Is this Goodbye?

With the comfort of knowing that my report was done, I knew the last day of class would be cheerful and heartfelt. I didn't feel like I had to rush, but it was a lot sadder than I anticipated. Reneta gave us her last PowerPoint about the people you meet in life and success. When she was a manager at a Courtyard Hotel, she met a variety of people who felt that they were successful regardless of whether they were a manager or housekeeper. One of her housekeepers defined success by her family's achievements. Her sons exceeded their grade level's standards and she was able to provide them with a trailer home away from her mother's trailer. It's these simple things that should be cherished, not loads of money or fame. Reneta also ended up working with one of those employees at a different hotel later on.

Since the majority of teams were still working on their reports, my team became slightly paranoid, so we reread our report and added some details. Printing the final copy felt so satisfying. It gave us the feeling of joy. We were finally holding a physical copy of our final assignment. Once we turned it in, we had to leave so that other teams could finish. My team chatted a bit in the hall with the ice-pops we originally bought for our service project. There were over a hundred, so everyone grabbed some to calm down.

My team, Ellis, myself, Irene, and Bhavesh

Irene and I walked to Trillium for our last lunch together. Neither of us could believe that we were officially done with the class. It was extremely vigorous, but we couldn't process the thought that we wouldn't see those 80 people anymore. It was weird to think we wouldn't eat dining hall food anymore or the fact that we wouldn't walk up to Statler every morning. We later met up with Bhavesh and visited the student store. 

Before dinner, the ILC group met up with Mr. Chan-Law to discuss check-outs, graduation ceremonies, and flights. We're scheduled to arrive back in California at 10PM, but our day starts at 7AM. I ate dinner with Irene and her roommate YoungJi, who is from Chicago! We were so tired of RPCC food and the hall was packed with people from sports camps.

 As a showcase of Summer College Students' talent, the RCAs hosted a "Cornell's Got Talent" Students from all around the world sang, danced and played instruments. The songs ranged from operas to musicals and rap. They were also sang in Mandarin, English, and Japanese! Approximately 30 students performed. My favorite was a song named "The Girl in 14G" It was about a girl who had loud, singing hall mates. Each student sang differently, so she constantly changed her voice to portray each character.  Our very own Tamilyn also sang! I'm envious of the courage these students had to go up and perform. I'm fine with making a speech or presentation, but I could never sing or play an instrument in front of a crowd by myself.

Hundreds of students watching the performances 

Lastly and most importantly, two of my closest Summer College friends gave me tokens of friendship. Serena came to my door with a velvet box. There were several rocks inside and she let me pick one. It sounds really silly that I'm excited over a rock. but I didn't expect anything except their friendship and I thought it was a really sweet thought. I ended up picking a red rock with rings in it. It reminded me of a tree stump with each ring representing a year. I hope that even though we'll be on different continents, our friendship will last as long as the amount of rings on the rock. Sherry gave me a Polaroid picture of us.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words and it really is. I've never seen myself so happy and I think that I've achieved success in Summer College. I've made so many friends, learned about the hospitality industry, learned about Microsoft Office, and lived an independent three weeks. I never would have thought that I would have found happiness in a rock either, but I've been learning how to appreciate even the little things in life. My next goal is to calm my emotions when it's really time to say goodbye.

The rock Serena gave me!

My Polaroid with Sherry