September 22, 2017

SUNSPOTS | What Would You Add to the “161 Things Every Cornellian Should Do” List?

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The Cornell Daily Sun’s well-known list of “161 Things Every Cornellian Should Do” is very comprehensive and covers most of the essential Big Red experiences, but not all of them. So we asked our writers and our readers to think of some things that they would add to the list. Here’s what we came up with:

Lev Akabas ‘19:
– Drop a class right before the first prelim because you don’t feel like studying for it
– Attempt to take two pieces of fruit from a dining hall without getting caught
– Spend three hours at the Cornell Store poster sale trying to decide whether to get a Dark Knight Rises poster or a Terminator 2 poster, get neither because you’re too cheap
– Go to Spring Rush Week – maybe there isn’t a “fraternity for everyone,” but you shouldn’t rule out the possibility that there’s one for you, and free food is certainly for everyone
– Watch a sunset from Libe Slope and gradually come to terms with the fact that your phone will never come close to capturing its beauty

Gabe Ares ‘19:
– Look outside, open application to transfer
– Hand the Police your fake ID
– Set 6 alarms, sleep through all of them, wake your roommate up each time
– Have an existential crisis in Olin Library
– Have an existential crisis in Uris Library
– Have an existential crisis in Mann Library

Monika Bandi ‘19:
– Watch an eclipse on campus
– Get EMS-ed
– Visit other schools and envy their flat terrain
– Stay up all night talking with your freshman year floormates
– Come back to campus for Fourth of July to watch the fireworks from the slope

Jacqueline Quach ‘19:
– Submit a love poem–poorly written or not–to one of the many literary magazines on campus
– Get lost in Clara Dickson Hall (the biggest dorm in the Ivy League)
– Eat a steak at North Star/Appel on a Thursday night (check the menu!)
– Order something from the secret menu at Louie’s Lunch

April Ye ‘21:
– Pretend to do work at Temple of Zeus while pondering how soon is too soon to get your next cup of coffee
– Plan to party it up on Friday night, highlight of the night becomes post-C-Town deep life talks and applying face masks

Charlie Liao ‘18:
– Attend a BreakFree Hip Hop Dance show (the only sold out dance team at Bailey Hall!)
– Do stadium runs at the football stadium and throw up from exhaustion
– Go to a career fair and collect free things instead of network

Tony Li ‘19: Get +1000 likes on a “Make Cornell Meme Again” post

Yvette Lisa Ndlovu ‘19: Do the co-op crawl on Halloween – it’s like a bar crawl but for co-ops! You get to go to all the co-ops and they leave alcohol out for grabs

Grace Chen ‘21: Relax at the Liberty Hyde Bailey Loop pond! – for those of you who don’t know, there’s a small pond/waterfall a little bit off of Tower Rd. It’s one of the most tranquil spots on campus, with floating water plants, orange fishes, and the sound of bubbling water. I also saw an adorable chipmunk there the last time I dropped by!

 

Here’s what you came up with:

Wendy Wilcox, Librarian: NOT have sex in the library stacks… 🙂

John Hannan: Have sex in the stacks again (because you didn’t get enough sweet lovin’ the first time around)

Ian Wallace: Occupy Willard Straight Hall in a protest/participate in an on campus demonstration

Brittany Tabora: Crash a political rally on Ho Plaza if you’re a privileged rich kid who doesn’t have to deal with the ramifications of structural injustices

Jenny Swift: Get yourself a three gallon jug of Cornell Dairy Bar ice cream for your freezer – I was able to do this after President Pollack’s Inauguration street fair… every Cornellian should experience acquiring that much ice cream

Connor Smith: Eat Sweet Melissa’s Ice Cream – better than Dairy Bar, better than Purity. FIGHT ME!

Rene: Reminisce freshmen days by going to Nasties for calzones as seniors – it’s nostalgia-inducing and you get to sit there and talk about “adult stuff” while observing actual freshmen do freshmen things

Jason Gallant: Accidentally send a printing job to Sibley and watch your essay get printed on laminated card stock

Nikita lakhani: Stick your hand in a fistulated cow

C. Sussman: Attend Ithaca Wizarding Weekend in the Commons! It’s unique to Ithaca and everyone loves Harry Potter

Becca Lublin: Go to Risley’s Annual Harry Potter Night

Michael Lee: Sing along to the Christmas Vespers at Sage Chapel

Yousuf Anwer: Go to the shady Kava bar in The Commons

Carlie Mendoza: Rappel offSchoellkopf Crescent – I remember this being available through COE during freshmen week or for pre-frosh, and was bummed when I missed out… but I ended up doing it during Senior Week and it was a lot of fun

Carlie Mendoza: Study abroad – though I didn’t get take advantage of the study abroad opportunities during my time at Cornell, I set up a summer research internship in the UK through my graduate school and it was the best summer of my life

Matthew Wallingford: Sleep overnight on the Arts Quad 

Becca Lublin: Climb a tree on the Arts Quad

Michael Sarkis: Bounce in a bouncy castle on the Arts Quad

Juhwan Park: Get serenaded by Last Call all-male a cappella

Like, Every Single Person Who Sent Something In: Sing “You Got a C” with The Hangovers

Mike Sosa: The 24 Hour Duffield Challenge – begins at 9:00 a.m. on Day 1 and ends at 9:00 a.m. on Day 2. To complete the challenge you must eat only Mattins for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and stay within Duffield for the duration of the 24 hours. Perfect for students in any school looking to live out the typical life of an engineering student

Anonymous: Volunteer at a local charity

Austin Li: Add a 162nd step to the clock tower. Otherwise it’s 0.99382716049 things for each of the 161 steps and that’s just lame

 

If you have more ideas, just fill out this form or let us know in the comments!