Maame's College Extravaganza: Where is She Now

Hello...it's me...I haven't made a blog post in six months. I would like to tell you that I was taking a hiatus or that I was really busy, but really I just got really lazy after college decisions came out if I am being completely honest here. Ok let's debrief: I picked a college fun fact, I left Kansas for a state governed by a Kennedy (technically an ex-Kennedy, but it's water under the bridge to me). The freshman fifteen has not happened yet, actually here is what I look like now:

An actual photo of me, taken last week.

I accidentally stumbled on one of my old College Extravaganza posts, and now that I've been living on campus for nearly two months, I'm a seasoned professional of college life. During my visit to Cornell a year ago, I was really taken aback by how hilly it was. I remain completely taken aback by the hills. I also gave the geofilters a 6/10: I stand behind that. However, after becoming a student here with a Cornell water bottle and all, I've learned that the backwards-walking tour guide skipped a few things.

1. There are spiders everywhere. I'm not sure if it's just my hall or if Ithaca, NY sits on an ancient spider birthing place, but I cannot escape the spiders and it's killing me. Big spiders, little spiders, reoccurring spiders--you think you killed them but somehow they come back.
2. I swear every day on campus is a fashion show. You really can't leave your dorm for anything unless you are fully prepared for a fashion photographer to snap a picture of you. When it's sunny, rainy, overcast, cold, warm, you name it--everybody is well dressed. I wore sweatpants to class today and I couldn't even look anyone in the eye because I look like a bum. It's a struggle because classes are already hard as it is and on top of that you have to look put together.
3. Kansas is apparently a Southern tropical state. Around-hmmm- 98% of Cornell undergraduates are from Long Island alone, so when I tell people I'm from Kansas they are really shocked, then they make Wizard of Oz jokes, until finally they start to ask questions. I really thought I had heard it all before until people started asking me about non-Dorothy related information.
   
   

   "Does it snow in Kansas?"
   "Where's Kansas?"
   "Do you live on a farm?" pic.twitter.com/jxbg7zJJUU

   — Maud Maame (@duhmaame) September 6, 2016

4. 2am is a really good time. All of my assignments require a lot of reading and between tanking my exams or being slightly sleep deprived, I've chosen the latter. 2am is very chill: it's earlier than the 4am panic that comes with a frantic all nighter, the spiders have gone to sleep, my hall us usually quiet, and by that point I'm so tired I just hunker down and focus because I want to sleep.
5. 9am is a horrible time. I have a 9am class twice a week, and every day when my alarm goes off at 8, I feel like I'm being dragged into the inner-most circle of Dante's Inferno until I remember the per-class price of my lecture; that's when I finally wake up. 
6. I'm spoiled by Cornell Dining. I knew prior to attending that Cornell has really good dining hall food, but I didn't know how much it would affect me until I was complaining about my sirloin steak being overcooked. I'm going to leave it at that.
7. Patagonia is a big deal??? I'm not entirely sure why???
8. Cornell-made ice cream is essentially sugar mixed with frozen butter???

The best thing about Cornell so far though is how helpful people have been; with the exception of the few boys I once overheard talking about how helping people is stupid. Maybe it's because I scream "freshman." Or maybe it's because everybody thinks I'm this poor, sad wheat farmer from Kansas. I'm not sure--but every time I get lost I always manage to find someone willing to help me and that really nice. 

Now for Cornell at a glance: The geofilters have improved slightly, but still nothing on Lawrence's improved filters, so the 6/10 stands. I'm giving every single walkway that is at anytime uphill a 0/10 because I actually hate them and I don't want toned legs; I want comfort. As for my classes they'll all receive an 8/10 because I like them, but they're stressful. 

Maame's College Extravaganza: Cornell University

This summer I’m embarking on my giant college tour trip, my parents and I are taking the East Coast by storm from Ithaca to Boston. This has been, by all means, an Odyssey to get here (Mr. Rabiola would be so proud). We drove because, well, I don't really know why we drove. Still, we drove. It wasn't a bad trip, but it was the longest we've ever taken as a family. I like long car rides because it allows me to do my favorite things: listen to music, eat, and read. It's uninterrupted time to relax for me because no one ever tries to make me drive. I assume as I get older this relaxation period will turn into something very different when I'm the one driving for twenty hours and not reading "Americanah" to Laura Mvula's album and a bag of Oreo Minis. Nonetheless I still read some 300 pages of one of my first fiction books written for adults in the driving period. I've also memorized all of "Green Garden" both the studio and the Metropole Orkest (I prefer the latter version, but only marginally).

As I embark on this journey I find it best to describe each place we stop, or at least the interesting ones. My first stop was Cornell University to

1. Visit my sister; and
2.  Go on a tour of the school

Ithaca, NY is in Upstate New York. I'm from Kansas, so when they say it's flat, I always think about how my hometown has huge hills that are scary to walk up, and then I came here and I'll never think that again. In Upstate New York everything has a slope. In Ithaca if you look up from pretty much any point, you see rolling hills, maybe mountains, for miles. It's really beautiful when you don't think about how somewhere in the rolls and rolls of forestry hills exists a few packs of bears that are very prepared to steal your Tim Hortons.

On the way to the cabins you have to go through a dramatic ride through Upstate, and just before you reach the Arnot Forest you're so close to the forest that you can see individual trees. The trees in this area are very thin, but very tall, like a teenage boy with a pituitary gland imbalance, and the roads are always raised up by about 10 feet, unlike in Kansas. So, you can't really swerve around on the roads, unless you enjoy 10 foot car drops onto the family of bears that still want your donuts.

Ithaca itself is a lot different from what I expected. My parents told me it's just like our hometown: that was a lie. Ithaca is very much a different city. It has a vibe to it that I've only found in the East Coast (this isn't my first rodeo in the East Coast please see 2008 and 2010 of my memory for more details). The roads are narrow and the rent is very high. When you pass single family homes, more than one family lives there. The people are very similar to my hometown, I'll give Ithaca that.

It's probably because they're colleges of similar sizes, although my hometown doesn't house an Ivy. Wegman's is a grocery store that's always packed with people because of its many organic options. My hometown just opened its third organic grocers. Ithaca feels smaller, I think it stems from how different the college town area is from everything else.

I've enjoyed my time here, in Ithaca I mean. There is an avid Amish population, which really excites me because they've always fascinated me. The Snapchat filters for the city aren’t half bad, but nothing in comparison to my hometown. I'll give their filters a 6/10. My next stop is Boston to tour the plethora of colleges that exist within the area. 

Let me know if any of you have been to Ithaca. How was it for you?