missin' "the triz" :P
Despite the fact that there were plenty of things I disliked about the place and that my last semester there was such a horrid experience that I wouldn't want to re-live it if they paid me, sometimes there are things that I miss deeply about my college.
First and foremost, I miss Ithaca. I loved that silly little town, which really seemed more like a big city than anywhere near here of comparable size. It had a great public transportation system (it only sucked for me personally because I was in middle-of-nowhere Dryden, so the bus line stopped fairly early compared to elsewhere in the city), a couple of awesome areas (The Commons and Collegetown) with great places to get coffee/eats/drinks and hang out with a book or something, the people there were generally quite "crunchy," so even though I rarely got to know many of them in depth, it was just a nice, friendly environment where I didn't feel like I was the only one thinking about certain stuff. One cool memory that springs to mind is the time I was in the Commons on my scooter and there were a bunch of people together in one of the little pavilion things in the middle of the mall playing music with various kitchen utensils/accessories. That was a pretty commonplace sort of thing to come across in that area. Also the dreadlocked kid on a skateboard who challenged me to a race, haha. And then there was the Cornell campus, which was just plain gorgeous to look at. One day I got semi-lost on my scooter exploring the place, particularly this one enormous building with a cool balcony thing in the back part of it. (I forget what the name of the building was, damn it...)
I miss how accessible that place was to me, pretty much every day, without me needing to beg for a ride or travel over an hour one-way to get there like I'd have to if I tried to get there from here.
I miss how accessible other resources were to me while I was living on-campus, too, like the library, the gym, the pool, counseling... they also had quite a good array of performers and workshops and stuff, during my first couple years, anyway. The College Entertainment Board started to suck last spring. And I used to enjoy the ability to scoot on down to the school and walk around the top floor when I was all in "get-healthy-and-exercise" mode--I felt much physically (and mentally!) better when I walked that 1/4-mile every day.
I miss, from second year, when I'd be in my room playing music and either Kim or Michele would be like "OH MY GOD I REMEMBER THAT, CAN YOU SEND ME THAT SONG!!" I miss the nights we'd all be up late cramming for finals and going nuts, laughing at dumb shit so hard we'd start drooling, and then finally deciding we weren't learning shit anyway and crashing. I miss dragging out several stinky bags of garbage at a time on my scooter, busting through the doors of my building and people looking at me kind of incredulously.
I MISS JEAN D'ARC AND TIM AND KEITH AND ALL THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE COLLEGE FACULTY WHO I THOUGHT WERE HOT. Including that nerdy security guard I had a crush on because he was my personal scooter mechanic, and had the most hilarious laugh.
I miss when Taco Bell was still in the cafeteria and I had quesadillas and supreme burritos at my disposal every day. And I miss Pudgie, the sweetest cafeteria cashier lady ever.
I miss Marcy and her loudness and Doug and his lewdness and that Vietnamese kid who'd always ask me if he could "ride [my] motorcycle". I guess I kind of miss Rachel, before she got waaaay too invasive and annoying and I had to drop the bitch like a bad habit. ;) I miss Marco, my enormous Bolivian Goth friend who I affectionately referred to as "a large mass of black coming down the hall"... and OH MY GOD, I miss the studio production classes. I miss having that old super-Christian in most of my classes, who'd always try to persuade people to convert in the creepiest ways possible, such as leaving "Walking With Jesus" booklets on everyone's desk while we were all out of the room during our breaks between sessions of Tony DeFranco's class.
I miss my first year, with my ditzy preppy roommates who I didn't think I'd be able to relate to at all, but who got me drunk for the first time and who I ended up getting along quite well with, for the most part... even if they did occasionally make me want to pull a headdesk.
- - -
Being a student didn't happen at the right time for me, but man, I built some great memories during my time there, and became way more independent. I've got to remember that when I feel like a jerk for ultimately dropping out. On the whole, the place was good for me, though probably not in the ways my parents would've liked. I'm glad I went.
First and foremost, I miss Ithaca. I loved that silly little town, which really seemed more like a big city than anywhere near here of comparable size. It had a great public transportation system (it only sucked for me personally because I was in middle-of-nowhere Dryden, so the bus line stopped fairly early compared to elsewhere in the city), a couple of awesome areas (The Commons and Collegetown) with great places to get coffee/eats/drinks and hang out with a book or something, the people there were generally quite "crunchy," so even though I rarely got to know many of them in depth, it was just a nice, friendly environment where I didn't feel like I was the only one thinking about certain stuff. One cool memory that springs to mind is the time I was in the Commons on my scooter and there were a bunch of people together in one of the little pavilion things in the middle of the mall playing music with various kitchen utensils/accessories. That was a pretty commonplace sort of thing to come across in that area. Also the dreadlocked kid on a skateboard who challenged me to a race, haha. And then there was the Cornell campus, which was just plain gorgeous to look at. One day I got semi-lost on my scooter exploring the place, particularly this one enormous building with a cool balcony thing in the back part of it. (I forget what the name of the building was, damn it...)
I miss how accessible that place was to me, pretty much every day, without me needing to beg for a ride or travel over an hour one-way to get there like I'd have to if I tried to get there from here.
I miss how accessible other resources were to me while I was living on-campus, too, like the library, the gym, the pool, counseling... they also had quite a good array of performers and workshops and stuff, during my first couple years, anyway. The College Entertainment Board started to suck last spring. And I used to enjoy the ability to scoot on down to the school and walk around the top floor when I was all in "get-healthy-and-exercise" mode--I felt much physically (and mentally!) better when I walked that 1/4-mile every day.
I miss, from second year, when I'd be in my room playing music and either Kim or Michele would be like "OH MY GOD I REMEMBER THAT, CAN YOU SEND ME THAT SONG!!" I miss the nights we'd all be up late cramming for finals and going nuts, laughing at dumb shit so hard we'd start drooling, and then finally deciding we weren't learning shit anyway and crashing. I miss dragging out several stinky bags of garbage at a time on my scooter, busting through the doors of my building and people looking at me kind of incredulously.
I MISS JEAN D'ARC AND TIM AND KEITH AND ALL THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE COLLEGE FACULTY WHO I THOUGHT WERE HOT. Including that nerdy security guard I had a crush on because he was my personal scooter mechanic, and had the most hilarious laugh.
I miss when Taco Bell was still in the cafeteria and I had quesadillas and supreme burritos at my disposal every day. And I miss Pudgie, the sweetest cafeteria cashier lady ever.
I miss Marcy and her loudness and Doug and his lewdness and that Vietnamese kid who'd always ask me if he could "ride [my] motorcycle". I guess I kind of miss Rachel, before she got waaaay too invasive and annoying and I had to drop the bitch like a bad habit. ;) I miss Marco, my enormous Bolivian Goth friend who I affectionately referred to as "a large mass of black coming down the hall"... and OH MY GOD, I miss the studio production classes. I miss having that old super-Christian in most of my classes, who'd always try to persuade people to convert in the creepiest ways possible, such as leaving "Walking With Jesus" booklets on everyone's desk while we were all out of the room during our breaks between sessions of Tony DeFranco's class.
I miss my first year, with my ditzy preppy roommates who I didn't think I'd be able to relate to at all, but who got me drunk for the first time and who I ended up getting along quite well with, for the most part... even if they did occasionally make me want to pull a headdesk.
- - -
Being a student didn't happen at the right time for me, but man, I built some great memories during my time there, and became way more independent. I've got to remember that when I feel like a jerk for ultimately dropping out. On the whole, the place was good for me, though probably not in the ways my parents would've liked. I'm glad I went.