was passionate about philosophy today because he was really into his lecture. I enjoyed today’s lecture a lot.

We proceeded to our TA session and it was pretty relaxed. We continued to discuss Plato’s policies in small groups. My group, which included Andrew Gonzales, a girl named Emily and I, thought that the best form of rule was an aristocratic oligarchy. Our session seemed to fly by, as did lunch. After lunch, we were scheduled to meet Ms. Kaplan in the Statler lobby so we could go to Target and pick up any necessary supplies.

Target was the best part of the day… for some reason. I guess it was just nice to see something that was not either Cornell brand or extremely limited (as with the Bare Necessities store next to Donlon). I don’t know why I was anxious, but I made the best of my trip and came back with laundry supplies, poptarts, oreos, a flat of water, Pepsi, etc. Basically, I’m finally utilizing my fridge… and loving it!

After we got back, we tossed a football around with the RCA’s and a couple of other guys. That was fun for a while, and then we went to eat yet another dinner at Appels. After dinner we went to do something I didn’t expect to do; we went bowling. I didn’t even know Cornell had a bowling alley on campus! We all had a lot of fun. Beilul was killing everyone during our second game. She got four strikes! Everyone got at least one strike at one time or another… except me. It’s ok though, I had a good time.

And now that the evening is coming to a close, I will conclude my blog. This is the end of the beginning of our Cornell journey. I wonder what the next two weeks have in store for us. Anyway, I’m signing off.

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