First Semester Wrap-up

This is a picture of Cornell campus that I took today. And it's every bit as cold as it looks.

"I would like to propose a toast to our first semester at Cornell University. Fellow students, we survived! We made it! We have laughed, cried, danced, and tried not to miss the bus to our eight-forty class.  We have journeyed through the stormy waters of our first round of prelims and relished the freedom of our first snow day. We have experienced new things such as taking a ballroom dancing class and learning the waltz, and we have experienced embarrassing things such as instantly forgetting every word of the lecture when the professor calls on us in class. We’ve learned how to walk across this vast campus to take in the beauty of the gorges, and we’ve learned how to run across this vast campus when we’re late for a class. But no matter what the first leg of our college journey may look like, we are all united by our determination, our inner strength, and our love for the delicious ice cream at the Cornell Dairy Bar.  And so, in conclusion of our first semester, we can all proudly stand together and say, “We made it! On to the next semester!”"

This is a speech that I’ll be giving for my Oral Communication class. It's cheesy, I know, but I feel like it pretty much sums up the semester… at least, most of it. Goodness, I’ve gone through so much since I first arrived here! I’ll be done for the semester in a few weeks, and I couldn’t be more ready for a break.

College really is a unique experience, though. It’s kind of an in-between phase from being a high schooler and being an adult. The friends we make and the habits we form while we’re here will have a big impact on the rest of our lives. It’s a bit daunting, but believe me, it’s not as hard as it sounds!