"Joy to all we love the best..."
Reunions weekend was indeed a bit like a mini-version of Cornell.
I was disappointed by how few of my Cornell friends had come back. I was there primarily for Chorus and Glee Club, to sing with them again under Scott Tucker's baton. That indeed would have made the weekend worth it, by itself. I had studied the music beforehand, but had not fathomed the magnificent directions in which Scott would take it. After not singing in a year...what a way to sing again. I was constantly challenged: as soon as I got comfortable with one aspect of the piece, Professor Tucker would add something else for us to concentrate on to make the piece even more brilliant. And we would concentrate, and you could hear the difference, and the sound would melt you inside. There I was, rehearsing in Sage Chapel with the Chorus, and, like so many times in college, unable to imagine anywhere else in the world that I'd rather be. And when the Glee Club sang the Biebel in Goldwin Smith on Saturday night, that alone would have made the trip to Ithaca worth it.
Outside of the Chorus and Glee Club, though, I knew very few people. So at breakfast, for example, I would randomly join people and try to have conversations. And randomly meeting Cornellians my year whom I had never met before, I didn't feel like I had much in common with them.
Then I started hanging out with the bandies along with my friends Heather and Steve. My good friend Carolyn had been in band and couldn't make it to reunions, so I did my best to help fill the Carolyn void (which of course is impossible without her). And they were fun and my kind of people.
Then there was this one guy who I kept randomly running into. After the Goldwin Smith arch sing, someone said something about a tent with swing dancing, which of course I had to check out. And he was there, and I got to dance with him, and have a real conversation with him and his friend from freshman year. Awesome people. The kind that don't get scared away nor glaze over when you admit that you have a Ph.D. in cosmology :) He had been a CS major with strong interests in the humanities, and his friend was an astro major. The astro alum (Chris) was disappointed that Tamma wasn't there, but I think moving is a good excuse. However, Tamma, I was told to tell you that Reunions is very much like slope day except it takes place all over campus and lasts all weekend, and you and Jerry should come next time :) (There are ways to come without spending the $ for the whole weekend. One of my friends from Chorus had fun figuring out how to take part in most of the activities whilst giving them as little money as possible.)
I also had an amazing conversation on the way up to Cornell with an engineer-turned-actor from the class of '96.
So, in the end, I met awesome people much faster and more easily than I meet awesome people in life outside of Cornell, and left Ithaca feeling that Cornellians include an incredibly high concentration of amazing people. Of course, there are plenty of Cornellians to whom I would have nothing to say. But the people I'd click with are there, and with a bit of effort, they can be found. (I still miss very much the awesome Cornellians I know who weren't there, and hope I get to see them sometime soon!)
I still hate the "rah rah give Cornell money" aspect of reunions, but there's not much to be done about that, other than ignore it. I am, unavoidably, a willing participant in the "rah rah sing songs about Cornell" aspect of reunions.
I was disappointed by how few of my Cornell friends had come back. I was there primarily for Chorus and Glee Club, to sing with them again under Scott Tucker's baton. That indeed would have made the weekend worth it, by itself. I had studied the music beforehand, but had not fathomed the magnificent directions in which Scott would take it. After not singing in a year...what a way to sing again. I was constantly challenged: as soon as I got comfortable with one aspect of the piece, Professor Tucker would add something else for us to concentrate on to make the piece even more brilliant. And we would concentrate, and you could hear the difference, and the sound would melt you inside. There I was, rehearsing in Sage Chapel with the Chorus, and, like so many times in college, unable to imagine anywhere else in the world that I'd rather be. And when the Glee Club sang the Biebel in Goldwin Smith on Saturday night, that alone would have made the trip to Ithaca worth it.
Outside of the Chorus and Glee Club, though, I knew very few people. So at breakfast, for example, I would randomly join people and try to have conversations. And randomly meeting Cornellians my year whom I had never met before, I didn't feel like I had much in common with them.
Then I started hanging out with the bandies along with my friends Heather and Steve. My good friend Carolyn had been in band and couldn't make it to reunions, so I did my best to help fill the Carolyn void (which of course is impossible without her). And they were fun and my kind of people.
Then there was this one guy who I kept randomly running into. After the Goldwin Smith arch sing, someone said something about a tent with swing dancing, which of course I had to check out. And he was there, and I got to dance with him, and have a real conversation with him and his friend from freshman year. Awesome people. The kind that don't get scared away nor glaze over when you admit that you have a Ph.D. in cosmology :) He had been a CS major with strong interests in the humanities, and his friend was an astro major. The astro alum (Chris) was disappointed that Tamma wasn't there, but I think moving is a good excuse. However, Tamma, I was told to tell you that Reunions is very much like slope day except it takes place all over campus and lasts all weekend, and you and Jerry should come next time :) (There are ways to come without spending the $ for the whole weekend. One of my friends from Chorus had fun figuring out how to take part in most of the activities whilst giving them as little money as possible.)
I also had an amazing conversation on the way up to Cornell with an engineer-turned-actor from the class of '96.
So, in the end, I met awesome people much faster and more easily than I meet awesome people in life outside of Cornell, and left Ithaca feeling that Cornellians include an incredibly high concentration of amazing people. Of course, there are plenty of Cornellians to whom I would have nothing to say. But the people I'd click with are there, and with a bit of effort, they can be found. (I still miss very much the awesome Cornellians I know who weren't there, and hope I get to see them sometime soon!)
I still hate the "rah rah give Cornell money" aspect of reunions, but there's not much to be done about that, other than ignore it. I am, unavoidably, a willing participant in the "rah rah sing songs about Cornell" aspect of reunions.