clanchief

Hi,

I'm an incoming British graduate student to Cornell this Fall, and have two British male friends who want to visit in October. Basically, they're coming a long way to see me and I want to make sure they have a good time. We've grown up watching college movies, red cup parties, etc., and I'm keen that when they come to Ithaca they'll be able to experience some of US college life and not just spend time looking at waterfalls, etc!

Part of me wants to take them to a Frat party, but I'm not sure this is the done thing as a grad student (we'll be 27, and I'm likely to be a TA - would this be weird?) Also, would it be sensible to suggest that they don't come between 6th - 10th October as this is down as 'Fall Break' and students won't be around? Or will this actually be a good time to visit as students will be up for partying but the break is too short for them to leave Ithaca?

Many thanks in advance for your replies, lovely people!

J

Equilibrium

Fall break is very quiet on-campus (definitely not many parties), but Ithaca still has lots of places to visit (i.e. waterfalls, farmer's market, collegetown, hiking, gorges, etc).

As for frat parties, they're predominantly for freshman/first-year students/ and maybe some sophomores. You *probably* could get into one, but I don't know any grad students who attend them regularly. The nightlife scene at Cornell for upperclassmen/grad students focus mainly on the bars/clubs in Collegetown and house/apartment parties.

mikeyc765

Umm, at 27 I think you're a bit old to be trying to find a party like those in the movies. Yes, they exist at Cornell and pretty much entirely at frats. I'm not sure you'd be able to get in. I don't think the bar experience will be all that different from Europe (other than simply being worse). Your best realistic bet is to make friends and if they're the type of people that host red cup parties, that's what you should bring your friends to.

Or you could have them come during fall break and take a trip to NYC...

alamode

unless you meet or know someone who is in a frat and explain this to them, it'd probably be hard to try to find and get into a frat party without looking like a creeper--its mostly for freshman/sophomores, upperclass undergrads don't even go to frat parties that often.

that being said, the upperclassmen who went to frat parties before do ctown parties and bars. just take them to pixel on a saturday night and its basically the same thing, except without the solo cups.

fall break is usually quiet so they definitely shouldn't come then. your best bet would be halloween, there'll always be stuff to do and it's a pretty american tradition.

clanchief

Thanks for the replies, folks. Much appreciated!