“Seriously, stress less, and be more confident in yourself.”
Dear Freshman Esther,
You’re excited, scared, and feeling a little bit lost, especially in the vast expanse that is Dickson Hall. There are a million questions running through your mind. Where’s the Ag Quad? Do I really have to take the swim test? Who will you be friends with? Will your neighbors be nice? (FYI, yes, you will still be friends with them your senior year.)
Your freshman year will be filled with a whirlwind of people and new experiences (some good, some not-so-good). First of all, don’t get too caught up in drama. Try to wake up for RPCC and Appel brunch more often, and please try out Mongo before your second semester. Go to ClubFest to sign up for all the listservs and actually go to the club meetings. Go to the Farmers Market and try out the Mee Katang from the Cambodian food stall. The next time you have it will be your senior year, and it’ll be as good as you remembered it. Explore Ithaca. Go hiking and exploring and gorge jumping and start running! Take interesting classes. You’ll learn some pretty cool fungi facts in “Magical Mushrooms and Mischievous Molds” and “The First American University” will instill even more Cornell pride in you. You’ll also learn how to make a pretty great batch of popcorn from that job at Willard Straight, which is probably one of the best jobs on campus. Finally, as your future Human Bonding professor will say, be careful who you propinq with! Surround yourself with good people, as these are the people who help make you, well, you.
Coming to Cornell, you didn’t really know what direction you were headed in. It’ll only take at least three changes of majors before you decide on Applied Economics and Management, which will be one of the best decisions you will make at Cornell. One caveat: don’t become absolutely consumed by your major and the environment that encompasses it. In essence, try to get out of the AEM bubble, because sometimes it will get to you.
Seriously, stress less, and be more confident in yourself. You will fret over the smallest things, and even the tiniest incidents will feel like cataclysmic events in your head. I’m telling you, it’ll all be okay, and as cliché as it is, everything will work out. You’ll get some pretty cool internships, and yes, you will get a job. If you don’t get that “dream internship,” maybe it really just wasn’t the right fit for you. Just because it seems like everyone else is recruiting for certain things doesn’t mean that you should be too. It’ll take a lot of trial and error, but all those experiences will only serve as opportunities to really learn about what you are genuinely interested in. There’s no use in looking towards the past — focus on the future. It’s so hard to accept it, but there’s nothing you can do about events that already happened. This is a lesson you’ll eventually learn, and move towards accepting.
One of the most influential experiences during your college years will be going abroad. It’s easy to get stuck in the Cornell bubble, but yes, there is a world outside of college. Studying abroad will honestly be life changing. London will be just as amazing and magnificent as you thought it would ever be, and daresay, even more so. You will have the freedom to traverse throughout Europe without the anchor of responsibilities that you know you will have to ultimately face in the “real world.” Take advantage of it. Instead of taking that nap, go walk through the streets of whatever European city you’re in. Don’t pay 15 Euros for the Louvre because it’s actually free that night for students, and make that 2 a.m. trip to the Secret Bakery in Florence. You will get caught in the Barcelona rain and you will crash the taping of a Korean TV show in Belgium. You will have the time of your life, and you will have needed this break a whole lot. You will experience so many absolutely incredible things during your time at Cornell and abroad. Take note of these moments, and appreciate them. You’ll find yourself looking back and asking yourself, “Wow, I did all of that?”
In all, have fun. Stress less. Go abroad. It’s now nearly graduation, and you have absolutely made your parents proud. They’ve been a driving force behind your academics and so much of why you want to succeed. Importantly, be proud of yourself and what you’ve been through to get to where you are today. You’ve worked incredibly hard, shed some tears, pulled some all-nighters and have been through a lot. Give yourself some credit — you deserve it.
From,
A very sentimental and reflective future Esther (who should be studying for her Wines final)
