Friday, September 24, 2010

Day seven - Ithaca college


Our trip to our next destination was not a long one, with our new abode approximately 2 blocks away from the last (which was, incidentally, an intriguing guest house owned by lots of Scientologists). We're now being hosted by Ithaca college, which is on the opposite hill to Cornell, and the accomodation is pretty palatial, with essentially our own appartment.

After another heart attack inducing breakfast, we headed over to the Ithaca campus, which has a beautiful view over the lake and the town. After a quick tour, we joined our host Scott in some of his debate and argumentation classes. We gave a bit of a presentation about public speaking, and then had a kind of Q & A session with the students. These discussions generally ended up centring around their shock and horror at comparatively cheap UK higher education system (students at Ithaca Colleg pay nearly $50,000 per year), the appeal of Harry Potter, and 'soccer'. The students were all very engaged and was interesting to have a chance to talk to them. We then headed for an excellent dinner downtown (which I think marked the 15th restaurant meal of the week thus far; I have literally never eaten so much in my life), and then to the debate meeting with the Ithaca team. Smaller than the 100 or so members of the Cornell debate team, the Ithaca contingent, who do Lincoln-Douglas style debate (a version of policy debating) about 10ish members. The day ended well with a visit to a cafe on the 14th floor of one of the towers on campus, with a spectacular view over the city.

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