Since it's my first year at Ithaca, I don't really know where things are. So I have taken the initiative to explore the IC commons and all that Ithaca has to offer. I don't think that I've made much of a dent in all the things possible, but it's for sure a start.

I started exploring the day before my move-in day. My mom and I traveled up to Ithaca a day early so we could take a trip to the commons and find a mall. It was great after we checked into the hotel, we immediately went into town.

We went to the State Diner to enjoy sandwich wraps, and as we walked out we found the Dewitt Mall. It was a small little shopping center filled with antique stores, I got records from Past Times (a store inside the mall) for only a dollar. After that we left downtown Ithaca, we tried to figure out where the bigger Mall was.

Once we found the bigger mall we explored Target and everything else the Mall had to offer. Though my favorite part of the day is definitely when we started exploring the falls. I have only so far been able to explore the Ithaca Falls, but it was a breathtaking sight nonetheless.

The Ithaca Falls

The day after my mom and I moved all my stuff into my room, we traveled to the Ithaca Commons. In the Commons, we saw all sorts of restaurants that I cannot wait to try. My mom and I eventually decided on going to Simone's. I had the muscles and pork with a basket of fries, and it was amazing.

My exploring took a short break once my mom left since I didn't have a car and I had no one to explore with me yet. Once I decided to be social and actually leave my room, I made exploring buddies. My exploring buddies have become my roommate Stephanie, my friend (and neighbor) Megan, her roommate Katie, and our two friends who don't live in our dorm; Emma and Julia.

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With these girls, I have traveled to explore all the downtown area has to offer. First, we went to Target to get more snacks and any last minute room essentials that we needed. Then we found a store called Bon Ton, half of us have never heard of it, and it happened to be going out of business.

Me and my roommate Steph

So we decided to try and get everything on sale and bargain, and surprisingly Katie found shoes worth one hundred dollars being sold for only $4. Our first day of exploring was cut short because we wanted to go to the on-campus organization fair, but it did continue the next day. Monday was definitely the most exciting of the days that we traveled. Our RA Alex had suggested we try a place called Luna, and it turned out to be with a great way to celebrate Emma's birthday.

The drive there was filled with us singing karaoke to our favorite Broadway songs. It was all of us trying to contribute songs that we thought the others would like. We all have very unique, music tastes, but I think that's what made the ride more interesting.

The drive to the Ithaca Commons wasn't bad at all, but then again the music probably helped. Once arriving at Luna, we each put in our separate orders and tried to get the biggest table we could find. We ate and conversed for an hour before deciding it was time to head back to school.

The girls and I had been planning a surprise for Emma because she turned eighteen that day, and we wanted to make sure she was at school and away from the dorm while we set up. The surprise party was a great success: she honestly had no idea we got her a cake.

We made popcorn and talked for hours; I could tell this was the start of a really good friend group and that we would have a bond that will last a long time. There will be more exploring and adventures to come, but my first 3 days at Ithaca weren't that bad. Hopefully class goes great just like my first few days.