An Explanation

I sent this letter to Sarah and I think it my best attempt to explain things in writing:

I ended up leaving school in Iowa and coming back to Michigan. Things were just not working out for me for a number of reasons and I felt the best decision was to leave. I can tell you all about it the next time I see you. The short version is that I had a long conversation with someone I really connected with there who ran the diversity office and I came to the conclusion that I was not going to find the college experience I was looking for at Cornell. I was kind of shocked when he told me that he supported my decision but he helped withdraw by going over everyone I needed to talk to and making some phone calls for me me. I managed to leave before the drop date and got all of my money back though. I don't even have a record of dropping a class there so this means I do not have to get transcripts sent from them.

There really was no major reason that I left. It came down to a lot of small things that added up to the place just being wrong for me. The one course at a time thing really takes over your life and makes it so your life is structured beyond belief. It does not really work well for people who want to study a lot of math and science courses either since those courses eat up all your study time and leave you with no free time. I was having to sit in class and study from the moment I woke up until the time I went to sleep. I had no time to get a job or really participate in any activities, which I guess was commonplace there. It took all of two days of classes to get me to the point where I did not care about what I was doing anymore. but as I said, this was only a minor thing.

I think I was looking for a place where I would have tons of new meaningful experiences to me. I think you know as well as I do that life takes place outside of a classroom and a lot of it comes from seeking out new experiences. This is partly why I threw myself in the middle of Iowa into what I thought was an offbeat place with a weird method of scheduling classes. The problem was that the structure led to the place breeding cliques beyond what you would ever see at any other college. Even without knowing it you would quickly find yourself insulated with one group and never really stepping outside of your safety zone. I remember on my last day there one of my friends asked me if she was being cliquey and I had to point out that she was unknowingly participating in that system too. Maybe I never found my clique because I made a conscious effort to drift between the groups that were friendly to outsiders.

This whole experiment in sociology really led to a kind of attitude to where people would be all ready to run out, read about, and study new ideas. The problem was that no one really wanted to experiment and experience new things. Maybe isolation in the Midwest leads most people to being this way. I think the only way I describe this feeling is by alluding to Paris before German occupation in the second World War. I was looking for a place that breeds its existence on the new and creativity. I can say I have found something similar to this a number of times in my life to make myself happy (one of them was with you by the way). Of course I could just be deluding myself because I think I would very much like to live my life like a rake.

Anyway I have just managed to scratch the surface on my decision. I think it is just easier to say that I was not "feeling it" at Cornell and that was why I left. It was a good experience though and I will say that the people were the nicest people I have ever met. We can get together sometime when you are free to discuss it.