Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Making the Best of Things

Today was a bit stressful for me... The day started out well with a nice breakfast and a nice walk to class, and even a great lecture, but during section we got our second draft of our Plato papers back. I think there were more comments than actual essay on mine.

Simon said that he had written instructions on most people's papers to come and see him during office hours. He said that it was nothing to worry about and that he just thought it would be easier to express his critiques in person, but never-the-less, it was a little disappointing to see that instruction on my paper.

I went to see him and there was a line that stretched all the way down the hallway (At least I wasn't the only one). I waited for about an hour outside of his door when he finally told us that if we were more than two people behind in line then we could go to dinner and come back. As the third person in line, I was actually extremely relieved just to get out of there for a minute. I had a nice dinner with my friends which definitely calmed me down a bit, but soon afterwards, it was time to head back to the dreaded room.

It actually didn't go too badly though. He gave me a few tips on how to improve my points, and told me that one of my paragraphs was actually really good. He said that I should use that paragraph as a structural model for the rest of them, and see where that took me. He pretty much mapped out my essay for me and so all that's left to do really is write it.

After that, the day got much more leisurely though. Today happened to be Carrie's birthday (Taylor's friend from middle school that happened to be taking Psychology here) and so we got her a cake and ate it in front of the dorm room. Afterwards, I hung out with my roommate and some of our friends who I finally have some pictures of!!!

Matt O'Reilly: My Roommate

Nick Protan: Friend

Carle Wirshba: Friend

Deedee and Oliver: Two random kids who saw me taking pictures and wanted to be on the blog.......why not.

Overall, today was another good day I guess, but just a little more stressful than usual. I suppose it's that our crazy trip is finally starting to come to a close... Oh well. Looks like I'll have to make the best of my next 3 days here at Cornell University.

Until tomorrow readers. Good night!

2 comments:

  1. Hey Joe. Although stressful, it sounds like you have a very good TA. For drafts, he SHOULD be making extensive comments. And, as you learned, the feedback is not always about stuff you did wrong but about something that's good that could be used to make the whole paper even better. Good job hanging in there with this entire process of critical review. I like the pics of your roomate and friends. (Tell Deedee and Oliver to get a life!)

    Good night mijo and God bless,

    Tu Pops

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  2. Hi Joe,

    Deedee and Oliver are both Hotelies in my class.

    Teri

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