Wednesday, July 14, 2010

I'm a Penultimate Lucky Seven

Day 21/ Three Weeks on My Own

There's a glow-stick and a Mardi Gras necklace on my neck right now. It's about 10 in the evening and I just returned from the dance at Balch Hall. While I'd like to tell you about this dance, it's not the first of the many wonderful things that happened today, so let me start with the first of those many things:

Lunch with Professor Kramnick at Last! : Yes, it was finally that day. I've been looking forward to this infamous lunch with Kramnick and felt a sort of pride when he called us the "Lucky Penultimate Seven." Unfortunately, the lunch didn't go as well I hoped...

For some reason, when I returned from getting my lunch, someone had moved my stuff to another seat. I led Kramnick to the table and I placed my bag in the seat directly in front of his. I wanted to make sure I could and he could hear what I was saying. (Trillium is WAY too loud for a nice, quiet meal.) But like I said before, my stuff got moved to another seat. And which seat was it? The furthest and most "disconnected" one.

Speaking of "disconnected", I was the only non-Caucasian in the group. While you may suspect me to stand our like a sore thumb, you'd be wrong (well, in terms of background anyway). I was just as special and unique as the next person. I may have come from a large, rundown high school from California, and my relatives may not be lawyers or Cornell alums, but those were things that make up who I currently am.

At our table, there was: a boy that goes to all-boys private school here in the East Coast aspiring to be a patent lawyer; a girl that was a New York native who's very involved in her school and wants to become an environmental lawyer; a French girl whose whole family are Cornell alums; a girl from Georgia who will be elected prefect in her senior year next year; a New Jersey boy who is an aspiring professor/entrepreneur; and a another New York native who plays a mean trumpet and also wants to be a lawyer. And last of all there was me: the girl from California who ultimately goes wherever the wind takes her, especially any place that I can learn something new.

This lunch with Kramnick could've been a lot better if it weren't for the obnoxiously loud table that was directly next to ours. It was hard to hear and painful to shout over them. Several times, we asked them nicely to tone it down, but they always continued with their loud chatter. What I found most displeasing about them though was that they had already had lunch with Kramnick before and this was our chance to have lunch with the professor, not theirs.

Tryouts for the Talent Show : It's interesting how much bolder I've become since I've been to Cornell. First it was singing at the Talent Show and now, this! Was I really going to wobble up the little steps into a frightening talent show where I was very capable of embarrassing myself? The answer? YES.

Right after class I went through several possible songs that I wanted to sing. In the end, it came down to "Bye Bye" by Mariah Carey and "No One" by Alicia Keys. I sang another Alicia Keys song at the karaoke event so I decided it was time to change it up. I practiced for about five minutes, took a deep breath, and descended down to the Donlon Formal Lounge where I was ready put my newfound bravery to the test.

Before I went up, there were several notable talents. There was: a girl playing Bach Cello Suite One; a girl playing a complicated violin piece; a group of about five boys singing an Acapella version of "Stand By Me"; two duet pieces,; a girl singing solo; a girl doing beat poetry; and a boy juggling. I'll admit that I was getting more and more nervous as the tryouts went. In addition to the several of the RCA judges there, there were several other students at the lounge watching the talents.

I didn't feel like I did as good of a job as I wanted, but I was able to stand up against my stage fright and carry out what I told myself to do. That' I think, is a great achievement to me. I'm looking forward to Friday night. It hope to leave Cornell with a good note - no pun intended.

Office Hour Fiasco : What a ridiculous wait all of us had to endure for our TAs! I personally waited for thirty minutes in the hallway, while many other have waited an hour or so longer. There is a last minute rush for everyone to get as much time with their TAs as possible. I mean if you really think about it, there's only 2 more days left of class left! TA Office hours ends at 6 in the evening, I left my TAs room at 6:30pm and guess what? There were still people waiting on the other TAs.

The "Formal" Dance : In addition to making many friends at Cornell, I've also managed to make several RCA friends. Because of which I've been mistaken for an RCA several times. At 8:00 sharp I arrive at the beautiful Balch Building. The music was already playing. I was wearing this nice dress my friend Clara let me borrow, which she brought from London. However, I was the first person to show up.

This was just like flag football ALL over again. For an entire hour, I stood as the only summer college student at the "dance" while a bunch of the RCAs thought they were cool as they attempted some dance moves.

Once it got dark though and strobe lights finally did its intended job, the party started! A lot more people, mainly from Balch, showed up and were dancing to the DJ's tunes. It was a nice event to distract me from the sentimental feelings I get when I think of how many more days I have left at Cornell.


Now the evening is drawing to a close and the early early morning is around the corner. There is more work left to do on my essay. Ta Ta for now!


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