Life Is Too Short to Pass on Thai Food and Lychees

Rolled Thai Ice Cream
with Lychee on top

As uneventful as today was compared to some of the other ones, I managed to get a lot accomplished. Laundry, homework, cleaning, and blogging occupied most, if not all of my morning hours.

Because I always have a hard time getting things done in a dirty environment, it was critically important to me to be able to organize and tidy up today. Not only did I clean my room, but also ended up editing previous blog entries and taking notes that I had missed out on in class.

Laundry took me at least two hours to complete. The basement is disgustingly hot and humid. I could not for the life of me stand being in there for a minute, let alone 30. As a result, I was forced to wash and dry loads of clothing at different times. This meant for me a lot of walking. As I have previously mentioned, my room is on South Balch’s sixth floor, so walking up and down six flights of stairs at least 6 or 7 times has definitely become routine. It's an intense workout for anyone, let alone an asthmatic like me. In addition to that, I had to take a longer route today because there was a baby bat hanging out near the exit door in our hall. By the time the RCAs got rid of it, I could hardly move as a result of sore feet and exhaustion. 

Poor bat, it just wanted an education.
Not a pretty picture, but I wasn't
going to get too close.

The second half of my day wasn’t nearly as exhilarating as the first. Noor, Robson, and I met up at the bus stop in front of the RPCC to have our first dinner together as a cohort in the Ithaca Commons. Deven was there to meet us. We decided to check out the nearest Cornell Store for gear. Although we didn’t find any sweatshirts that we liked, I ended up scoring pretty postcards to send my family members back home.

Postcards for my grandpa, great aunt,
and family friends. 

For dinner, we had Thai food, which I had never had before and was a bit skeptical of trying at first. Nonetheless, I wanted more than anything to experience new tastes. At the restaurant, I ordered Pad Thai, Spring Rolls, and Lychee Juice, all three of which were completely and utterly delicious. The spiciness reminded me a lot of Indian cuisines. I was a big fan.

Dessert came next. Thai and Lychee seemed to be the theme for the day because we ended up picking Thai Rolled Ice Cream. Surprise Surprise, I had a lychee on top of mine. 

I don’t know, maybe it’s just the fact that I haven’t gotten over the homesickness (I probably should have by now), but I feel the constant need to have food such as lychees. They transport me back in time to good old summer days spent at my grandparents’ house. Hopefully, the nostalgia doesn’t last forever. It’s starting to get a little bit old. 

Immediately after the cohort came back, Robson, Sultana, and I went to the Libe slope for the sunset again.  This is the third time that we’ve done this in a row so you might be thinking “wow that better be the greatest sunset that the world has to offer.” Based on what I have seen, it definitely comes close. Then again, I haven't seen as many as I would like to. 

I’m glad that  I had the opportunity to prepare for my second week here at Cornell. Although It may seem like I haven’t done much aside from that, exploring downtown, petting dogs while I was there (immediate mood booster), and eating mouthwatering, flavorful food has been more than enough for me. 

Sunday Candy

Today was another day to go out with my friends; of course I had to because I only have so many weekends here in Ithaca. We all decided to get a bit dressed up since we didn’t have to worry about class today and took the bus down to the Ithaca Mall. This time we actually understood how to use the bus and we actually went to the mall part. I went with my floor mates, Sloane, Miffy, Trinity, Bella, and a girl from my Inspiring Leadership class named McKayla.

 

Balch Unit 4. 

The first thing we did was to go to a store where there were a bunch of cats! It seemed random to have that in a mall but it was so fun because they wanted to play, we didn’t take any of them out of their cages because they seemed so full of energy and we didn’t want them to run away. There was one that was outside and when it almost bit Sloane while she was trying to pet it we decided we should go.

We walked to the food court and ordered some brunch, where all the workers were asking if we were summer college students and where we were from. They were actually intrigued about how I said I was from the San Francisco area and wanted to know all about what our experience was like. 

 

Miffy, Bella, McKayla, me, Sloane, and
Trinity. 

After we were stuffed we began our trek in search of clothing stores, what I discovered was how small the Ithaca Mall actually was, there was no Forever 21, or H&M or Pacsun. Basically no store that I usually shop at, there were not a lot of clothing stores in general. Not that we needed clothes but there wasn’t much to browse in the whole mall. We all expected more people to be there considering it was the weekend and also the middle of summer. We also stopped by Target, which I never get enough of, because Sloane wanted to grab some snacks to keep in her dorm room. McKayla and Trinity also picked up some bouncy balls and bubble guns to use when we go out or maybe for July 4^th.

We didn't get to do much shopping but we still wanted to do something new, so there was a laser tag area and we all agreed we just had to try it and maybe even come back again next week. I have never played laser tag before but it was some great way to get our energy out since it was just us in the game. We were running around trying to shoot each other and even though my team lost we still had a bunch of fun and were all laughing because none of us knew what we were doing. Definitely draining but worth it!

We took the bus back to north campus and thought of having a picnic on the slope since we had blankets in our room and lots of snacks we had just bought, but taking in the clouds when walking inside plus checking the weather forecast told us it was a bad idea. It began drizzling so we just had an indoor picnic in Miffy’s room. We all brought out our food, some that was healthy, and some that was not so healthy. We put on some Friends and starting doing things like work, draw, and talk. It was nice way to end my weekend with my friends. And just some time to not worry about the work we had to do for a little bit.

Around 5 PM I met up with Robson and Javaria at the bus stop so we could go downtown to meet Deven for dinner. I had never been downtown and hadn’t seen any of my cohort members or Deven since the first day of classes, so it was great to catch up and talk about how our classes are going, what our dorm experiences have been like so far, as well as our perspectives on how fast this whole experience is flying by. We got off at Seneca and walked to Ithaca Commons where we took some pictures and just took a stroll down to see so many different things, there was a free concert where a man was singing with his guitar and some of his friends. And some kids were playing with balloon animals on a play structure. The sun was out and it looked so beautiful and lively, it honestly felt like I was walking in a movie! 

We went to the Cornell Store to just look around, I didn't buy anything since I wanted to go to the one on Campus since it was bigger, but Javaria got some super pretty postcards which I told her I could even help her customize back home with a printer I had.

We went to a place called Taste of Thai where we were satisfied with the spicy food and large portions but still found some room to get ice cream! The ice cream we got was also very beautiful, it was dry ice-cream which was rolled and made pretty with colorful toppings. I had seen videos of it on Instagram and could not pass up the opportunity. After having a mini photo session of our treat, I checked the app for unlike transportation my RCA told me about to find out that the buses don't go towards campus at almost 8 PM. Maybe because it was Sunday. It was fine because Deven called an Uber which dropped us off right in front of Balch which was great. 

I got inside and tried working on some more of my blog but I just felt tired so I took a nap instead. I met up with my RCA, Emma, to tell her about my weekend and just talk about how I was liking Cornell so far. She's really lively as well and great to talk to about anything. I walked one of my friends back to her dorm at Jam so she wouldn't be walking alone and then we went to check in for the night. The rest of my night consisted of doing some other things that I had to complete and prepping for my discussion since I actually have class tomorrow morning unlike Javaria and Robson. 

     

The Farmer's Market

Being able to sleep for the first time in a while felt amazing, by sleeping in I mean 9 AM. Still something. It was much needed after completing my first full week taking a college class at such a great university. I met up with Khirishana, Tashnim and Anika at their dorm rooms in Mary Donlon because they were taking forever to get dressed. We all grabbed some food and I used a public transportation app that my RCA told me about to figure out how we would be able to get to the Ithaca Farmer’s Market. Yes, we were going to the farmer’s market because I had seen pictures and read about it online and also wanted to buy fruit because RPCC food isn’t meeting my fruit needs.

At first we went on the wrong bus because there were two outside the Balch arch where the bus stop is, they were just going in different directions, thank goodness we asked before the bus started to move, that would have been another adventure. After finding our seats on the correct bus I kept checking my app to make sure we were going in the right direction. A student from NYU named Alice was sitting next to me on the bus and she was telling me that I didn’t need to check my phone because we were headed in the right direction. She was actually also headed in the same direction that we were so she said we could just walk there together.

We had a transfer at Seneca and Alice introduced her two friends from NYU who were visiting, one who was living at home and other who lived in the city from LA. They were telling us about the expenses of living in dorms compared to living at home in college, and both would recommend living at home because it is also better financially but you feel more comfortable. Alice is actually a researcher for the summer at Cornell through a program and an LED light company is funding research for the study of the effects of LED lights on spinach and cheese because of a theory of whether specific light could kill bacteria, they are working to see if it can maintain its quality afterwards. I thought it was great and interesting, Alice said she totally prefers Cornell to NYU.

When we arrived at the farmer's market I was just taking in how rustic everything looked with the wooden tent like structure to the cute little boats I could see down the dock on Cayuga Lake. The layout of it was great, you could walk down and it split into more sections which contained basically everything, from handmade wire jewelry to fresh honey where the honeybees were actually being displayed, to fresh produce at one's convenience. There was not as much fruit as I thought there would be, but the owners were very nice and let me sample some of it before I bought it. I settled on some strawberries and cherries because those were the sweetest out of everything I had tried, plus there was more produce than anything else which a slight disappointment. We tried some lemonade and also got some greek food before shopping around a bit to see everything. I ended up getting a copper ring made by hand by a man who didn't know what ring sizes were. 

Tashnim and Anika met up with Khirishana and I before we hopped back on the bus and had a little bit of a panic because we noticed it went in a loop. After checking the app I had on my phone it confirmed that we indeed were going in the right direction. Apparently the buses do that here in Ithaca, the bus driver told us to just stay on the bus since it would go straight after making another loop. At least I understand how it works here now. We got off at Ithaca Mall but didn't go to the mall at all, we went to everyone's favorite place to kill time, and money: Target. Anika sat in the cart while we pushed her around and added things in we needed as well as snack and other food we could keep in the refrigerator or freezer. I hadn't been to Target in so long and it felt great to be able to get my favorite snacks from there. 

We waited in the scorching hot sun for about twenty minutes for the bus to come, which is where the umbrella came in handy, before getting on the bus to wait another twenty minutes since there were so many other students who apparently want to Target and were heading back to north campus. 

I got a call from Deven on the way back to my room about having dinner where we could finally have some real food which made me excited. he also checked in with me about how my first week went and how my class was, what we did and how much of a workload I had compared to Javaria and Robson. 

Apparently there was another fire drill about five minutes before I got to Balch since everyone on my floor was going back into their rooms, seriously. I don't even know why, maybe someone is pulling it or leaving the doors open which is triggering some alarm. 

I ate some leftover Chinese food before sitting down and nailing my essay while my friends went to Collegetown. I felt satisfied with my several page paper discussing the importance of leadership beginning with values, encompassing the reading from class. Afterwards I did some blogging catching up and other work I needed to do as well as listened to music in Miffy's room since we were having a little movie night watching a thriller about a murder mystery. definitely a great way to spend my weekend. 

The Secret Formula

Today was a very interesting day of class, we had a guest speaker named A.J. Edwards who worked with Northwestern Utilities Company. He came in during the financial crisis in 2008 to make a difference within his team and in 2011 became the Chief Financial Officer; his responsibilities consisted of wiring funds and managing money.

Some things about A.J. are that he was, like the majority of us, petrified of public speaking in high school and that he used to be recorded during a presentation which would be played back and critiqued by his peers. Seems extreme, so now I don’t think I can complain about public speaking at my school. He is currently starting his third career and is in his twenty-fifth year of investing into Cornell University.

His story is of being at a firm where he deals with clients and managing their money which could be for a variety of things such as retirement, college etc. So these are very sensitive and important matters to the clients; he had to learn to develop skills to act in that environment. Although he dealt with many seniors and higher in his corp. That did not make him any less of a leader. A.J. has a masters degree in mathematics but he feels that is still easier than learning to be a leader. There is no formula to being a leader. 

His advice to us was always to think of our clients as individuals. The first step is knowing yourself, whether you are an introvert or an extrovert, a talker or a listener, calm or reactionary. And whether we are able to recognize what we are. "I" should rarely be used by a leader, it shows that one thinks that they are far more important than the organization they represent. It sends the message that your team is not as important even though they do the majority of the work. It does not take to demoralize your staff, so a leader should give recognition to their team members. An example of this given by A.J. was that at the end of a letter or presentation he would add the team member's name as well as include a picture, which is something small but it makes a world of a difference and even puts a smile on their face.

Interaction before the leader and their followers are very important, communication is key and the staff will notice everything that their boss does. Attire for example is very important, if you do not set an example for the image of your organization no one else will do the same. Because culture is created by action, not words, and whenever one is doing something they should use the "front page test" which is to not do anything they would not want to see on the front page of the newspaper. Constantly question, it is the job of the leader to be asking themselves what their team's biggest challenge might be and what they can do to make it better.

It is a lot easier to fall into the box while texting or emailing, which is only keeping your own values in mind when doing anything, this is because when we communicate via technology we are not face to face, so it becomes easy to come off as angry or upset. This is something anyone can take away -- especially today since our world is made up of communicating through these. These are things we are able to be mindful of in our every day lives. As A.J. said, "You do not have to have 'boss' on your business card to be a leader." 

Being a leader is not about being a boss, it does not mean you know everything. It is also essential to recognize that there is no monopoly on good ideas. In his office whenever there is an investor coming for a meeting, before they do a run-through of everything in five minutes then spend an hour asking question starting from workers with least seniority to give workers experience at that level.

You are always being viewed as the subject matter expert so you need to know everything you are talking about. But that does not mean you have to act like you know everything, even as a leader it is perfectly fine to be able to say 'no.' it is one of the hardest things to do but sometimes the best decision to make is to do nothing. And it's okay to say 'I don't know.' Transparency is a stronger characteristic to show than attempt to show you know what you are doing when in fact you do not. And showing that transparency with your teammates so that you can build that community with them and foster relationship for better work.

Leaders are meant to let their team members do their job, they are meant to have confidence and humility, to always be humble and keep their pride in check. Although everybody is replaceable, one must remember that people will not remember what you say but they will always remember how you made them feel. Definitely a class everyone enjoyed since a lot of my peers are interested into going into corporate leadership.

After lunch at Trillium, it began pouring outside. I did have my umbrella with me but instead I went into the upper level of the dining hall because that is where the majority of my class was hanging out. We all walked to one of the prettiest libraries on campus, Uris Library. My classmates and I were working on our essays while various tour groups were coming in and snapping pictures (including us) before we were asked to leave since the library was closing. I walked back to my dorm with Andrew, a student from Taiwan who I was working on my essay with, he wanted to go play basketball while I worked on my essay some more. Which is what I did until dinner.

  

Afterwards I went to Mary Donlon with a group of my friends named Khirishana who is in my class, and a girl from her school named Tashnim who is studying Middle Eastern history. I also met her roommate Anika who is taking sustainable animal husbandry. We played 'heads up' which is basically Charades but on our phones, before I said I had to go since I needed to do some laundry as well as outline The Student Leadership Challenge for my essay I have due this weekend. One of my floormates named Bella bought a bunch of Chinese food so we indulged in that and just talked into the night. 

Little Things Mean a Lot

Admiring the artwork

I was under the impression that the weather here in Ithaca would be predictable. It turns out that it has a personality of its own. At times, it gets hot and humid. I would say unbearable, but then again, I’ve spent summer in South Asia.

There are random showers too. The sky provides no warnings; it will pour down on you out of nowhere. When it rains, the water is warm and may leave you feeling gross. Sometimes, I even get the urge to play in it.

Today was one of those muggy, damp days. I slept in and ended up missing breakfast. In my defense, we didn’t have class so it wasn’t exactly the end of the world. Nonetheless, I was hungry. It’s a good thing that my friend Julia and I had planned on hanging out.

Robson joined in and the three of us made our way to Trillium dining hall. We found out when we arrived that RPCC was the only cafeteria open to Summer College Students on weekends. Because College Town is another 15-minute walk from Trillium, Julia, Robson, and I went in that direction instead.

Painting Inside Sangam

Currency Wall

Sangam, the small traditional Indian restaurant in which we had our brunch provided an all you can eat buffet. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I literally gasped upon seeing all of my favorites laid out on a table for me to enjoy. Never did I ever think that I would be as happy to see the food that I usually eat on a daily basis. Naan, Karhai, Gobi, Saag, Biryani, you name it; home, that’s what the food reminded me of. It helped that the desserts, homemade gulab jamun (chickpea, syrup covered donuts) and kheer (rice pudding), tasted heavenly.

I want to read them all

Writing about the flavors is enough to make my mouth water, but certainly wasn’t the only thing that made the time I spent there so enjoyable. There was a certain feel to the decoration and placement of objects around that room. A giant sitar sat towards the front, paintings portraying life in the Indian subcontinent were plastered across walls, and old Bollywood music from my childhood days played in the background. I felt the lump in the back of my throat kind of nostalgia if you get my drift.

They also had a wall full of currency from nations around the world. I personally found that very interesting, it’s something that I would want to do with my room. According to the cashier, customers are usually the ones that bring them the different kinds of money. 

I felt like I was at Hogwarts

Me and Julia at Cascadilla Falls

Afterward, we attempted to walk back to our dorms. “Attempted” is the right word, because the food was filling and eating it made moving even a little bit difficult. Thankfully, we managed to make it halfway but then stumbled upon Cascadilla Gorge. I will say that this was hands down one of the most naturally beautiful places that I have ever been in my life. It gave me the chance to not only take lots of pretty pictures but also let go of built up stress and tension and have a legitimate conversation with my friends.

We decided then that it was finally time to see the infamous Hogwarts (Uris) library. The rain practically drowned us on our way there but we made it in the end. The inside of the building is an architectural masterpiece. It has been built with all things stunning in mind and has a huge collection of books ranging from Irish manuscripts to Arab, Turkish, and Persian poetry.  One of these days, I’m going to dedicate my time to solely reading and studying in that space and pretending that I too live in a magical world.

At around 8 PM, Sultana, Robson, and I went over to the Libe Slope to watch the sunset yet again. This time around, we came prepared with books and towels, but it started raining and there was lightning so we were forced to leave.

Sultana. She's literal happiness.

Sultana made it her mission to find these blogs and in her attempts to Google Robson finally did. Apparently, we are bookmarked as one of her favorites, so it would only be fair for me to properly introduce her. We’re in the same course and have gotten very close this past week. Sadly, she’s from New York and won’t be coming out to California with me for the rest of the summer, but I guarantee we’ll keep in touch. Who knew belting out songs in Hindi and making Muslim puns could be this fun. I love everything about Sultana’s personality and sense of humor, she’s beautiful inside and out.

I’m glad that this opportunity has allowed me to get closer to individuals such as her.

NO CLASS!

My first day without class was refreshing. I slept in and it made me feel great, it was refreshing. The only down side was that it took me until 10 to get ready and it wasn’t until noon when I went out. When I went out I met up with Julia and Javaria. We went out to eat at college town; we picked an Indian buffet place. It was delicious and was way better than the food we get at the community center and I filled my plate to the brim. I ate A LOT and had to waddle my way back to the university.

After lunch we walked over a bridge and soaked in the view, but then we spotted a trail that followed the creek in the gorge and we immediately walked to the trail head. The trail was gorgeous as it passed massive waterfalls and rapids. The sound of the water echoed off the plant covered walls of the gorge. It was beautiful and the trail had a lot of steps, but the view was so worth it. We stopped by a bridge and took pictures and talked. We saw a very cute duck swimming up the stream which made me appreciate ducks for having that much strength in such a small body. But when we saw storm clouds gathering above we immediately left the gorge because we did not want to get caught in a storm in a steep gorge.

After the gorge we went to the Uris Library because it is supposed to be beautiful and Hogwarts like. I would say it was nothing like Hogwarts because it wasn't as grand or have as much stone, but it was beautiful. It was very old and had an unimaginable amount of books. It looked like an exhibit or replica in a history museum with all of its ancient looking furniture and old paintings of very high class and rich looking individuals. There were plenty of desks with desk lamps and students intensely studying. I thought it was huge and an amazing place to study because of how quiet it was and how beautiful it looked. The books were really specific. There were books on things such as “Spanish Literature in Russia”. We walked up and down certain levels looking at the books, then left.

After dinner Javaria and our friend Sultana and I made plans to see the sunset. We decided to see it on the slope in the back of the clock tower. It was beautiful and talking with friends is always lovely. But that is when the topic of our blogs came up. Javaria and I have been begging Sultana not to read our blogs, but then she Googled my name and alas, she found it. And now (since she will be reading it) I should introduce her. Sultana is super funny and has a great sense of humor, but always does thing to annoy or spite me, it would be very annoying if she wasn't so funny about it and just a kind person. After that we took pictures and read books, but as the sun set it started raining again (I hate the weather in Ithaca sometimes). We walked back to our dorms and the day was over.

I like not having class and 100 pages to read, but to be honest, I really miss my class. I miss learning about international law, mass atrocities and how I can help stop them. My class is always a highlight of my day and I can’t wait for class to return on Wednesday, but for now I am enjoying the relaxation, getting closer to my friends and knowing more about them and exploring and wandering around Ithaca and Cornell.   

The Cherry Ontop of a Wonderful Week

Today was super laid back. Today was the end of the first week of classes and this class has been more than I could ever have hoped for. 

Today’s class was basically one large activity about examining a country that has committed many human rights abuses and looking for strategies to help stop these atrocities. 

Afterwards, since we had no homework, we just walked to Javaria’s dorm and played board games. 

Afterwards I went to dinner and met up with Javaria and we went to a little music festival like you would see in Berkeley. 

Today was pretty uneventful compared to my other days, but it was a relief because we are starting our first weekend and I get the chance to not only soak in more of Cornell, but I also get to see more of Ithaca.

I got up, had breakfast and went to class. 

In class we had an activity where we looked into the human rights violations of a fake country called Nanguo. Violations included repeated sexual violence against women, discrimination against the country’s Leng minority; women didn’t have equal access to education or healthcare and couldn’t own land. A woman named Mosti Milso had her husband arrested under faulty claims and was suspiciously killed in jailed, after these events she sought remedy from the police and the Nanguo government, but she was harassed and threatened by police.

My team's notes in the activity

When we broke up into teams my team broke up into even smaller groups so we could cover how many rights and what rights the Nanguo government violated. It was a lot. The Nanguo government signed so many treaties and convention and even incorporated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in their constitution and they followed none of the provisions laid out in those treaties and declarations. They also sent out statements saying how great they are at respecting and implementing human rights. Even though this country was fake I was mad at the pure hypocrisy. I parred with another person and listed the provisions that Nanguo broke relating to a lack of government action and remedy. Our group as a whole had a lot of provisions that Nanguo violated. The fun part was figuring out how these provisions were going to be enforced. International law doesn’t really have any enforcement mechanism and fifty different avenues one could take. You could file an individual complaint or use the international court system. I liked how man be enforced. International law doesn’t really have any enforcement mechanism and fifty different avenues one could take. You could file an individual complaint or use the international court system. I liked how many variants there were because it allows for variation and I also didn’t like how many variants there were as well because it was very hard to decide which one has its own drawbacks and positive aspects. Our group at the end of the activity my group covered the entire chalkboard.

We shared out our strategies and I found that international law is not clear cut or as “directed” as domestic law because it has no police force or legal system (like our civil and criminal law systems in America or our trial and appeals courts). It was very interesting. 

After class I had lunch with a group of friends and then we went to Javaria’s room because it started raining heavily (and I actually remembered my travel umbrella this time!) We watched “The Jungle Book” and played board games. Then we went our separate ways and I met up with Javaria at dinner. 

After dinner we accidently stumbled on a wonderful concert. The concert had an indie band called “Stone Cold Miracle” and a lot of hippies that had dyed mustaches and braided beards and that danced. They were really good dancers and they seemed very happy. This kind of concert was super cool because it looks like it could happen (and actually happens in Berkeley) 

When the concert ended we walked to our dorms and around Balch there were fireflies. They were beautiful. We got so excited that we both FaceTimed our mothers. We then finally went our separate ways because bugs were eating us alive and we wanted some good night’s sleep. After this laid back, but surprisingly active day I can’t wait to get some shut eye and much needed rest and I can't wait to explore Ithaca.