The Same Old Same Old

Today was a very uneventful day when it comes to school. Nothing happened I just watched a couple of movies in class. After the uneventful school day my mom picked me up and we went to the library, read books and got big gulps from 711 then finally, we drove to the orientation at Pinole Middle School.

The orientation itself was not boring, but not all that thrilling since it was mostly for the parents and I knew nearly all the information. After Don and the chaperones all spoke and introduced themselves we broke out into our separate cohorts to discuss what we were doing on the trip and any other travel plans. My favorite part was when we had previous ILCers who went to the same university spoke to the separate cohorts. The ILCer who spoke to us was named Shuxin Zhou. She described Cornell and she was very honest with what she liked and didn't like about Cornell. She didn't like that the dorms were kind of old and that the campus and classes were big. But the most helpful thing she said was when she said how she regretted focusing a lot of her attention on her course instead of building connections with people. I found this helpful because I have already been doing this sort of thing in high school and her advice reminded me that I should focus on building connections with people because the connections I build can stay with me for a long time. 

After our break out session Don started talking about the loaner items and again that was all review. He talked about everything we'll need and what we should expect in the upcoming days. Then the orientation was over. Overall it wasn't boring or engaging, but it was necessary and like every other ILC event previous it got me very excited for my trip over the summer. Watch out Cornell!!!