I'm baaack (Part 2)

So last Tuesday, April 1st, Tasha and I flew from Milwaukee to Ithaca to take a look at Cornell University. Brother Dan attended college there, and for the last two years of his time at Cornell he lived at Watermargin Co-op with an eclectic group of about 25 other students. (The name is taken from a Pearl S. Buck translation of a traditional story about freedom fighters. The residents of Watermargin have a long history of being socially conscious, which you can find out more about if you google them. Suffice to say that their motto used to be "All Men Are Brothers" - but when they went co-ed it was revised to "All Folks Are Family.") I contacted Watermargin to see about the possibility of visiting them during our time in New York, and before the conversation was over they'd graciously offered to put us up in their spare room! It was a wonderful opportunity for Tasha to get to know some of the student body (and saved us several hundred dollars in hotel costs).
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We cooked dinner for the crowd on Thursday afternoon to show our gratitude, and had a wonderful time hanging around the kitchen for several hours as people came in from class, made snacks, sniffed the air appreciatively, and made conversation. The residents of Watermargin are as full of enthusiasm, determination, creativity and bright ideas as you might expect in that environment, and I pointed out to Tasha that nobody had to conform in order to fit in. (I sometimes worry about how much pressure is put on students in a small town high school by their peers to fit in.)

Anyway, we spent Wednesday taking the campus tour, attending orientation, figuring out where the major services were, and attending a class. It was cold and windy and everything was uphill - which I wouldn't have thought possible - and my blossoming head cold didn't help. But it is a beautiful campus full of helpful people and stunning architecture and wonderful educational options. One student from Texas, when asked about the weather, struggled to find something polite to say. (He finally just suggested "a good winter coat.")
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Thursday was a less structured day, with a thoughtful visit to the university's art museum in the morning and preparations for our Watermargin dinner taking up the afternoon. By the way, a lot of students seem to think the spare, concrete structure designed by I. M. Pei is "ugly" and "looks like a giant sewing machine." But the use of light and space inside is truly amazing, and the building is situated to show off the incredible surrounding views as effectively as the artwork inside. I thought it was a wonderful piece of sculpture all by itself.
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On Friday we drove our rental car up to Niagara Falls, and walked across the Rainbow Bridge to spend the day in Canada. It was cold, and rainy, and most of the attractions I wanted to show to Tasha were closed. So we went to the IMAX so she could experience the Falls as best as could be arranged, ate a bowl of soup next to Eddie Van Halen's autographed shoes at the Hard Rock Cafe, and goofed around with all the tourist photographic opportunities. I had fun, and I think Tasha did as well.
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And that's about it. We checked out the Ithaca Farmer's Market and some of the area waterfalls on Saturday morning (I love you, Garmin GPS navigation system!) before getting on a plane and heading back west. Home again, home again, jiggety jig.