Not Ready to Leave Just Yet

Day 23/ The Penultimate Day

I never knew I could hurt like this

And everyday life goes on like

"I wish I could talk to you for awhile"

Miss you but I try not to cry

...

But it's like you're gone too soon
Now the hardest thing to do is say bye bye.

-Mariah Carey, "Bye Bye"

And thus, I will remember my last evening at Cornell as myself echoing these very lyrics into the various hallways and classrooms of the beautiful Cornell University Campus at the Talent Show. To Cornell and everyone that I've gotten to know these past three weeks: thank you for making this summer one of the most memorable and favorite of my life so far.

Currently, I'm having trouble finding the right words to say at the moment. For one, I'm preoccupied with both blogging and studying, and for another, I'm just too distracted by the very fact that this is my last night at Cornell. This is it; this day is finally closing in on me. This is my last night officially as resident of the Donlon Lounge. However, before I get ahead of myself, let me start off with this very early, very second-to-last morning here at Cornell University.

I woke up early this morning to get in some extra studying time. I also planned to eat breakfast earlier so I could also head out to class as soon as I finished. However, despite getting to class an hour earlier than testing began, I was disappointed to see that the two seats I wanted were already taken. This wasn't too much of a setback since ultimately, I got a seat at a table that had a desk, and not in one of those sitting chairs with the removable side tables. For me, comfort during a test is vital; I guess you can say it's one of my many pet peeves.

The final exam was a modest measurement of how much we've learned in the past three . The material, I thought, were a lot harder than that of the pre. lim. However, that is not to say the test was extremely hard. It's difficult to say how tough these "Freedom and Justice" tests are because it test you, not only on the material, but on how well you can apply that information to scenarios and/or make connections between different thinkers. Personally, I thought the test was actually kind of fun. It was surprising to see that, if I had one more short answer question to answer, I would have had to use three booklets for this test (most people only used one.)

After the final exam, everyone quickly got out of Mallot Building and frantically started getting together with one another to discuss the test. I was waiting for a friend of mine as well as helping several of my peers take photos with the professor and the TA, that by the time I left the classroom, nearly everyone had left to Trillium.

Instead of going to Trillium first, I led my friends, Kelsey and Clara to the Synapsis Cafe to buy a lunch to-go. We used out ID cards for the last time there to get some drinks to compliment our sandwiches. While I sat with my two friends, the table next to ours was that of Ms. Kaplan and the other ILC kids. All of us later got ice cream at Trillium Express. Thank you Ms. Kaplan!

On our way back I knew I had to stop by the Uris Library one last time to take the photos that I promised to get. The Andrews, Ms. Kaplan, and Beilul had never seen the famous "Hogwarts Library" so Alex and I also brought them to see it. And since pictures are worth more than a thousand words, here are my thousand words and more:

On my way back to good 'ol Donlon, I encountered the departure of two friends. The first was Munera, one of my lovely friends from Qater. She lived in Balch the past three weeks so I didn't get to see her as much as I see my fellow Donlon peers, but we had dinner together several times. The next departure was by my dorm neighbor, Roya. She is from Switzerland and she took the same class as me. I gave her a long hug before she left.

Right before I left for the mall with the Andrews, I spent some time practicing my piece for the talent show and hanging out with my really good friend, Clara, who was leaving that very late afternoon at 3pm. We took several photos with one another and had a short and sweet chat before a van pulled up on the parking lot and she went inside. I will definitely miss Clara, whom I had a lot in common with; we plan to be pen pals and meet up again two years from now when I return to Hong Kong over the summer.

I was very glad that I had a chance to go to the mall today. A lot of people have been telling me that there wasn't much to look forward to, but personally, I thought: "But it's a mall? What isn't there to look forward to?" We rode on Bus 30 that took us directly to it. This bus made me very nostalgic of Pinole because the interior design of the bus was the exact same replica of the West Cat bus back home. The only exception? It was a lot cleaner and quieter.

I spent most of the time by myself at the mall. I bought a large cup of lemonade and walked around. The first store I went to was a little animal shelter. I spent a decent amount of time looking at the adorable kittens in their cages. Of course I wanted to take them home with me, but we all know that is a bit impossible both plane-wise and parental consent-wise.

I spent the majority of my time at the Borders bookstore. I simply love bookstores and can spend hours and hours just looking at every detail of these interesting shops. From my stay there, I was able to purchase a blank sketchbook and a memoir on sale. It felt good to leave the store knowing I bought something from the East coast that didn't have the word "Cornell" on it.

I decided to have dinner at the mall as well. I ventured into what you may call a food court and ordered from the Chinese fast food stand. I found an empty table amongst the crowd of hungry mall shoppers and started eating and reading my newly-purchased book. Then, something occurred that hit me with surprise.

Little did I know, I was sitting as an audience to some sort of singing competition for Ithaca's radio station. There was a little stage set up, a panel of three judges, and participants of all ages coming up and taking a 30 second jab at the mic. I couldn't help but smile every time one of the judges would remind the crowd that there was still time to sign up for a spot and audition, because in the back of mind, I thought of the talent show I was involved in later that very evening. I'll admit, the act of signing up was tempting, but based on both timing and the fact that this was obviously an ongoing competition that I wasn't going to be around for, I quickly dismissed the idea. Instead, I stuck around and listened to some of the singers' performance while I munched away at my noodles and vegetables.

By the time I got back, it was a blur. My remaining time was devoted to getting myself ready for the talent show. I slipped in some additional practices, got into a dress, and quickly left for the multipurpose room at the RPCC Building.

In general it was a great experience. I was very honored to be placed as the closing act of the entire two-hour show.

Now it is quite late. I'm exhausted and also plan to wake up extremely early tomorrow. Until later my fine-feathered friends. Adieu!

I Can't Believe We're At The End Of The Road!

Our final hours at Cornell University approach, and each second counts. 

The emotions ran high this morning. I didn’t have to be at class until 9:30 AM, so in order to eat and get there on time I decided to wake up at around 8:00. My plan failed because instead of waking up at 8:00, I woke up at 6:45! I tried my best to lie back down and fall asleep, but it just didn’t work out for me. Since today was our Final Exam, I just decided to study for a while. Anyway, I studied for about an hour, and then proceeded to get dressed. We all walked down together for our last meal at Appel dining hall. We left our last breakfast at Appel together behind us, and proceeded to our last walk to our lecture hall.

All of these events were very ceremonial, and we had to live in the present and not focus on the fact that tomorrow we will all be leaving. Some of the close friends we met here, we might never personally see again. Good thing though for advanced technology, that allows us to stay connected with friends globally. I just really had a great experience here at Cornell, and couldn’t express more of how I have matured. But I will save this talk for the reflection blog.

The Final was not as difficult as I thought it would be, and in fact it was fairly easy, I’m very confident on my performance of the test. From our Final Exam, we walked to Trillium Dining, for the last very time. Many of our peers were leaving in a matter of hours, hence the emotions were very tender. There were lots of sad faces, tears, but also joy because the “big load” of the Final had finally been lifted off our backs, and we no longer had to worry about anymore work. 

From Trillium we all headed to Ulis library, which is a marvelous sight. I strongly suggest that any future Cornellian’s or people who just visit Cornell, check this library out. Its antique design, and serene atmosphere is the perfect combination for a library.

From there we headed back to our dorms, and went to the mall. We ate and looked at books, and shopped around for a while. After that we watched the movie “Inception.” This was a really good movie, and we all enjoyed watching it together even more. That was our last bus ride on the T Cat (Ithaca’s bus system), and our last visit to the Ithaca Mall. Not to advertise for the movie, but I do suggest you all see it, it was a wonderful, intriguing movie. That’s all I can basically express in words, but the pictures should do justice. Hopefully you all can see what life is like a little, at Cornell University.

Final Task?

This is REALLY it. Today was the last day of work, in more than one way. I was extremely disappointed that I fell asleep last night at around 1:00 AM. I was in the process of editing the entire report, which was about 10 pages long, excluding the business letter, cover page, appendices, and data. I woke up, with all my instructions and the rubric crumpled on my bed, and my laptop on the floor (don’t worry, I placed it there.

I had time to get to class, so I made sure I arrived around 40 minutes before office hours, which was the top priority, from 9:00 PM to 12:00 PM. Veronica was already there working on the report, and after finishing the charts and graphs and appendices, we looked at my corrections, most of which made me happy I did decide to stay up and fix the report. If I learned one thing about the reports and assignments here in SHA (School of Hotel Administration) was that it’s VERY IMPORTANT THAT EVERYTHING LOOKS PROFESSIONAL AND NEAT. This includes making everything as clear and succinct as possible and making sure the grammar and punctuation are accurate.

Since the graduation ceremony is tomorrow at 10:00 AM, I will sure my secret from this week. It was on Wednesday, during one of our breaks, that Mark called me, Taylor, Brian, and Group 7B over to talk to him. I had no idea what I had done; I thought that this was in regards to my apology letter for dosing off in class last Friday. He told us that during the ceremony on Saturday that Reneta will begin speaking, and instead of speaking the entire time, she will hand over the stage to the students in the class. Mark asked us if we would be comfortable with speaking on behalf of the class during graduation. I was in disbelief. Why would Mark choose me to speak with 6 other people out of 80 students who all knew practically everything about the hotel industry and probably aced all their tests?

Nonetheless, I didn’t hesitate to agree, along with everyone else. Up until today, I was nervous about this because we planned on having a rundown of the presentation after class. As I said before, I had no time to finish my report, so I certainly didn’t practice. My TA, Margot, however, assured me that Mark understands we probably didn’t prepare and that he would help us.

Anyways, back to the report for a second. Those three hours were filled with stress, yelling, pressure, and anxiety. Not just my group, but everyone else as well. Throughout office hours, we were divided in four different labs, with all groups rushing back and forth from their rooms to the printers to check up on their reports. I have some great pictures and videos to show this. Toward the end, Reneta and Mark wanted all the groups, regardless if they were finished, to print out their reports and quickly go over it with them to make sure they were doing it correctly. Eventually, we handed in our reports, Reneta looked over it, and gave us that long-expected OK. We were so relieved, but I was still a little worried.

The 7 of us and Mark headed to the Alice Statler Auditorium, a really big auditorium with a huge stage and a projector. I think that’s the same place where we had our crash course in the beginning of the program. Taylor was the first student to speak. She had a little intro already written, which I really liked. Like me, she wasn’t completely ready, which was OK. She talked with Reneta afterward about her part. She then introduced Group 7B, who were actually the other Best Western group during Company Presentations, as I am part of Group 7A. They practiced as well, and after Brian talked, he handed over the PowerPoint clicker to me.

I had no idea what to say. I told Mark, and he was very kind to go over it for me again, as I took notes, which I really want to review as soon as possible, as it’s already 11:45 PM. However, I don’t want to stress about it too much, because as Mark said, this is supposed to come from the heart. I realized how grateful I was. Mark and Reneta clearly saw something in us, and I want to make them proud.

We did many things today, which I don’t want to go in great detail over, but a quick rundown:
• After the rehearsal, me, Beilul, Andrew Woo and Gonzales went back to the dorm, where we sat down and finally relaxed…. Work was over!

• We then headed down to the Ithaca mall for the first time (for me and Beilul)

• We ate a WONDERFUL meal at “Friendly’s”

• We saw the movie, “Inception” at its premiere! I WISH I wouldn’t have slept a little in the beginning because the last 2/3 was so epic.

• We headed back to Donlon, where Dyana, along with many others performed in the Talent Show! Dyana was clearly the most talented. She is such a great singer.

• I shall now work on my speech. Enjoy the pictures!

Big Red Will Be Missed

The Freedom and Justice program has finally come to an end. Today, we all woke up with a great urgency to get this final exam out of our way. There was so much nervousness among us, especially on the magnitude of the exam. But when it came to the test, we all endured and for myself tried my best on it. Everything on the test was covered by Professor Kramnick and our special review session yesterday. I was extremely thankful for Simon Gilhooley who held that special session yesterday night because everyone mentioned different philosophical concepts that showed up on the final. It became less frustrating on the test as those concepts and quotes were familiarized and I was able to identify. Overall, I believe I did well and persisted on the writing and thinking process simultaneously.

After the exam, all of the Freedom and Justice members celebrated with the course finally over. We had to say goodbye to a few international students as their plane rides are today. After I went back to the room to begin packing for tomorrow’s departure, I followed the others to Ithaca Mall and went to watch the movie, “Inception,” which was indeed very entertaining. We made a few more new acquaintances and for me it was quite entertaining to relax on our final Friday.

We returned to catch the second half of the Talent Show, which starred Dyana So as the number one performer with her talented voice. Her performance deserved the honors of the night and I’m proud that an ILC member went up to perform on the behalf of the connection.

For the remainder of the late night, I plan to spend my hours hanging out before the graduation tomorrow and finish up packing for out evening departure. I will admit, despite it being only a three week program, that I have become attached not to only the course but to the few people including my RAs and classmates. I wish I may have had more time getting to know them right off the bat, but that is life. I will try my best to continue befriending people before my departure. Till then, Andrew Woo is signing off.

I'm Buying the Full Version

FINALS ARE OVER! I have finally completed my first college course. If I wanted to make an iPod analogy, I would call these three weeks the “lite” version of a college experience. I am definitely “buying the full version.” In case this analogy went over your head, I can’t wait for college. I’m ready for the experience. I love every aspect of it. I couldn’t possibly be overstating this. I love dorm life, I love this style of class, I love the independence, and there is a whole lot more I could talk about but I have to actually talk about my day. Anyway, the main point of all of this is that I feel ready for college and I can’t wait for my next two years of high school to end.

Finals went well. We had to do three essays plus some short answer questions in two hours. I put way too much time into the first two essays and had to cut the third one a little bit short. The short answers were really easy though, so that was good. I was so relieved to be finished though. I walked out of the classroom and sighed a huge sigh of relief. I was so happy the work was finally over and that it was out of my hands. The weight of the class has been lifted from my shoulders and I can continue my summer as it was truly meant to be… that actually isn’t a good thing… I’ve said it enough already, but I would gladly stay another three weeks.

After finals, Dyana, the Andrews, Beilul and I ate lunch with Ms. Kaplan to discuss the test. We ate, went to get ice cream and headed down to Uris Library. It wasn’t as quiet yesterday, but I think that was just because there were two people whispering. Like I said, you could hear a pin hit the carpet if you really tried. We left the library and went to the Cornell store again. We ran into Jeff, Phoebe, Emily and… um… someone’s name I can’t exactly remember… but that isn’t the point. I saw them and wound up going to a second lunch (even though I didn’t order anything). I sat with them for an hour and we just spoke. Then I got the call…

Chris called me and told me they were going to the mall to go see a movie. I asked if they would wait for me (and thankfully they did). We went to see Inception and let me tell you, it was a great way to finish the day. We went with the Andrews, Alison and a few of her friends. I actually wasn’t too excited to see this movie because of Leonardo DeCaprio, but it was an excellent film. Like I said, it was an excellent finale for the day.

And now, here I am again. This will be my last blog on the Cornell campus and it makes me extremely reminiscent of my first blogs here. I plan to re-read them later and see if I’ve changed. I’m hoping I have because if I haven’t grown at all, that would be pretty depressing. I think I have grown a lot though. I had to type this in a hurry because I want to make sure I make it to Dyana’s performance in the talent show. We are actually about to leave, so I’ll end here.

Good bye Cornell; I’m signing off.

CPSA

It's Thursday here in Cornell, and we are inching up to our last moments, which are dedicated to our final report. We've had 3 hours of office hours first thing in the morning to make sure everyone is making significant progress. My group finally got together, each worked together on the different segments, helping one another here and other with his/her part, and editing altogether. We were very productive during those office hours, as we finished our business letter to the Bank of Syracuse, the introduction, conclusion, and were in the process of determining our market analysis, expense setting strategy, and revenue management strategy.

Next we had a two and a half hour lecture on analyzing behavioral styles, which if you go back, is what we determined during our first week here. So this was a nice, little, wrap-up in learning why every single person in the group is equally important. To summarize what Tom Shampoo, president of the Effectiveness Institute, Inc., said:

Controller: wants RESULTS/walks fast/speaks fast/creates conflict within the group
Strength: "big picture" people, separates facts from feelings

Persuader: positive/optimistic/intuitive/energy provider/with a smile
Strength: verbal skill, extremely flexible/impulsive/gives away trust

Stabilizer: "systems-people," wants to develop relationships/create harmony
Strength: networking/talking/AVOIDS CONFLICT AT ALL COSTS

Analyzer: private people/never forget something
Strength:"systems-task," wants quality, accuracy, perfection, looks back
at history to make judgments/takes things personally.

I found that my style, Analyzer-Stabilizer, perfectly fit these descriptions.

All right, enough fun, I must get back to finishing the report!

We Are Almost There

The morning was dominated by office hours. Our professor gave us from 9-11:30 a.m. to work on our group projects. I am proud to say that my group was able to finish most of our report today. However, we will be coming in early tomorrow morning to finish editing and formatting our report, which is currently about 25 pages (including the 10 or so pages for the appendices). Today, I believe we have spent about 7 1/2 hours working on this assignment in the computer lab.

After a quick lunch break, we returned to Statler Hall for a lecture about behavioral styles. Before I go into some of the details in about our lecture, it would be helpful for me to note that on the first day of class we took a behavioral styles quiz. The quiz said I was a Stabilizer-Analyzer. Our professors showed us a video that explained the different behavioral styles. They were careful to note, however, that everyone displays all of the traits at different times and settings. Here is an overview of the four different types of behavioral styles. A...

Controller: Wants results, likes and creates conflict, looks at the big picture, separates facts from feelings. They are the “idea generator” of a group.

Persuader: Love people, positive and optimistic, intuitive, extremely flexible. They are the “idea promoter” of a group.

Stabilizer: Love relationships, create harmony, love to network, avoid conflict, want appreciation, and honor their word. They are the “idea fulfiller” of a group.

Analyzer: Rely on facts and history, thorough and complete in their work, want validation of their work. They are the “quality control” of the group.

Perhaps one of the most important takeaways from the lecture was the statement that "Any group with out a controller/persuader/stabilizer/analyzer is set to fail." This means that no group can be productive while missing one of these key team members. After comparing our behavioral styles, my group realized that though we all had different dominate, we had analyzer as a part of our dominant behavioral styles, which gave us a hint to why we worked together so well.

This evening was our last office hours and it was incredibly intense with due date fast approaching. Tensions ran high and many groups were having difficulties working together. Everyone was in a rush to finish before the end of office hours so that we could sleep on it and work refreshed in the morning.

Back at my dorm, spent our last night as roommates, as she will be leaving tomorrow afternoon. I really enjoyed her company and I am going to miss her when she leaves.

Tomorrow is the last day we have to put the final touches on our final report, as well as our last day of class. We are almost there.