<p>Well, I haven't taken a tour of Cornell yet but I will eventually. I just was at an information session at Duke and they were telling me all these cool things like about their smart-house, DIVE (virtual reality room), ect. and since I haven't been to Cornell yet, what are some cool things about Cornell that they might tell me on a tour?</p>
<p>Slope Day. Nuff said.</p>
<p>Good food!</p>
<p>There’s a huge particle accelerator underneath some sports fields:</p>
<p>[LEPP</a> - CESR](<a href=“http://www.lns.cornell.edu/Research/AP/CESR/]LEPP”>CLASSE: CESR)</p>
<p>Watching the sun set from the top of Libe Slope</p>
<p>I would let the tour guides speak for themselves, they do a great job.
Since they will take care of the campus, I might suggest a couple things off campus, mostly:</p>
<p>[Taughannock</a> Falls, Ulysses, NY](<a href=“http://www.taughannock.com/]Taughannock”>http://www.taughannock.com/)
I’d say the other state parks, Cornell Plantations,vineyard tours, but I don’t know how the weather is going to be when you visit. If you can find a way to get out on the lake that can be fun too, also weather dependent of course.</p>
<p>[Short</a> Stop Deli](<a href=“http://www.shortstopdeli.com/]Short”>http://www.shortstopdeli.com/)
Order a half-sui. Or if you’re hungry order a whole sui, they seem to be making them smaller these days. If the sui description does not appeal, try an MBC, or PMP, or some suggestion from here:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/662319-whats-better-than-half-sui.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/662319-whats-better-than-half-sui.html</a></p>
<p>If you come up with some vegetable lovers, try Moosewood, that’s a famous place in vegetarian circles. And if the Ithaca Farmer’s Market is open, my wife thinks it’s great.</p>
<p>You should check out Collegetown, that’s where many students go for fun, and many upperclassmen live. Maybe best to go on a Thurs-Sat evening? I remember the first time we cruised by there before D2 applied, she recognized some set-up in a house we passed as pertaining to something she called “beer pong”, some sporting event they play there, evidently. If you think you might be interested in fraternities, drive around some of those areas.</p>
<p>If you like live music check out what’s playing around town: [Concert</a> - WVBR.COM - Live & Local](<a href=“http://wvbr.com/concert]Concert”>http://wvbr.com/concert)
and more generally: [Home</a> @ Ithaca Events](<a href=“http://ithacaevents.com/]Home”>http://ithacaevents.com/) . Check Cornell Daily Sun too.</p>
<p>The Cornell Cinema often has interesting, out of the ordinary movies, and you can check for performances at the Schwartz center.</p>
<p>And if you want to eat:
[14850</a> Dining](<a href=“http://dining.14850.com/dining]14850”>http://dining.14850.com/dining)</p>
<p>If there’s a hockey game, and you can get in, that would be fun.</p>
<p>You know that beer pong isn’t a Cornell specific drinking game, right?</p>
<p>Wow a virtual reality room? that just totally bought me over
Wait, does it cost money?</p>
<p>To add to that, Cornell has cool weather</p>
<p>its march and it just snowed 14 inches. though the coolest ive seen was last year. one day the high was in the 80s, the next day it was 30 and snowing.</p>
<p>Hey premed4, I’m a current student in Engineering and an ambassador for the university.</p>
<p>There are plenty of awesome things here! Like today I walked into one of the dining halls and there was a massive Mardi Gras celebration going on complete with an a themed dinner that knocked my socks off and satisfied my stomach completely. There’s even talk that a parade is going to run through campus and come through my dorm in spirit of the holiday. Now I’m not saying things like this happen on a daily basis, but when they do it’s pretty cool. Truth be told a better question would be what do you think is cool? Chances are that we have it. If we have it, it’s probably easy to get involved with it as well. For instance there are quite a few champion engineering project teams here and I was extremely interested in the one dealing with underwater autonomous vehicles. Not only did they want me on the team, but they wanted me there for more time than I was willing to give because I wanted to have time to get involved with other things as well. From having the chance to work along side world renowned professors to the friends you’ll meet here, there are plenty of things you’ll find cool. :D</p>
<p>In the 1953 movie. “Titantic”, they sang “Far Above Cayuga’s Waters” as the ship was going down. Very sad. [Titanic</a> (1953) - IMDb](<a href=“http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046435/]Titanic”>Titanic (1953) - IMDb)</p>
<p>^I didn’t know that! I already find the alma mater kind of emotional (for whatever reason) so that would be pretty extreme to watch.</p>
<p>one thing that’s cool about Cornell is the plantations. it’s so close and it’s a really nice place to take a walk, or go sit on a bench in nice weather. lots of nice flowers and trees if you are even remotely interested in that sort of thing.</p>
<p>^^ oops! my apologies…in the Titantic movie, scene with the Cornell alma mater occurs before the ship hits the iceberg…I confused it with a later scene, as it’s been a long time since I last saw the film. The song occurs in this clip at about 7:21:
[YouTube</a> - Titanic (1953) - Part 7 of 11](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>Here are some other fine performances of the song by the Cornell glee club during “A Prairie Home Companion” show on the Cornell campus on May 31, 1997:
[APHC:</a> Saturday, May 31, 1997 Archived Peformance](<a href=“Past Shows | A Prairie Home Companion”>Past Shows | A Prairie Home Companion)</p>
<p>Cornell has some of the most enthusiastic and best a Capella groups I’ve ever heard! They hold arch sings, where hundreds of students gather under the arch at Balch residence hall and listen to some of the most talented students Cornell has. </p>
<p>Another great thing to experience at Cornell are the hockey games – I’ve never seen such pride and school spirit like a hockey game on a Friday or Saturday night. When the entire student section is chanting together in Lynah Rink, you can’t help but feel proud of the school you chose to attend. </p>
<p>It might be intimidating coming all the way to upstate New York, but Ithaca is a bustling small city with plenty of things to do. I’ve never once been bored here! There’s Collegetown, where most of the upperclassmen live, that is full of fun restaurants (Collegetown Bagels is a necessity for all students), as well as the Commons with tons of interesting shops and vintage stores. Additionally, Cornell brings in a myriad of public speakers, comedians and musicians every semester (Nelly, Lupe Fiasco, K’Naan, MIA and Phoenix, to name a few), so its not even necessary to leave campus if you don’t want to.</p>
<p>I don’t know if they’ll suggest this on the tour, but go to the top of the clock tower for a chimes concert (the view is great), visit the Andrew Dickson White reading room in Uris Library, take a walk across the suspension foot bridge over Fall Creek. The view from the top of the Johnson Museum is also worth a trip (and the art is wonderful too.) DS1 participated in the Solar Decathlon, an intl. competition to build an elegant and efficient house on the Mall in DC. It draws students from many disciplines and is generally taken as a course for credit.</p>
<p>My favorites:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Amazing peers
The students you meet here will broaden your knowledge base of global politics, make you increasingly tolerant, and teach you many life lessons. My 3 best friends alone are all from 3 different countries (China, Cuba, and Russia). The diverse student body opens you up to different perspectives and that is attributed to the large course offerings. I have friends in Computer Science, History, Spanish, Animal Science, and Theater from multiple continents. </p></li>
<li><p>Beauty of the campus</p>
<pre><code>Hands down awe-inspiring beauty of the campus sometimes makes me feel so fortunate to be here. I love my waterfalls-everywhere campus!
</code></pre></li>
<li><p>Professors</p>
<pre><code> Eminent faculty such as Bill Nye, Hans Bethe, Carl Sagan, Steve Squires, and John Cleese all have made an impact on the culture of Cornell. My fav current faculty are Ganem, and Dichtel (Chem), and Stoltzfus (Health)
</code></pre></li>
</ol>
<p>I know I got excited about those things when I was looking at schools, but really, if you attend Duke, you will probably at most once in your four years interact with the “smart-house or DIVE (virtual reality room)”, and the same for any college and its gimmicks (Cornell has some too that they probably mention on the tours). One thing you can count on, though, at Cornell is walking to class every day and passing tons of awesome buildings and seeing an awesome view, every day.</p>
<p>Along those lines, my most permanent remembrance is the experience of walking to classes on a fall day in mid-October, looking at the foliage and the beauty around me, hearing the clock tower chimes and and taking a deep breath and feeling the cold, crisp fresh air in my lungs. That’s what was “cool”, to me. Not virtual reality, actual reality.</p>
<p>@monydad: hear, hear!</p>
<p>=)</p>
<p>Sunsets on Libe Slope ALWAYS! I went to CUSC this past summer. I could rant for hours about the library and xylophone roof. Every morning I’d walk to the Vet School, taking the famed shortcut behind Appel, through the Sampson trail and footbridge over Beebe Lake. Petrune in downtown Ithaca is such a good vintage clothing shop, and Collegetown bagels has the BEST coffee. I will never forget nights out at Stella’s and amazing vegetarian food at Moosewood…and of course the Dairy Bar ice cream :P</p>