The No-Longer-Hypothetical List of Exciting Things That Have Happened to me at Cornell, Spring 2015 edition

I’m finally writing my semester wrap up posts. I’m not going to say that I’m catching up on writing, because that would be to admit I’m behind. At the very least, though, I do want to write about my rock climbing trip to the Gunks. It was extremely exciting. Anyway, here’s the list:

1. Road tripping with the pep band: I had the opportunity to travel with the band for my first overnight trip. The stars finally aligned, allowing me to leave Olin for more than 24 hours, and I spent lots of hours on a bus travelling to Harvard and Dartmouth. It was during the time New England was buried under two or three miles of snow, and we were asked to bring blankets . . . just in case we were in New England longer than expected.

2. Outdoor rock climbing: Two years after I started climbing semi-regularly, I climbed outside for the first time. And not just anywhere, but in the Gunks (Shawangunks), which are considered by many to be world class climbing. I learned how to lead belay, remove and manage gear, and rappel, all while having a great time. And unlike during my sailing class, we had amazing weather.

View from the top of the Gunks.

3. Grading marathon(s): I’m not sure I would really consider this exciting, but it was quite an experience. After hundreds of hours at office hours, I found myself on the opposite side of the table for once. No matter how well you think you understand the homework problems (which we were required to fully work out before holding office hours), someone will ask something that hasn’t even crossed your mind. Or even better, it did cross your mind, but you promptly decided it wasn’t important. Anyway, the undergrad TAs were in charge of grading the fluids prelims and final, which was preferably done in a group in one long grading session. Seven hours staring at the same problem? So much fun. Except not.

4. APT puzzle challenge: One of the things I miss about high school is math team. Yes, really. There’s something about staring at a problem that looks ridiculous, then all of a sudden seeing exactly how to get the answer. One Saturday, a couple other ChemEs and I (yes, we hang out even when we’re not forced to in class) spent a few hours problem solving. We weren’t horribly great at it, but we weren’t awful either. Problems were similar to those found here.

5. The Glass Menagerie: One of the 161 Things is to see a play at the Schwartz Center. So I did, and it was very good. It was actually the same day that I graded the first fluids prelim. I’m sure I had plenty of problem sets to work on, but I gave myself the rest of the night off after grading for seven hours. Besides the actors’ excellent work, I liked seeing the props that I had a part in making being used.

Next semester will surely be exciting, because after three years of learning about running distillation columns and separators in theory, we'll be running them for real.  Hopefully we don't break anything too expensive.