This is my final year at Cornell and my sixth year in the United States.
The suitcase I’ve been using since freshman year – once packed with every electronic appliance and living necessity possible, is now filled with an assortment of mooncakes, clothes and books, and a giant pack of soup mix.
Those were the days when my mom in Beijing helped me pack for my trip back to America. This time, I already knew what I needed most.
One of the most useful things I’ve learned from my GRE teacher was that soup mix is exceptionally valuable – one little packet makes for seasoning a meal or something warm for a cold night.
Upon arrival in Ithaca, the usual routines are set comfortably in motion. Cleaning out the house with Pandora on is a strangely enjoyable time. I usually spice up this mundane chore with a cup of strong black tea or coffee.
While I am still feeling jet lag, I intermittently nap and wake. Calls back home are made to reassure all is well, and texts to friends are sent to make sure good company is in order for dinner. The first grocery run leaves me exhausted with my bag heavy and my arms full, but walking home and breathing the fresh air of Ithaca is still refreshingly delightful.
I always buy what’s the basic essentials for surviving Cornell first: coffee, salsa, and Japanese ramen (black garlic oil …oh bless the Gods of Nissin).
Ithaca always surprises me in that harsh winters and beautiful summers could happen in the same year: when snow freezes deep into the ground, it is so difficult to imagine summer could come in a month or two.
I have planned for my senior year to be more relaxing, hopefully with much less academic and extracurricular pressure than last year. Four classes, all liberal arts and with familiar professors, and maybe a gym class somewhere in the mix.
When I arrived at Cornell for the very first time three years ago, I was eager to prove myself worthy of attending an Ivy League college.
I sharpened my writing skills by becoming a staff writer at the university newspaper, making my poor lovely editor spend long hours trying to make sense of my drafts. When I realized international students could be employed in offices at Cornell, I sent in my application to at least 20 different employers. Two months later, even a rejection letter made a difference, since that meant at least they read what I’d sent! Eventually with a stroke of luck, I was employed at the Development Sociology office as an administrative assistant.
While Junior year was a period that gave me the most satisfying achievements in every aspect of my life, it was also the most stressful with the most difficult challenges. In the first semester, I took on 20 credits while working from the office and carrying on at the Daily Sun, and editing a school journal that concentrated on Asian culture and affairs. My proudest achievement was that I published a peer-reviewed article on Chinese NGOs in a political journal, an article that took a good six months. The second semester I got into the History honors program!
Besides academic pressure, what was most challenging was that many of my friends went on exchange semesters and gap years Junior year. I missed them a lot.
After three years at Cornell, I have finally accepted the fact that anything worthwhile meant I have to put in my best efforts to strive for what I thought was impossible.
What I have always found interesting about all these years in America is that while I miss Beijing, I no longer feel melancholy.
Five or six years ago, I missed home so much that I would watch shows from Beijing just to hear the local dialect and see how the city never really changes. Six years later, while I still fill my closets and cupboards with stuff from Beijing, Cornell and America as a whole never cease to give me new and exciting opportunities to learn, grow and stay motivated.