2010 ILC at Cornell: Now I Know of Isolation

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Now I Know of Isolation

Today we visited the prestigious Colgate University. We had to begin our drive at 7:45, which meant that we had to wake up much earlier than I would have liked to if were this any other Saturday. I almost overslept because I hit the snooze three times. I woke up at about 7:15 and jumped out of bed in a state of fear. Luckily I was able to finish getting ready by 7:40. Normally I would have gone to check on the Andrews’ and Chris’ progress, but I was too worried about myself to care. I just needed to get down to the lobby. I thought everybody would have been down there already, but it was only Andrew Woo. Everyone else came down within two minutes… except Chris who had asked Andrew Woo to wake him up. I sent him a “threatening” text message (so he claims) telling him to get down to the lobby with all of the letters in capital letters. Apparently I scared him out of bed and he came down in five minutes. Now I know how to get Chris to be somewhere on time.

We drove for two hours to get to Colgate. On the way we passed the most interesting scenery we have the entire trip… ABSOLUTE NOTHINGNESS! I thought the drive to into Ithaca was desolate, but I had never driven to Hamilton, New York. There was nothing to see except the occasional farm. I would have been so bored had I not been riding with Team Kaplan. They made the ride fun with constant karaoke and fun discussion. That ride would have been sleep-worthy had the other six Cornellians and Ms. Kaplan not been there.

Colgate had a few good things to offer, but it doesn’t seem like a place that I would want to attend. The positive things I got out of the information session were:
• A small student population of 2900
• A beautiful campus
• A debate team that is ranked third nationally
and
• Hands on professors
The one thing that is really making me think about my application to Colgate is the fact that IT IS COMPLETELY ISOLATED. If you want to go somewhere (i.e. civilization) it is a forty-five minute to an hour drive. I want to be a little far away from entertainment, but an hour away is too much. I would be spending most of my time on campus, and I don’t know if that is how I want to spend all of my time. The small population is definitely a big plus though. With a student:professor ratio of 10:1, I could get some real one-on-one time with my professors. Plus, if I could join a debate team that is ranked THIRD in the nation, I could have the experience of a lifetime to learn more about debating than I ever have. These are definitely big reasons to consider attending Colgate. I definitely have to make sure I think this decision through thoroughly.

After Colgate, we ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant and discussed how we should prepare next year’s ILC-ers. We actually came up with good ideas about when to schedule Freedom and Justices study sessions and how they should be structured in terms of discussion. The Hotellies also had their fair share of opinions about preparation for next year’s group of Cornellians. Although the flies were a little distracting, we enjoyed a hearty lunch and excellent discussion.

After lunch we were homeward bound. We were all pretty tired from walking around a hilly campus in this New York humidity. Some of us (as you will see momentarily) decided to sleep in the car. Others decided to do a little bit more karaoke. Now that I am home, I can relax a little and cool off. For now, I’m signing off.