Joanna Waddington's Scholarship Report

My name is Joanna Waddington, and I am a current undergraduate at St. Mary's College of the University of Durham, reading for a BA in Geography. I have just finished my first year, and am enjoying the degree, the life and the city immensely. Having been awarded the Cornell Club of London Scholarship for the summer session at Cornell University in upstate New York, here is my report of how I spent my summer months.

Excited and nervous, I set out from Heathrow Airport, England, bound for Cornell University, New York. What would I find there? Who would I meet? Did I really have a propensity for a College course in Greek Myth and Biology?? All was to be revealed!

From the moment I knew I was the one off to America, I had built up in my mind a vision of the summer I was to have and let's just say my imagination didn't do the place justice! I visited many places and people whilst in America. One of the most touching experiences I had in the US was attending the Boston Pops Symphony Orchestra Concert, on the Boston Esplanade for the 4th of July. It was a feast of colours, sights and smells, as each and every kind of American gathered with friends and family, to join together in celebrating their country's independence. At first I thought I might feel left out, being a Brit amongst few others, but they were welcoming to one and all, whatever your nationality. The atmosphere was intoxicating, for it was the first 4th of July celebrations since the sad events of September 11th. So as the sun set over the river, a recorded address from President Bush found silence amongst a quarter of a million people. It was a very special day, as people tried hard to look forward and back at the same time. The trip was organised by the ISSO - International Students & Scholars Office, it was a fantastic means of exploring America with the added bonus of learning about French cuisine and South Korean baseball!

That weekend spent in Boston, was closely rivalled by my camping trip to the Adirondack Mountains. The scenery was breathtaking, and the canoeing hilarious! My goodness, if you've ever tried to steer a canoe weighed down with camping gear, whilst having fits of convulsive laughter, well then you'll know how our canoe felt! I had a wonderful time, as my friend with a somewhat questionable skill at steering, steered us from one bank to another, zigzag fashion! I was no better, as another canoe practically capsized after a collision, when I was attempting to steer!

The camping was great fun, sometimes when you're there you don't know it, what with the soggy socks, and countless mosquitoes and flies. Oh how they loved my British skin! But when the sun sets, and the stars come out, you really feel so very small, but so grateful. My fellow campers were the CICF, "Cornell International Christian Fellowship", and I had the most amazing time with them, they were so welcoming, and I feel very blessed to have shared their summer camping trip with them! We would meet every Friday night, and share a meal and the weekly gossip, and then have a time of fellowship. I felt quite at home. I will definitely remember them!

Other highlights of my trip? Canoeing and kayaking on Beebe Lake was great fun! I joined the Cornell Outing Club and on Tuesday nights there would be paddling and instruction for beginners, so I took myself off for a dunking! It was great fun, and getting to paddle up to a waterfall (don't worry, it was one of the small ones!) is quite exciting. I even went on one of their paddling trips, we took a 45 minute ride out to Lake Owasco, for a moonlit paddle. It was delightful. I was really lucky to have quite the wildlife enthusiast steering my canoe, and we saw beavers (who weren't overly pleased to see us!), kingfishers, numerous birds, dragonflies, only a few mosquitoes, and my favourite, bats! One begins to feel quite intrepid paddling in the dark, not knowing what's in front!

And all this fun without mention of my academic pursuits! The courses I took at Cornell were Greek Mythology and Evolutionary Biology. Both were fantastic and I enjoyed them thoroughly, and found both Professors scintillating in their different approaches. I chose these two subjects, because I find the two fields very interesting, and jumped at the chance to study within what I found a quite liberal American system. Greek was great because I've always been fascinated with ancient civilisations, but with the British system, sometimes it's hard to study something at such a pole to your major. So I relished the opportunity to delve into The Odyssey, Apollodorous and the Homeric Hymns. Professor Mankins' motto for our course was concerned with what we could personally get from the course, oh and it's always good to be able to "impress your friends and astound your enemies"! Course requirements were three class tests and a paper. The emphasis was on continual assessment opposed to the collections and summer exams used more readily in the British education system.

BIOEE207 was good for different reasons! Professor Provine is a renowned atheistic evolutionist. Myself being a Creationist I was excited and a little nervous of how the course would unfold. We read Darwin's' "On the Origin of Species" - it was tough reading, but I feel so satisfied in such an accomplishment. Also, the course, and Provine himself, has grounded me further into my faith, despite the subject matter. It has helped also to establish what role, if any, evolution was to play in my Christian beliefs. The class was small, and I felt privileged for the attention we could receive and the amazing discussions provoked in such a small class. I strongly recommend going to listen to Provine on anything! He's captivating and passionate. One may consider three-hour lectures a little on the tough side, but we were all pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable they were. Also, as this was the last summer that Provine intended to run the class (to set aside time for writing in the summer months), we all felt especially grateful for his time.

Course assessment was through two 10-page papers. It was quite a challenge to my being accustomed to shorter papers, but I had good fun writing them. The first was a critique of Darwin's evidence for Descent through modification and Natural Selection and the second an analysis of the validity of mitochondrial DNA sequencing when deciding the speciative nature of rat snakes in the Eastern United States. Both papers pushed me to my limits, and I am very proud of them!

Overall I received a B+ for Greek Mythology and an A for Biological Evolution. These courses have been amazing and have provided me with such a stimulating summer that I will treasure forever. Cornell University and the adjacent town of Ithaca are delightful in the summer months, the students are friendly and the local people are ever so kind. I loved the place so much; I am presently researching into the possibility of returning!

Before flying home, I managed to squeeze in a little sightseeing in New York, New York. I tried my best to take in most things, from the Statue of Liberty to Brooklyn Bridge, Ground Zero, Greenwich, So Ho, Hayden Planetarium, Natural History Museum, Wall Street, Central Park, Times Square, Empire State Building and more!

I would like to extend the warmest thanks to the Cornell Club of London and their scholarship that gave me such a memorable summer! Also I extend congratulations in advance to the scholarship winner of 2003, I'm envious already! Please get in contact and anyone else interested in the time I spent at Cornell just write to me at jowadd@hotmail.com. From being accepted to arriving, one is well looked after from the Cornell Club of London, to the UK office, to Cornell Abroad! There isn't a better way to spend a summer!

Joanna Waddington

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