Rafik Taibjee's Scholarship Report

Cornell Club of London Summer School Scholarship 2001

Firstly I should introduce myself. I am a 3rd Year Medical student from the University of Birmingham, who also did one year as an undergraduate law student before changing course. I saw a crumpled up piece of paper on a notice board in my university offering an opportunity to study at Cornell for the summer. I requested an application form, not expecting to get any further. After chasing up referees, I got an interview in London, on a very wet March afternoon, and heard a few days later that I had been successful. At first apprehensive as to what I had got myself into (both academically and financially) I went through the process of course selection and eventually selected a 300-level Photography I course and a 400-level course called History of Biology but much more of a philosophy class. Within this report I shall aim to explain what were the highlights for me, the experiences I felt, and hopefully give sponsors a sense of the fulfilment and satisfaction I gained.

Perhaps a culmination for me was organising a photographic exhibition. Part way through my photo class, I asked the tutor whether we would have some sort of exhibition and she said she hadn't done one with a summer class before and suggested I organise one. After booking some gallery space, printing flyers, hours of agonising hanging of pictures and lighting adjustment we opened our exhibition for one night only. I can now really appreciate the thought that is put in by curators in museums. It also served as an opportunity to show all the friends I made over the six weeks what I had achieved in my photo class: developing, mounting pictures, composition, critique etc. The only thing missing was the wine (which is much more expensive and obviously not available to under-21s in the US), but we did manage to get cheese and grape juice.

My other class was under Will Provine, one of the world's most famous atheistic theorists. I was apprehensive at first that all the people in the class were a bit older and more qualified and I was basically a little intimidated. However, I soon realised I had two advantages: I understood medical genetics and was not taking the course to get a degree. I could chance my arm and did, and the professor seemed to enjoy my outspoken participation that I believed helped to make the class lively. The class has made me a determinist who believes we cannot blame or praise anyone as there is no free will; all that we do is a result of our genetic make-up and our environment.

The seminars were also accompanied by a dissertation of our choosing. I researched and wrote a paper on what makes people gay and why this issue is important. If you would like to read this, email me at rtaibjee@hotmail.com and I will send you a copy. Obviously there is only so much you can do in 6 weeks but it was a satisfactory attempt. Will Provine put on a party at his farm in the country which was superb. It was idyllic with its own pond, river etc. and the BBQ was great eating homegrown sweetcorn. It was nice socialising as well as just working with my friends from the class.

Another worthwhile course I took was with the library service on how to design websites from scratch using HTML. It was a 4-part 8-hour course which was superbly delivered. Although I am still working on the website and have a lot more to do, you can view the results of this course (http://www.rafiktaibjee.freeservers.com). It was exciting and really fun to do something I never thought I'd be able to do as I'm completely computer illiterate.

I made many friends at Cornell who I thought were wonderful. I spent a lot of time with people who stayed in Dickson Hall with me and went for a weekend in New York City with a few of them. I had been before, but this was the first time I was with a 'New Yorker' - there was certainly not going to be any Empire State building in this visit - we were getting the unofficial guided tour. The highlights included eating lox and cream cheese with fresh bagels on a Sunday morning, exploring Central Park, seeing a Pierre Bonnard exhibition at the Met, and Edward Hopper pictures (a favourite artist of mine). We ate all-American mammoth burgers, had an architectural tour with an arts student, went to a student party and walked the length of Manhattan from 100th Street to Battery Park. I found myself particularly popular at the parties because of my being 21 and also being English. Trying to give friends English-speaking lessons was as futile as me trying to put on an American accent - the results were disastrous! I also toured Harlem on another occasion and went to a church service there which is an experience I shall always remember. It made my singing at St. Albans Cathedral seem positively dull.

One thing I had seen in many movies was people playing chess in the park for money. I had always wanted to do this, and so was very happy to find someone on Ithaca Commons wanting a game (I wasn't stupid enough to play for money as anyone wanting to do so must be much better than me, a person who hadn't played in a year).

I enjoyed taking full advantage of the summer entertainment series put on by Cornell. I enjoyed going to the cinema at Willard Straight, and went to most of the Friday Evening concerts in the arts quad. I would recommend Mectapus to anyone. The atmosphere at these concerts was incredible with everyone there to have a good time, dance if they wanted to, eat ice cream, play frisbee etc, and in the appendices to this report you can see some of the photos I took here. I also went to one of the Wednesday evening lectures on the Heart-Mind Relationship by Professor Schultz. It was great to see a packed out lecture theatre. He was very entertaining but I felt a little dangerous as he presented very contentious material as 'fact'.

The gorges in and around campus were fab. I loved Six Mile Creek. In fact after returning home from a nightclub one evening, we decided to go skinny dipping at 4am and climbed the waterfall - quite an adventure when it was pitch black! I also made it out to Taughannock Falls Park for a Sunday afternoon dixie jazz concert and walked up to the charming single drop waterfall as well as doing a day's cherry picking at Little Tree Farm. This was a wonderful experience; I would have done it for nothing but getting paid $20 and taking 15lbs of cherries home with me was a bonus.

I didn't meet any doctors whilst I was there but certainly gained an idea of what it is like being a medical student and in particular being a pre-med. This was something I wanted to do as my university is in the process of setting up a graduate medical school - somewhat uncharted territory in Britain. This experience will serve me well when I sit on the national Medical Students Committee. Observing Resident Advisors at work has inspired me to improve the pastoral care structures in halls of residence at Birmingham - a new scheme which we are piloting this year. The computer literacy of Cornell amazed me and I have taken ideas of things like list serves back to the student groups I am involved with.

To conclude, the trip was a life-changing event. My belief that free will does not exist has really changed my attitude towards people. I no longer get so angry and frustrated with people and patients, and am much more aware of the contribution I make to the environment of the people around me. I have also explored my artistic creative side in photography - something that many medical students are forced to ignore by this stage in their career. Finally, I met some of the most interesting and stimulating people I have ever met, and the experience has really encouraged me to pursue my academic education further even after graduation. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.

Rafik Taibjee

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