Fun at Cornell

After a very much needed good night’s sleep, we awoke to a lovely sunny day and all met at a cute bagel cafe for breakfast, followed by a tour of the campus by the lovely Adja from After Eight. We were amazed by the size and the beauty of the campus, which has some beautiful falls right at its centre. We were then escorted by Natasha, also from After Eight, to see Beebe Lake and the Botanical Gardens. We were delighted to find some parsley, rosemary and thyme [Editors note from Dan: apparently there wasn't any sage]. Jonny impressed us with his knowledge of plants from his time working at a garden centre, and has now earnt the nickname "Plant boy".

We then embarked on the Casadilla Gorge “hike” (stroll). We had fun hanging out by the river, taking epic photos and skimming stones. We also filmed an artsy shot for our new music video (watch this space!) Other highlights include a game of Poohsticks and an absolutely tragic dab, which entailed a bottle of water being thrown down into the Gorge, to be heroically rescued by Benedict Piers Rowan Harwood himself. After grabbing a very late lunch, we went and hung out on one of the quads on campus in the sun. We played a very extended game of “would you rather” a cappella style, mainly entailing “would you rather win the ICCAs but [insert catch] OR….”. We were also joined by some of After Eight, once their classes had finished.

Next on the programme was an “arch sing”. Ben was presented with a challenge en-route: a huge cluster of small American flags on the grass on one of the quads. He rose to the challenge and ran ahead to count all 73. An arch sing entails a couple of a cappella groups getting together and performing underneath one of the nice arches on the campus. First up was The Class Notes, who impressed us with a rendition of “Shape of You” and some top class soul “Sunday Candy”. Next, we got to hear our new pals After Eight sing. Shout out to their beautifully co-ordinated “mint” and black colour scheme. We were blown away by one of their newest members absolutely slaying “Crazy in Love”. We were really feeling the pressure as we got up to sing our set, since following such impressive groups was not an easy feat. We had such a great time singing in the amazing acoustic and to such an appreciative audience. Tonight we were being hosted by The Class Notes, so we moved our stuff to Sabrina and Ruby’s houses, then went to party. In true Bristol student spirit, many ordered a Domino's delivery, amazed that it was also a thing in the States. [Dan: I'm amazed that Raf was unaware that America has Domino's]

The Benedict Piers Rowan Harwood Flag Count: 689