And There Goes the Fire Alarm

Today was very interesting, I woke up actually feeling cold; the first I have felt cold since I left California. It felt great when I walked down to RPCC because I felt cool air which I have been missing dearly. I wasn't in the mood for too much of a breakfast so a lot of the morning was talking with my friends about the courses they are taking and what types of assignments they have. Sloan and Trinity are taking Veterinary Medicine and had a lab today for chest, neck, and head which I thought was such a fun thing to do on just the second day. And Bella has been telling me about how her psych class asks challenging questioning which involve may serious topics like death or money, allowing the opinionated side of her peers to come out. It's interesting to learn about what else Cornell offers and the different impact it has on the students.

I got a little lost on my way to class only because I could not really see the names of the hall since it was covered by trees and I am not very tall, I arrived at Goldwin Smith Hall which is where the discussion room is, that is where we have our class discussions about the reading with our two TA's. Nick, our other TA, was here today because yesterday his brother was getting married. He was a firefighter and has led many search and rescue missions which is where he has demonstrated his leadership skills.

We all did introductions so he could know us more before beginning the discussion of last night's reading, Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box. This is the book I picked up yesterday and during the discussion I contributed some different perspectives such as how 'the box' would represented as a visual; I envision it as a glass cube with one way mirrors, so the person inside would see themselves as they would in their mind, so they wouldn't be aware if they were doing something wrong. The person outside would be looking in at them and would be able to pick out how they have a problem yet fail to recognize it. I tried my best to contribute while some students did not speak at all.

In class, the instructor touched on introverted leaders, how they can also be good leaders and sometimes even the best, giving us a preview of next week. As well as how we can talk in class or outside of class, or even email either Mark, Josh, or Nick to talk about something in the book we found interesting, basically emphasizing the importance of engaging ourselves in what we are learning since we gain as much as we put into this program.

We were given a list of values and asked to select twenty, then narrow it down to ten, then five, and finally three. I feel like the instructor could sense how much we all despised him for making this such a challenge. Then we ranked our top three values and wrote about them. I was the first one who volunteered to share my values and explain them (which is usually not like me at all). So I gathered myself and stood in front of the class to talk about opportunity, which I had ranked first. I briefly explained opportunity as being as being something you come across or work to chase, either way it is something you earn as a result of the potential you hold for success. It is what takes you new places to give you new experiences; of course I was speaking from my own personal experience which is also an important part of the course.

I got out of class a bit late because I wanted to grab a hard copy of our essay rubric which we have due later this week, I went to the Cornell Store to grab some school supplies like sticky notes and even saw the cutest pencil case which made me very excited. I of course also eyed some things I knew I would buy and stuff my suitcase with before I left. I also grabbed some food and caffeine before walking though the rain with my trusty umbrella to my room. Yesterday I actually noticed that none of my outlets were working because my laptop would not charge, I called my RCA and she told me to submit a maintenance request form which I did. So I was greeted by a little orange sign on my door letting me know that my service had been completed. Whoever did the maintenance even plugged my computer in so it was fully charged and I was able to do my work on it, greatly appreciated!

I began to outline what work I needed to do when the fire alarm started going off, since it's right outside my room it was blaring especially when you I opened my door. It honestly gave me a little heart attack because I did not expect it at all. I grabbed my purse and keys and stepped outside my room; because everyone on my floor was in class or getting lunch, it was just me. A guy came up to me before I even locked my door and told me not to worry because this was a drill and that I should go back inside. I spent the next fifteen minutes eating my sandwich with that as the lovely background, really, the perfect ambiance for getting work done.

I went over to Miffy's room and talked to her about her day, and a group of us went over a girl named Sara's room because she invited us over for kabobs. Pakistani kabobs! It was a taste of home which was really great and we had a lot of fun eating and talking about our schools and the different books we read. But we all had actual reading assignments to complete for homework so we went back to our rooms to, for me, blog, and also do my reading in preparation for tomorrow morning's discussion. As well as go over the notes from today's class lecture. After dinner, I bought some snacks and was basically doing some more reading and studying to prepare for the next day.