People are creatures of habit, and I too am one. My arrival at Cornell University was characterized by a quest for knowledge, as well as a desire to understand myself a little better. An environment that had initially seemed so foreign, has, to an extent, become a familiar environment in which I believe I can thrive. Just as I try to do in any new environment, I exuded confidence and gave off a friendly aura (or at least I’d like to think so). In the mere two days I have been at Cornell, I have already met plenty of bright minds, each with their own story to tell. That being said, my arrival at this university has opened my eyes to how invaluable this experience truly is.

Cornell University is everything I imagined it to be and so much more. Aside from it having innumerous resources, its beauty is unparalleled. In terms of my first experience in class, it was not much different than something I would do in high school. Just as I make often use of the computer lab in my school, I immediately gravitated towards the computer lab in room 207 of the Robert Purcell Community Center. In itself, the computer lab was nothing special, and reminded me of my habitual usage of the computers in my school. What was different, however, was the fact that room 207 had dispelled the belief that I would work in isolation. After I sat down in one of the fairly comfortable chairs, I struck up conversations with people from around the world, while in school I would seldom even say “Hello” to the person beside me. Being at Cornell is like being at the Olympics, but rather than it being a sporting spectacle, it is a wonderful display of academia.

Time management has never truly been a problem for me, but there are cases in which I do catch myself procrastinating. I believe that people procrastinate because they lack motivation, but I am here to gain a valuable experience and that is motive enough to trump any thoughts of delaying the tasks at hand. I think a huge part of my being successful with online work can be attributed to the students that sit next to me in the computer lab. Everyone in this program has their own reasons for attending, but one thing they all have in common is that they want to succeed in their respective courses. I think that I can safely assume that the people I met in the computer lab are representative of a majority of the students in the program, They are all intelligent, and highly motivated, which creates an environment that motivates me to not merely complete the online work, but complete it and be able to say “I did my best work.” I think that the best location to work in is one in which you have access to resources and people that can help you. With that, it is also important to help others when you can. My first experience has only been positive and I hope to make that positivity habitual.

My second experience at Cornell University was unsurprisingly similar to the first. As I arrived in the computer lab of Robert Purcell Community Center, I was joined by dozens of friendly faces, all of whom had their own projects to work on. I did, however, meet more people that are taking the same class as I am and surely enough, I struck up conversation with them. Meeting new people here has been a bit overwhelming as I am not great with memorizing names, but frankly, it is never easy to meet new people in any environment. On a lighter note, I have met new people just about anywhere, from dinner to my joining of the Cornell Summer Times.

Throughout my past two days, I have reinforced the importance of technology in my life. Coming into Cornell, I was a bit overwhelmed by Blackboard and its heavy presence in the class, but these past two days have helped foster a positive relationship between myself and the program. Blackboard is fairly convenient and I am glad that everyone has a uniform platform for the class, as it makes submission of assignments simpler. On a broader scale, technology is also extremely influential in global business, having both its pros and cons. Some pros include the fast and widespread sharing of information, drastic cost reduction, and the ability to undergo revolutionary operations. On the flip side, however, drawbacks include high dependence on technology as well as a constant need to be up to date, and therefore need to upgrade to the next best thing. Technology influences strategy in that it can have a sudden and dramatic effect, which means that it must be taken into consideration prior to implementation. In terms of this class, I’m most excited for engaging in discussions with a group of people that are passionate about business as well as learning invaluable information about the business world.

After my first two days in class, I had grown accustomed to the technology that is Blackboard. After the first two days, however, the class dynamic changed as it became increasingly more hands on through lectures, pitches, networking activities, and the unforgettable guest speakers. From the first day of being in class, I was exposed to various ways of learning: visual, auditory, linguistic, kinesthetic. At this point in the semester, I think that I am a linguistic learner, and prefer using words in speech and writing. While I enjoyed watching the videos, doing hands on activities, and pitching, I constantly found myself taking notes in order to retain information.

The first day of class was both stressful and exciting. I had never before had to build or at least attempt to build a puzzle with classmates. In this exercise, a recurring theme was the need to “create something.” It became palpable that completing the puzzle was unrealistic, and therefore my group and I created something simple, but at least we had something. After this activity, I realized that the lesson was to understand the importance of strategic, or carefully calculated decisions. The importance of strategy was carried throughout the semester in activities like the marshmallow challenge where we had to decide whether or not taking risks outweighed playing it safe, or in the Big Idea Sketchpad where we had to convince people to invest in our product.

Prior to my arrival in this class, I never truly understood the magnitude of how important networking was. Many of the people you meet at Cornell, or anywhere for that matter are bright minds that will go on to do things. Staying in touch with people can help you in building connections with others, as well as give you an edge in business deals. On the topic of networking, the guest speakers in this class would not have been possible, had professor Olsen not been someone who values networking. The guest speakers in our class were people who found success through various means, particularly with networking, as stressed by Mr. Olsen and capitalizing on opportunities without seeing failure as a deterrent, as stressed by Mr. Frisch. The presentation by Ambassador Aas was one that I will never forget. It was extremely humbling being able to converse with someone of such status, and impressive to see his politically calculated responses to tricky questions from a diverse group of people.

My decision to sign up for this course was characterized by a desire to learn about business, as well as a desire to learn more about myself. I can comfortably say that these three weeks have in fact taught me much about what success in business entails, but I can also say that I have to an extent set aside a goal for where I’d like to see myself in the future. Something that I really enjoyed throughout the semester were the videos, which were both informative and motivational. I previously mentioned that I am a linguistic learner, and am by no means a visual learner, but the videos really made me ponder and consider what I want to do with my life.

Oftentimes, I lack confidence in myself and my abilities, but I realized that self doubt is futile. If something has the potential to fail, it also has the potential to succeed. If self doubt takes control and you do not act upon the opportunity, you will never attain success. If there is one thing I am to take away from this class, it is that time is not a luxury. “What if today was the last day of your life, would you be happy with what you’ve done.” This idea sheds light on the importance of making the most out of your time, and I plan on making the most out of the 86,400 seconds I have each day.