Today
is the first day of my last week here at Cornell and I am already feeling my
class starting to wrap up. My instructor is giving us more assignments and
projects in a small frame of time. One of those projects is a presentation on
Yemen which was due today. After class I went with my friends to study in Olin
Library and then we almost immediately went to a presentation about college
admissions and it was extremely helpful and the admissions officers went over
the elements of an application and what they were looking for. After dinner I took pictures in my new
Cornell clothes today with my fellow cohort members then I went to the slope
with some friends. I liked today and I am feeling myself falling into a nice
pattern even though I am leaving in a couple of days.
Today’s
class was very intense. It was the day of our presentation. Our presentation
was a model Security Council were several governments and organizations speak
about the crisis in Yemen and recommended certain remedies and solutions that
they could either provide or in cases like mine recommend what the Security
Council could do. In working on the project I was taken aback by how terrible
both sides were, on further research I was more confused as to what to do about
the situation to remedy. When we got up there we covered the human rights
abuses and the solutions we proposed was the blocking of all weapons in the
region, we recommended that the Council put sanctions on Iran for supporting
the Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia for carrying out many of the human rights
violation and we also demanded that there should be international pressure put
on the United States to stop the sales of weapons to Saudi Arabia. This sparked
a lively debate. I focused a lot on Saudi Arabia and their human rights abuses.
Lassan brought up the point that the Houthi rebels are an illegitimate
government and have the right to protect themselves. I found it hard defending
my pints has our debate got deeper and deeper because I didn’t fully agree with
my group’s position and a lot of my classmates’ questions were very valid, questions
such as “How will both sides protect themselves from the threat of Al Qaeda in
the area?” I had a hard time answering them, but I got through it. And it turns
out I got an A which I thought was surprising, but I’m not complaining.
Afterward
my friends, Pooja, J’nai, Javaria, Sultana and I went to Olin to work. As it
turns out we weren’t the most productive study group. After studying a little
we went to a college admissions presentation where admissions officers told us
about the components to an application and what they are looking for in an
applicant. They said a lot of what I was hearing. They said that they looked at
the whole application, there isn’t a magical formula that gets you accepted .They
went over essays and they said something that I made sure I remembered. They
said that essays are there to display a part of that the rest of the
application can’t . This was very helpful because it helps me make sure that I
keep my essays interesting and it helps narrow down the things I can talk
about. Throughout the whole presentation I was thinking "Please accept me Cornell!" as I quickly jotted down notes.
Then
I went to my dorm to get my brand new Cornell gear so that my cohort could take
a group picture. I wore a grey sweatshirt with Cornell’s emblem and name
written in red. It was a quick photoshoot and afterwards I went to meet Pooja
and Sultana at the Slope. Today was great, but I feel as if every day this week
will be bittersweet because I can’t wait to go home, but I don’t want to leave.
My cohort talking about departure plans before our photoshoot made it all seem
real. I’m sad, but I guess I’ll just have to make the most out of the time I
have left.
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