<p>we can be uberoam (like tako’s little journo name combinations) together, hehe.</p>
<p>oh we should make yearbooks (well, six-weeks books) at TASP, tako! that can be part of the amnesia-prevention committee or whatever the '05ers called it.</p>
<p>Definitely. Yearbook galore. We should also make a newspaper (just because I said so.) A DAILY ONE LMAO HAHAHAHA.</p>
<p>YAY ROAM! Can you believe Harry Potter, of all characters, made the first billionaire-author? The books were just lukewarm for me, and the hype really killed any passion I had for the franchise. I don’t know why people are so obsessed; maybe it’s the British-ness that makes it so attractive, or maybe it actually is literary crack and we’re just immune. Either way, HIGH FIVE!</p>
<p>SIX WEEK BOOKS! CAN ANYTHING GET COOLER? Oh yes, NAKED sliced bread, but otherwise NO!</p>
<p>you guys crack me up. I realize after spending the majority of my day at Starbucks I smell like a giant java bean.</p>
<p>anyhoo, at your meetings you have once or twice a week there are different committees and positions. One is the memories committee… In charge of T shirts/Yearbooks W/e</p>
<p>Also each tasp gets a budget of some 1500? Use as much as you can, says Aida.
That covers stuff like bus into Detroit ect.</p>
<p>Also have you heard of the whole, they give us 10 bucks every Friday night to get food.</p>
<p>Can we all agree Ivy was a ■■■■■?</p>
<p>Can we be on…every commission? I’m totally serious, I would love that.</p>
<p>And Ivy, well, let’s just see if she comes back or not :)</p>
<p>Lol… You should be el presidente of the mickers than. ;-)</p>
<p>Lol. I don’t know if people would want me as president…and I prefer the title el jefe (“the chief”). That’s my unofficial title of the newspaper, lol.</p>
<p>But president would be pretty darn awesome. I could fall in love with every aspect of TASP. Are there presidents? I doubt it. It seems very…unTASPish, imo.</p>
<p>Whoa. I just used THREE acronyms in this post. That’s pretty bad. What’s happening to me?</p>
<p>“Yup. Don’t just live life; take it by the horns and SHAKE IT.” - I totally just broke out into song there. SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE, SENORA; SHAKE YOUR BODY RIGHT! SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE, SENORA! SHAKE IT ALL THE TIME!</p>
<p>Aherm. Uber, I seriously thought “This is so exciting! It’s like The Real World, but with smart people!” when I got there. XD I couldn’t stop the running commentary in my head “31 strangers…PICKED <em>dramatic pause</em> to live in a loft…” After TASP you’ll meet TASPers from other TASPs. (Try saying that 10 times fast!) At pre-college campus visits, programs like Discovery Weekend at Swarthmore or the Princeton Humanities Symposium, etc, etc. I’ve already met like…6 or 7 kids from other TASPs. ^_^</p>
<p>Yup, you can schedule the movie outing. ^^ And…OMGOMG HARRY POTTER IN JULAAAIII. kthnxyai. The books were awesome, I thought, back when I read 'em. Then, after no. 4 I got into fanfiction…and then 5 and 6 sucked buttmonkeys for me. Eeengh. I love the HPverse, though.</p>
<p>Naked sliced bread would just be like…bread. Dressed bread would have jam or something on it. AND If it goes out to get a tan, it’s toast. Mwahahaha. I crack myself up.</p>
<p>HIGH FIVE, UBER! Gypsy. Give me your tears. Give me your tears or I will take them from you! [/end Borat sequence]</p>
<p>Urrrr, a giant java bean. I can see it in me 'ead.
And the money thing…Cornell gets double 'cause it has two TASPs…so UT/UMich/WashU get only half of that, methinks… I don’t remember our budget. O.o</p>
<p>And what is this ten-dollar thing? o.O</p>
<p>No presidents, but there are committee-heads, I think? Maybe?</p>
<p>A:snvfiebngg. yeah.</p>
<p>COREY. I NEED TO CALL YOU.
BUT MY PHONE IS FREAKING OUT. The colors are fading and it’s being weird. ;_;</p>
<p>NOOOOOOOOO, wait its okay i need to study :-P</p>
<p>wow Nah’la definitely gave me wrong numbers. I heard the 10$ and the 1500 for one program. W.e We get money so use it :-P</p>
<p>Sorry… thanks LL Nunn, kay luv ya bye. <–disgusting abbreviations</p>
<p>Can I just say, this thread makes me incredibly happy?</p>
<p>:O) :O) :O) :O) :O)</p>
<p>P.S. Uberoam, I’m not much into HP, either :O)</p>
<p>YAYYYYY dae and uber, now i don’t have to feel so alone anymore =)</p>
<p>we get money on sunday nights to go buy food so our in-house cook person doesn’t have to make dinner. or something.</p>
<p>in any case, here’s something globber posted last year. i posted the link before but it probably got lost/burried somewhere. a lot of it is about UMich but i’m sure it’s applicable to the other TASPs as well. </p>
<hr>
<p>"First off, let me say that I went to the Michigan TASP and so have limited knowledge of any of the others. Though I don’t know specifically how each TASP runs, I know the general house organization is the same.</p>
<p>MSMDad:
- Also, are there alternate airports where she can land and still get to Ithaca (e.g. Syracuse)?</p>
<p>To be honest, I have no idea how getting into Ithaca works, as I realize it is in the middle of nowhere. You’ll have to call or email TA directly (look on their website for contact info) for any suggestions. I drove to Ann Arbor and flew back, using a taxi for transport to the airport. Just call Cornell Branch; they are Telluride central after all, and may be able to hire a shuttle if you want to fly into Syracuse.</p>
<ol>
<li>Can you describe a typical day, if there was such a thing, during TASP? What about weekends? Also, the forms that we received indicate that there are day trips and I would like to know more about day trips (where did you go when you were at TASP?).</li>
</ol>
<p>Typical weekday: wake up, find some cereal in the pantry, seminar early for three hours from 9 to 12, then lunch together, then free time until around 6, when dinner was served. By free I mean really free: some people went out a bunch to explore campus and sundry shops, some read an infinite supply of books, some actually slept (gasp!). The afternoon is also when lots of pickup games of frisbee and soccer happened; always fun. After dinner is more free time, again used in disparate ways: we watched a couple movies, including the entire BBC Pride and Prejudice series, and we played hide-and-seek all over our cryptically-laid-out mansion. So it sounds like you might have a lot of downtime, but I found that it filled up pretty quickly. There’s a fair amount of work if you choose to do it, but you can also always find someone to go slack off with you. Mondays are house meetings, which I will discuss in the following paragraph.</p>
<p>House Meetings: TASP is ostensibly centered around the seminar, but part of its goal is to foster some independence. As such, every TASP has weekly house meetings, where you set up a mini-government to rule over various aspects of TASP life. We ended up with a bunch of committees, including the Fan Club (kept the non-air-conditioned house cool), TASPATVM (made a sweet yearbook and T-shirts), Entertainment (rented movies, etc.), and a few more I don’t remember. Also, the entire house gets a Misc-ops budget to be used on entertainment and trips and postage for pranking other TASPs, etc. House meetings take a good while, but it’s very democratic and you can spend the money on ANYTHING.</p>
<p>Weekends/Day Trips: Activities here are determined by house meetings, so basically you get to choose where to go. We went canoeing (we swamped two or three), bowling (scored my top score ever), swimming (it was sooo hot), and probably some other places I don’t remember. You’re only limited by your budget, so you can splurge on one big concert or spread it out. Our biggest trip was actually with our professors, to the Motown Museum and other musical venues in Detroit. Good times.</p>
<ol>
<li>How much stuff (clothing, notebook/laptop computer, etc.) did you take with you? Are there any items that you would recommend that participants bring to TASP?</li>
</ol>
<p>I brought about a week and a half of clothing, I think, and one fairly dressy outfit (dress shirt, khakis). The girls brought at least one nice dress. I have no rule of thumb for clothing, but just bring light clothing and maybe a hoodie for rainy days. I had a laptop, most people didn’t, but I will say that it’s amazingly convenient to have your own computer. Maybe Cornell has more house computers, but for Michigan at least, a personal computer beats walking across campus to find a computer lab.</p>
<p>As for must-bring items, the list they give you is very comprehensive. If you’re going to Michigan, DO bring the most powerful fan you can find, or bring money to buy a big fan. Even if you can’t bring it back (I couldn’t), the time you have it is a godsend. I also brought some cheap plastic clothes hangers, which I left, and they are nice for drying out towels and such. Bring a dirty-clothing bag, bring favorite movies, bring any sort of amusing toy you’d like to share. Pack fairly light, because you WILL accumulate random cruft that you want to bring back, so allocate some space in your suitcase. I suggest temporarily filling it with food, so you’ll have room to put all your TASP acquisitions, and you’ll be very popular the first few days. Remember, you also get a mailing address, so care packages are always welcome. Also, if you’re really really a pack rat, you can mail stuff back to yourself instead of taking it back on the plane.</p>
<ol>
<li>We need to have an idea of reasonable expenses for DD during her TASP. If you don’t mind me asking, how much did you spend during a typical week at TASP?</li>
</ol>
<p>Erm, food was where I think I spent most of my money. I bought lots of little bakery delicacies and specialty drinks, along with plain groceries, so I would try to put together a good $75-80 dollars just for food. $13/week for food isn’t too unreasonable. The rest of my spending was on used CDs (we were the music TASP, after all) and used books ($2.50 for Shakespeare’s sonnets? Score!). It’s pretty easy to be thrifty in a college town, so try to consider her spending habits. For me, I brought $300 and ended up with $100, even including the taxi to the airport.</p>
<ol>
<li>What are the sleeping/bathroom arrangements (how many to a room? bathrooms? Coed bathrooms?).</li>
</ol>
<p>Again, I don’t know how Cornell is laid out. We had an average of two people to a room, with one or two triples, but space was very comfortable. My roommate and I shared a bunk, and the room was reasonably furnished. Don’t worry about your room; you won’t be in it except when you’re sleeping. We actually stayed in a rented-out sorority (the TASSers got the big TA mansion), so the bathrooms were single-sex communal, and the plumbing was sketchy, to say the least. I never found the bathroom situation a problem; we set up an informal shower schedule, and we got a fair amount of privacy. Don’t bring too much soap, but do get an adequate amount of towels, and you might want flip-flops for shower shoes.</p>
<ol>
<li>What about the food? Can you comment on food quality and meal schedules?</li>
</ol>
<p>Food was a-mazing. We had a professional house chef, who fixed us lunch and dinner every weekday and Saturday brunch. There was always a vegetarian option, and vegan if you asked beforehand. We also had a pantry/kitchen area, with a fridge and a microwave. You’re on your own for breakfast on weekdays: the pantry is stocked with cereal and milk, but if you want some more, you have to cook/buy it yourself. One girl ate ramen everyday, I got some yogurt. Our chef was great, so food items would appear in various places around the house (homemade granola, bagels, ice cream) We had a stupendous smoothie machine, which was extremely popular on the hot days. Ermmm… we always seemed to be running out of drinks, but I don’t know if that was just us. Like I said, bring food money to buy stuff for yourself. If your name’s on it, it’s off limits to everyone else. Use this wisely. And my favorite time of every week was Saturday(?) nights, when TA gave each of us $10-15 to use to buy food wherever we wanted. You can go to a restaurant and spend a bit more than the free $10 you get, or you can get fast food, or you can buy lots of groceries and have a feast. Do spend all of your weekend food money: it’s easier on TA too.</p>
<p>Top food picks: If you’re in Michigan, go to Bubble Island and Stucci’s and the Washentaw Dairy for cold snacks, and Madras Marsala for dinner. Mmmmm…curry. If you’re in Texas, go get Jamba Juice. If you’re at WashU, get some StL Bubble Tea and consider Blueberry Hill or Fitz’s in the Loop for dinner (I live in St. Louis)</p>
<p>I loved TASP food, and because of all the walking we did, I even lost weight!</p>
<p>Savoirfaire:
- How heavy is the reading/workload?</p>
<p>We at Michigan had it really hard, I think. We ended up with up to 100 pages to read per night, which may or may not always have been done. Other programs had it easier, but think about what the seminar is. Medieval Lit will have volumes to read, I’m sure, while Foreign Policy may not. I suggest you do the reading, as it makes seminar much more interesting, but it’s not worth stressing out over if you don’t get to a passage or something. As for work, we had a handful of extended papers, but not as bad as school for me, even, but I definitely tried my hardest on them. Our biggest work was in our final project, which involved a full ethnographic study based on interviews and research. We had to write up a full proposal to the professors, and provide timely updates on our progress. I ended up trekking around in the pouring rain (no joke) to my interview. I dunno what the other TASP’s projects entailed, if they even had one.</p>
<ol>
<li>How is the seminar portion structured?</li>
</ol>
<p>It’s all up to the professors. Our seminar was basically all round-table, lightly mediated discussion.</p>
<ol>
<li>What types of activities are coordinated for the students?</li>
</ol>
<p>You coordinate it all yourself (see above). Seminar, lunch, and dinner are the only regular times you will see everyone in one place."</p>
<p>Thanks for the info roam… gosh, it sounds so interesting! It sounds remarkably like college. XD</p>
<p>You see Mich got 10-15 bucks on Saturday I wasn’t hallucinating.</p>
<p>On that note… Last night I stayed up till 4:30am to study for finals, not healthy I know. Anyways, I hate it but I had some energy strips and one energy drink (Sobe-whatever) and then I brewed a whole box of tea bags and made my own iced tea (3 Quarts to be exact) and I drank it all. I studied for math (felt really good after the final :-)) And I was in front of my bathroom mirror for about 2 hours to practice my monologue.</p>
<p>When I woke up this morning I was shaking (lol so healthy) and I felt like I had slept with my eyes open. I wasn’t tired just. Dead. And then I was really nauseas all during 1st period but it is worth it. Compared to Ivy my Harvard app is weak and I need to try all I can to look better then her… If my integrity wasnt enough to top that.</p>
<p>Oooh, zingers from Mr. Effin’ Rateau! :P</p>
<p>Woah easy there Miss Aidyta,</p>
<p>Lol you aint got nothing going for you darling… I have 5 million phones in my house but some how MIRACULOUSLY THEY ALL DONT WORK…</p>
<p>CALL ME!!!</p>
<p>Oh my gosh my friend and I walked 10.5 miles today and I absolutely died. That was exhausting. By the end we couldn’t even walk in a straight line.</p>
<p>Why am I so stupid?</p>
<p>:O tako, what were you doing that you had to walk 10.5 miles? </p>
<p>I walked like 1.5 miles and I pretty much died! Granted I didn’t eat enough that morning and I think I got some sort of influenza, but still! You’re crazy! >_<</p>
<p>Well, yesterday I was like, HMMM I wanna walk to Barnes and Nobles. BN is about 4 miles away…so I invited my friend to come along.</p>
<p>On the way back my friend decided she wanted to go to Mervyns (about FIVE miles from BN). Then, on that road, we absolutely died. We couldn’t even walk in a straight line by the time we were about half a mile away from Mervyns.</p>
<p>Then on the mile and a half home we died again. I have never been so glad to be home :D</p>
<p>And today was sweltering hot, too! :O</p>
<p>I am curious, how are you Cornellians getting into Ithaca?</p>