Spending the Summer at EC

This past year, I decided that I wanted to spend the summer break on the Elmira College campus. I was not sure what I was going to experience, but whatever it was, I knew it was going to be life changing. 

W - Wind & Rain - On July 26, EC was in the midst of Summer Registration III.  The last third of the incoming Class of 2016 were on campus, taking assessments, while I was at work in the Mark Twain Exhibit in Hamilton Hall.  All of a sudden I noticed the sky turn an eery grey and it start to rain.  At first the rain was light, then it grew to a downpour and eventually was falling in horizontal sheets of water.  The mist and the fog rolled in and I could not even see across the street from Hamilton Hall.  When the mist subsided, I saw the damage.  Trees were down everywhere; in the middle of Washington Avenue and all over the lawn by the newly renovated Cowles Hall.  Because the power went out (and would continue to be out for three days), we had to evacuate our building.  It was not until I walked across campus that I realized the extent of the tree damage.  There were trees and debris in the puddle.  Two trees even uprooted and fell and broke two benches next to the Fountain.  In the days that followed, I saw professors, Administrators, and students outside helping to clean up debris.  The 2012 Tornado is a moment that everyone who was on campus will think back to and remember how close of a community Elmira College really is.

A - All the World's a Stage - This summer, not only did I conquer my biggest fear (tornado), but I also visited and did a lot of things I have not had the time to do in the Finger Lakes/Southern Tier area.  One weekend, I travelled to Ithaca to see all of the cool little shops that the Ithaca Commons has to offer.  Many of the stores were antique/consignment shops, while others were handmade crafts that would make beautiful gifts.  Even though I did not buy anything on that trip, I enjoyed just looking at all of the boutiques!  I was also able to attend the Chemung County Fair.  Where I grew up, county fairs are always the places to go during the summer.  Since I was not home for the summer, I took a short trip to Big Flats and watched the truck and tractor pulls one afternoon! It was a little piece of my hometown in my other home!

R - Reading by the Puddle - One of my favorite things I did this summer involved the Puddle and good book!  Sitting on a blanket by the Puddle with the sun gazing down on you is a great feeling and during the chaos of the term, we forget about it.  This summer I was able to reconnect to a great feeling that made me love living in Alumni Hall my freshman year at EC.

M - The Mark Twain Study - One of the greatest little treasures of American Literature sits on the Elmira College campus.  Before I became a Mark Twain Ambassador, I had never set foot inside the Study.  Once I worked there everyday, I could understand the magic that the building carries to many people.  This summer I encountered visitors from Las Vegas, North Carolina, England, Australia, and Japan.  There is such a history in that Study that you do not realize until you are stepping foot inside the place where Samuel Clemens wrote his great works of literature.  What amazed me the most is when people would point to a picture of Mr. Clemens sitting by the window and then ask if he really sat there.  I think a lot of students forget that Elmira College and Elmira, NY has a lot of rich history that we students need to take advantage of and learn from. 

Spending the summer at Elmira was one of the best decisions I made, I learned a great deal about myself and enjoyed making many new friends!

I hope everyone has a great Fall!


**Photo Credits:  Elmira College Office of Public Relations

Term III 2012 - Paris, France

Hello everyone and I hope you all had a wonderful spring and summer, I know I did.  This spring I spent 5 weeks in Paris, France with some classmates from Elmira College.  We lived in aparthotels and attended classes everyday.  This is what I learned/realized during my five weeks in a European country. 

P - Practice -  As I am a French major, this trip was especially important for me.  I wanted to leave the trip with a better understanding of the language and the nuances of the culture.  So, I decided that I would practice my French as much as possible.  There were only about four of us on the trip who were French majors, so during our group outings I did need to speak English with them.  However, during class and when out shopping or in museums I made sure I used my skills in the language.  It seemed silly to me why anyone who knows the language wouldn't try to use it as much as possible.

A - Americanizing - I had a really unique experience one day when I was at a department store.  A lady came up to me asking about the check-out lines.  She could obviously tell that I was not a native French speaker, so she asked where I was from, how long I have been studying French ... etc.  After I responded to her questions, she said that she was glad I was trying to speak the native language of her country.  She said that the real France is getting lost because all of the tourists come to Paris expecting everyone to speak and understand English, so they bother not trying to learn the language.  I thought this was really interesting and what she said made me want to use and practice my French more and more!

R - Regrets are not an option - When a student goes on a Term III travel trip, it is important that they realize the opportunities that lay ahead of them.  I know for myself, I spent a lot of my own money to go to Paris for five weeks and I was crazy if I wasn't going to do everything that I wanted to do on that trip.  So I made it my mission to do two things:  Go to Disneyland Paris and go to an interesting museum.  So, I did just that, we set a date to go to Disneyland and it was so much fun!  I rode the Tower of Terror and felt like I was going to die while doing it, but, at least I went on it!  I met Micky Mouse, Cinderella, Aurora, Prince Charming, and Snow White, and I took a ride on Aladdin's magic carpet!  It was so much fun to spend the day with the girls on the trip and just revel in our childhood of Disney Princesses and the Lion King!  For the museum, I chose to go to the Museum of Decorative Arts on the Free Museum Sunday.  We got passes for the major art museums in Paris (the Louvre and the Orsay Museum) so I wanted to go to this one when I didn't have to pay for my entrance.  This museum was WONDERFUL!  I say that because there was so much to see and look at.  They had antique jewelry exhibits, old-school furniture, and my favorite, a LOUIS VUITTON and MARC JACOBS exhibit!  If I could have spent all day in that exhibit, I probably would have.  It showed the progression from LV's designer luggage to the more modern doctor satchel and his fabulous shoes as designed by Marc Jacobs.  It was so amazing to see how this man who originally started out making little hat boxes became the name-brand designer that he is known for now! I did everything I wanted to do on this trip and more because I looked at where I was and there was nothing that I could not accomplish in the city of lights and love!

 

I - Immersion - As I stated above in the Introduction, we took immersion classes for four of those weeks that we were in Paris.  These classes were very helpful because everything was taught in French. But, what I especially liked about these classes was that it wasn't a class just filled with Americans, people of other nationalities were there too.  In my class, we had students from Angola, Israel, Spain, Mexico, China, Romania, so many places and we got to learn about the French language, the French culture, and all of the fellow students' cultures.  It was one of the greatest experiences of my life being in those classes with people who cared about growing in the language and who wanted to participate and practice.

S - Self-Reflection - Spending five weeks in an unfamiliar country, without your family, without your best friends, without the comfort of fried chicken and macaroni and cheese can be pretty intense for people.  I will not lie, my first few days were rough, I was incredibly homesick for my Homeland, but when I finally relaxed and was able to look at the bright spots of the trip, I enjoyed my time and I learned a lot about myself in the process.  It showed that, I did not need to be defined with the adjectives that would normally define me while in America; Conservative, Upperclassman, Student ... etc.  In Paris, I was the definition of myself.  The people I met did not care that I was from the United States, they did not care that I was staying in Saint Denis, and they certainly did not care that I was a student at a private college in Upstate New York.  What they cared most about was the way I acted towards them and how I carried myself.  All they wanted to do was have a good time and learn, just like myself and I think that that is what I love most about Parisians, they always want to learn and they always want to have a good and enjoyable time with their family and friends.  This is what I have taken most out of this trip: a new sense of self.