Gardens and Ice Cream

Today was yet another uneventful day. I slept in yet again until 9:45. I called my mom and we talked and caught up on everything we were doing. It was nice to hear her voice except it reminded me of home and made me little homesick. It also reminded me of how good her homemade meals were and I miss those a lot because the community center isn’t bad, but it is not as good as my mom’s chicken salsa verde.  I met up with Javaria and our friend J’nai at lunch. We walked to Balch because Javaria had to do laundry, so while she went to do laundry J’nai and I started playing the piano in the lounge. J’nai was really good at playing and didn’t mess up as much as I did. It has been months since I played and it showed.

After playing piano I wanted to do something besides sitting in my dorm so I walked to the Cornell Botanical Gardens. As I walked over the bridge that is right near the dorms and crosses Fall Creek I was taken aback because the creek was swelled and gushing water, the water fall looked like it was spewing water and water was rushing over the dam at an alarming rate. The creek and Beebe Lake must have been full from yesterday’s massive amount of rain.

I walked by Beebe Lake and it was gorgeous as always. I also walked by more of Fall Creek and it was really swelled and brown. On my way I saw a Great Blue Heron. It was jarring for me because a rushing rapid was the last place I would imagine a heron.  They normally live in a swamp or marsh. Lovely views abounded as I made it to the gardens. It was very pleasant and beautiful. The flowers were exploding with color and the trees shaded lovely park benches. I actually recognized a lot of the plants. They had maples and I saw some Lantanas. I had a very fun time and I am planning on returning so I can read a book under White Pines on a bench surrounded by colorful flowers.

I walked back to my dorm so I could work on my classwork, work I had for the ILC, and to get ready because my cohort and I were having dinner in downtown Ithaca. I met up with Javaria and Noor at the bus stop. We talked about our classes at the bus stop and on the buses. Noor’s class seems super rigorous because she has a lot of discussions and reading. We made it to downtown Ithaca and immediately saw Deven. His presence and jokes were lovely as usual. We went to the Cornell store, but the one on campus had more things and better trinkets. So we went off to our restaurant which was Thai and called “Taste of Thai”. I ordered Pad Thai which is one of my favorite Thai dishes. We talked about the ILC and Deven described his life of a teacher. It sounded like it was difficult, but very fulfilling for him. I admire that because I couldn’t be a teacher. I find handling children and even high schoolers difficult so every day I would be frustrated. I’d rather be a lawyer because I love looking at and dissecting law. I love the idea of fighting for people’s rights.  I find that fulfilling because I love doing the work and I love the outcome.

The dinner was great then we had ice cream. The ice cream was like cold stone in the sense that they had sundaes with names, but differed in how the ice cream was made and shaped. In this shop they poured cream on a cold plate and mixed it with different ingredients until it hardened to ice cream then they would roll it up in to little rolls then out it in the cup. It was fun to look at the whole process. After ice cream Noor, Javaria and I went back to the university.

Javaria and I went to meet the lovely and funny Sultana at the slope behind the clock tower, now we just call it “The Slope”. It is beautiful. Sitting on the grass in the sun and looking at the view of Ithaca and Cayuga Lake is relaxing. The Slope has become one of my favorite places on campus. We talked about our plans on Monday to go to downtown Ithaca and maybe go to Cayuga Lake if we have the time and energy. After that we called it a night. I loved my weekend and even though I don’t have class until Wednesday I am still trying to get myself back on schedule. I have loved sleeping until 9 or 10, but I have to get back into work mode. I am excited for tomorrow, but I am more excited for class on Wednesday.