<p>What is it like at Cornell? i visited, the campus seemed bustling but i didnt like how ithica was kinda far down the hill, prob about 1m. it also seemed kinda spread out, far to walk places. can anyone help me out here? im thinking ED but not certain</p>
<p>the absolute worst case scenario as a freshman would be living in a townhouse at the back of the complex and being an engineer with a class at the back of the engine quad...it would be like a 20 minute walk to class. on a bike it would be 5-10. then there's the bus...that would make it a 1 minute walk to the bus and a 1 minute walk to class.</p>
<p>Despite the spreadoutness of the campus, all the freshmen live really close together, with all buildings grouped next to each other in what's probably less than 1/4 of a mile at the longest chord. Despite the vastness of the whole campus (which includes farmland, plantations, equestrian facilities, the lab of ornothology with sapsucker woods, etc., things aren't actually that far away. you live on North Campus as a frosh, which is a 5 minute walk from central campus, where classes are. in central all the buildings are pretty much right next to each other with the exception of the grassy area in the arts quad. there are just a lot of buildings; the campus may look big but it's actually fairly condensed and nothing is that far away. there are just multiple areas (west- the bottom of the hill with upperclassmen dorms, north- across the gorge with frosh dorms, central- the middle of campus at the top of the hill with all the academic buildings, and, unofficially, east central- which has athletic facilities and kind of fades into the plantations and stuff.</p>
<p>There is so much to do on campus and you will be so busy (not just with classes--just with everything in life) that going down the road to ithaca's downtown would not be something you'd do too much even if it were right at the edge of campus. there is a shuttle bus between campus and the pedestrian mall in the middle of town though. but yeah, it wouldn't make a difference if it were surrounding the campus or 20 miles away, cornell has so much to do that theres very little reason to leave campus except for like a haircut or a restaurant (both of which you can get right at the edge of campus in "collegetown" which could be described as apartments restaurants hotels bars and clubs on what you could call "south campus"--south campus isn't a real name) On campus you can go swimming, biking on trails, bowling, see a movie in a legit theater, go to a third eye blind concert, eat chinese food, go to the bank, go to the post office or UPS, go shopping for school and some dorm supplies, and jump off a cliff or bridge into a river--for serious about that last one, much fun:), you kind of get an idea of all the things you can do. also with the internet, I have purchased a sweet electric razor, lamp, refrigerator, chair, PDA, backpack and a few other things since i've gotten here. Still saving for the 7 speaker stereo system w/ reciever and oriental rug... but the point is the internet makes shopping for things you need alot easier...all the things showed up at the post office about 200 yards from my residence hall.</p>
<p>I don't really mind the walking, the campus is nice and the movement helps ward off the effects of Appel dining.</p>