Last weekend at SUNY Cortland was the annual “Dragon Hunt.” Almost forty teams of four spent an entire six hours out of their Saturdays, running all over Cortland trying to accomplish as many of the tasks on their list as possible. I was fortunate enough to be one of the lucky participants. When I first got the invite to participate from one of my friends, I wanted nothing to do with the competition, but after I heard that the first place prize was four tickets worth $500 to anywhere JetBlue flies, I was ready to go.
From 11:45 – 12:00 we were briefed on the rules and schedules of the massive school scavenger hunt. After all the groups got their marathon runner tags and list of scavenger hunt items. Once it hit 12 O’clock all the teams dashed off to get as many pictures as they could. The list took us all over campus from the football stadium all the way to the west campus apartments. We had to take pictures of the items on the list as proof of our accomplishing the action. Throughout the event I learned more and more about the history of the school as well as the locations of landmarks of the school.
The hunt also took us to the “Pumpkin Fair” in downtown Cortland. Being a transfer sophomore and new resident of Cortland, I had never heard of the Pumpkin Fair. I was glad we ended up there because I got a chance to see all the fun opportunities at the annual Pumpkin Fair. While checking off accomplishments on our list, I was also able to see Cortland’s largest pumpkin as well as try fresh apple cider and other craft and farm stands.
After six long hours we headed back to the meeting room in Corey Union to hand in hour’s worth of running around and searching. Although our group did not win those coveted JetBlue tickets, we did manage to make it in the top ten. It was a great experience despite losing and I cannot wait for next year’s Dragon Hunt.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
Lost Olympics
For the past few weeks there has been a great deal of excitement over the location of the 2016 Olympic Games. There were four cities vying for the Olympic bid: Tokyo, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Chicago. With the struggling US economy many believed the Olympic Games would give this country a much needed economic boost once the games came in 2016. One thing many people didn’t and know is that hosting the Olympic Games would cost our country over one billion dollars just to build the stadium to hold the games. This newly built stadium would only be temporary for the 2016 games.
Even President Obama put forth a great effort to help bring the games to Chicago. President Obama even traveled to Copenhagen in an attempt to argue the case for the U.S. To the surprise of many Chicago was the first city to be eliminated. Tokyo followed soon after as the second city to be eliminated. In the end that favored Rio de Janeiro beat out Madrid for the 2016 Olympic Games.
In my opinion Chicago was beat out due to the strong opposition that much of the world has towards the United States. Although it was just speculation experts believed that a Chicago was the best candidate for the 2016 winter Olympic capital Games, and the fact that it was immediately eliminated is somewhat suspicious. The judges were even told before hand to vote on an unbiased basis.
As far as the economy is concerned I don’t believe the loss of the Olympics is going to affect us too severely. 2016 is a little less than seven years away. While the Olympics would help our economy, I believe that in seven years we will not be in the financial trouble we are now. It still would have been nice to have something like that to get our country excited. We will just have to find something else to unify us.
Even President Obama put forth a great effort to help bring the games to Chicago. President Obama even traveled to Copenhagen in an attempt to argue the case for the U.S. To the surprise of many Chicago was the first city to be eliminated. Tokyo followed soon after as the second city to be eliminated. In the end that favored Rio de Janeiro beat out Madrid for the 2016 Olympic Games.
In my opinion Chicago was beat out due to the strong opposition that much of the world has towards the United States. Although it was just speculation experts believed that a Chicago was the best candidate for the 2016 winter Olympic capital Games, and the fact that it was immediately eliminated is somewhat suspicious. The judges were even told before hand to vote on an unbiased basis.
As far as the economy is concerned I don’t believe the loss of the Olympics is going to affect us too severely. 2016 is a little less than seven years away. While the Olympics would help our economy, I believe that in seven years we will not be in the financial trouble we are now. It still would have been nice to have something like that to get our country excited. We will just have to find something else to unify us.
Friday, September 25, 2009
College Sickness
One of the many wonderful perks of college is that it isn’t too difficult to become very close with a group of friends. You see these people every day, you eat with them you study with them and in many cases you may even live with them. While these are all great things, they do come with a price. Because of this closeness it doesn’t take much for sickness to spread.
When it comes to sickness, dorm life is basically a breeding ground for infection. All it takes is for one person to get sick and suddenly everyone has it. It only makes sense that you would catch what you neighbor has, especially when you share a shower. As I walk into my residence hall I immediate hear the sounds of coughs and sneezes. Despite the fact that everyone has hand sanitizer in their rooms, people still manage to get sick. It doesn’t matter if you wash your hands every ten minutes because in that time each person has come in contact with germs at one point or another. Also in those ten minutes, each person has touched their eyes nose or mouth already and this is how sickness spreads.
Swine flu has become a big deal all over the country. You would have a hard time trying to find a food distributor on campus that does not have a swine flu poster of pamphlet. Thankfully we haven’t had any outbreaks of swine flu here at Cortland but if we were to, it wouldn’t be long before it spread all across campus. The same way we pass along the common cold, we could pass along swine flu. Although swine flu is very similar to the regular flu it can be fatal if the afflicted person is worn down enough. Any student can attest to the fact that it is easy to get worn down between late night studying and partying on the weekends.
While it is important to wash your hands and eat healthy it is our responsibility to make sure we are getting enough sleep and taking care of ourselves. It stinks for the person who gets sick but, we don’t think about the fact that we might be getting others sick too.
When it comes to sickness, dorm life is basically a breeding ground for infection. All it takes is for one person to get sick and suddenly everyone has it. It only makes sense that you would catch what you neighbor has, especially when you share a shower. As I walk into my residence hall I immediate hear the sounds of coughs and sneezes. Despite the fact that everyone has hand sanitizer in their rooms, people still manage to get sick. It doesn’t matter if you wash your hands every ten minutes because in that time each person has come in contact with germs at one point or another. Also in those ten minutes, each person has touched their eyes nose or mouth already and this is how sickness spreads.
Swine flu has become a big deal all over the country. You would have a hard time trying to find a food distributor on campus that does not have a swine flu poster of pamphlet. Thankfully we haven’t had any outbreaks of swine flu here at Cortland but if we were to, it wouldn’t be long before it spread all across campus. The same way we pass along the common cold, we could pass along swine flu. Although swine flu is very similar to the regular flu it can be fatal if the afflicted person is worn down enough. Any student can attest to the fact that it is easy to get worn down between late night studying and partying on the weekends.
While it is important to wash your hands and eat healthy it is our responsibility to make sure we are getting enough sleep and taking care of ourselves. It stinks for the person who gets sick but, we don’t think about the fact that we might be getting others sick too.
Friday, September 18, 2009
The Fall Season
In just four short days, the summer season will have come to an end. We all had fun during the hot summer days, whether we had summer jobs, took classes or just relaxed at home, it’s not hard to appreciate the summer. But about three weeks into the semester we have all forgot about those lazy days and are now fully into the swing of the school year and fall season. In my opinion there is no greater season than fall, because of all the great changes and excitement it brings.
The beginning of football season is the perfect way to start off the fall. You have all 32 teams all having the same shot at winning it all. Whatever happened last season is ancient history because everyone starts with the same record. The teams that were good the previous year have to prove they’re still they team they were while the teams that struggled get to establish themselves a threat.
With football just starting, we also have baseball coming to a close. The entire baseball season has led to the month of October. With the arrival of the playoffs we can expect some of the best games of the year. And finally we have the World Series to cap off the season.
With the arrival off fall, the weather is starting to cool off to that perfect “jeans and t-shirt” temperature. With the beautiful weather comes the changing of the leaves. In a few weeks, brilliant reds, oranges and yellows will line the paths to class. Being from long island I can appreciate nice fall foliage but up here there are so many trees to show off the beautiful changing of the season.
Some other perks the fall season brings are Halloween and Thanksgiving. Who doesn’t enjoy dressing up for Halloween, or at the very least seeing the people who do dress up? Thanksgiving is personally my favorite holiday. I enjoy spending the time catching up with my family over a feast of seasonal food. I look forward to these upcoming months of beauty and excitement.
The beginning of football season is the perfect way to start off the fall. You have all 32 teams all having the same shot at winning it all. Whatever happened last season is ancient history because everyone starts with the same record. The teams that were good the previous year have to prove they’re still they team they were while the teams that struggled get to establish themselves a threat.
With football just starting, we also have baseball coming to a close. The entire baseball season has led to the month of October. With the arrival of the playoffs we can expect some of the best games of the year. And finally we have the World Series to cap off the season.
With the arrival off fall, the weather is starting to cool off to that perfect “jeans and t-shirt” temperature. With the beautiful weather comes the changing of the leaves. In a few weeks, brilliant reds, oranges and yellows will line the paths to class. Being from long island I can appreciate nice fall foliage but up here there are so many trees to show off the beautiful changing of the season.
Some other perks the fall season brings are Halloween and Thanksgiving. Who doesn’t enjoy dressing up for Halloween, or at the very least seeing the people who do dress up? Thanksgiving is personally my favorite holiday. I enjoy spending the time catching up with my family over a feast of seasonal food. I look forward to these upcoming months of beauty and excitement.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The Transfer Experience
Hello, this is my first ever blog post and I would like to use it to describe what it's like to be a transfer student here at SUNY Cortland. While it is exciting to be in a new environment and meeting new people, it can be frustrating to be a transfer student.
While it is a priceless feeling to be out of my former school, there are many instances where transfer students get the short end of the stick. Even as early as the application process, the transfer student is at a disadvantage. Despite having already completed at least a year of college, transfer students have their applications viewed after the incoming freshman class. With this disadvantage it becomes increasingly more difficult to even earn acceptance.
The next leg of the transfer process is orientation, which at many schools comes after freshman orientation. This means that the transfer students are left to fight over the “bottom of the barrel” classes. This becomes increasingly difficult when the new students need specific courses because many of their credits did not transfer from their previous school.
On a more personal level I can attest to the fact that a lot of effort is put into helping transfers become comfortable in their new surroundings. Since I am a transfer student I was placed in a residence hall with other transfers as well as freshmen. It doesn’t really bother me that the building itself is practically falling apart. The part that does bother me is that all of the resident in my hall are being forced to move out in the spring 2010 semester. So despite going to a new school and having to meet new friends and get settled in to a new environment, we will yet again have to move into a new hall and a new redo the whole process. I understand that the priority should go to the returning students but there must be a better way of going about the transfer process.
While it is a priceless feeling to be out of my former school, there are many instances where transfer students get the short end of the stick. Even as early as the application process, the transfer student is at a disadvantage. Despite having already completed at least a year of college, transfer students have their applications viewed after the incoming freshman class. With this disadvantage it becomes increasingly more difficult to even earn acceptance.
The next leg of the transfer process is orientation, which at many schools comes after freshman orientation. This means that the transfer students are left to fight over the “bottom of the barrel” classes. This becomes increasingly difficult when the new students need specific courses because many of their credits did not transfer from their previous school.
On a more personal level I can attest to the fact that a lot of effort is put into helping transfers become comfortable in their new surroundings. Since I am a transfer student I was placed in a residence hall with other transfers as well as freshmen. It doesn’t really bother me that the building itself is practically falling apart. The part that does bother me is that all of the resident in my hall are being forced to move out in the spring 2010 semester. So despite going to a new school and having to meet new friends and get settled in to a new environment, we will yet again have to move into a new hall and a new redo the whole process. I understand that the priority should go to the returning students but there must be a better way of going about the transfer process.
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