By SAMANTHA WEISMAN
Before coming to Cornell, everyone told me, “You have to go to the Dairy Bar!” My parents’ alumni friends would tell stories about how amazing the ice cream was and the many memories they made there. Upon my arrival to Cornell in the fall of 2011, however, I was disappointed to find out that the Dairy Bar was being renovated. It closed in 2010 as a part of a larger remodel of Stocking Hall and reopened this fall. It’s almost like they knew I would start writing this blog this semester.
I finally went to the newly remodeled Dairy Bar today between classes, and, since everyone is so obsessed with Buzzfeed, I decided to make a list about my experience.
First, the three things I loved about the Dairy Bar:
1. Okay, so this isn’t totally in the Dairy Bar, but the glass-fronted dairy plant was super cool. It’s basically a dairy plant on the first floor of Stocking Hall that you can view through the glass, complete with an indoor observation deck from above and a giant cow. Admittedly, I don’t know much about dairy production, but it was very cool to see all of the machinery and how it operates. Sometimes I forget how big Cornell is and how many different things are happening.
2. THE ICE CREAM! Who doesn’t love ice cream? I guess when I ordered my cone of cookies and cream, I technically completed #12, even though they serve Perry’s ice cream (but more on that later). It was really nice to just sit outside with it and appreciate the fall day. I felt like such a real Cornellian!
3. My new cow pen. Yes, you read correctly. They gave me a light-up cow pen. Seriously, it’s so cool. Go just for the light-up cow pen.
And now, two things I didn’t love about the Dairy Bar:
1. They don’t have Cornell Dairy yet! For whatever reason, they don’t have Cornell Dairy fully up and running, so they’re serving Perry’s ice cream for now. I feel like the coolest part of the Cornell Dairy Bar is that the ice cream is produced at Cornell, so that was disappointing. There was a sign that said it should be coming sometime this fall, though.
2. It reminded me of everything we can’t complete on the 161 list anymore. Even though the Dairy Bar reopened, times are a’changing and there are so many classic Cornell experiences we have to miss out on. #3: Camp out overnight (i.e.: freeze to death) for hockey tickets is impossible, since ordering them is online. #6: Illegally slide down Libe Slope on a tray from Okenshield’s can’t happen; they don’t have trays anymore! It makes me sad that we don’t get the chance to have experiences that clearly impacted an older generation of Cornellians. We’ll never get to go to the Palms or take Psych 101 with Professor Maas.
Does this mean our Cornell experiences are doomed to be worse than previous Cornellians? A lot of people seem to think so. People complain about the changing Greek system (myself included), global warming (“You don’t know the real winter!”) and the lack of trays at Okenshields. But I think people sometimes fail to realize that there are newer aspects of Cornell that we’re the first people to experience! The new Physical Sciences atrium is amazing, we’re students during the launch of the Tech Campus and Bill Nye the Science Guy was on Dancing with the Stars — also, when we update the 161 list, I hope getting a shoutout on Cornell Confessions or Cornell Crushes is on it.