A Day In The Life (IC Remix)

Roving Jolt Reporter Alyssa Zahler checks out the cornucopia that is the town of Ithaca.  So grab some Excedrin for that hangover, and a good pair of shoes, and follow her through her Saturday!

I wake up, thankful it’s not Sunday. Sunday, for most Ithaca college students, is the dreaded day of work, the day when procrastination catches up with us all. The day I pray I will not be nursing a hangover. But fortunately, today is Saturday, the day of leisure. If you’re lucky enough to wake up before noon, you have the entire city of Ithaca and all of its harvests to take advantage of.

I manage to wake up this particular Saturday around 9:30 am feeling quite refreshed, (after I pounded a bottle of Wegmans water and two Excedrin that is). As I look out from the view of my balcony at the gorges surroundings that are Ithaca, Cayuga Lake looks good enough to jump in. I am then distracted by the fact that I can see into quite a few people’s dorm rooms and think I have just witnessed some very questionable movements so early in the morning. My four suitemates are not too happy about my wake up call: blasting Eddie Money’s “Take Me Home Tonight” and ripping them all out of their oh-so-comfortable dorm beds. I get to my fourth roommate and it looks like we have a visitor… so I give them a few minutes to take care of business.

Now where to go, where to go… It is Saturday and Terrace Brunch just is not going to cut it today.  Maybe we should go do Collegetown Bagels like every other weekend morning?

Collegetown Bagels (who has a complete monopoly over all things bagel-wise in Ithaca) has four locations to choose from. While only one is located in Collegetown itself, one is in the Commons, the other on the outskirts of Cornell, and then there’s the drive-thru locale on State Street. We debate sitting outdoors at the Collegetown location, people watching and hanging with pseudo-intellectuals and Big Red Fans, but we opt not to, in fact today we do not want Collegetown.

Just as we are trying to figure out other options my floormate barges into our room in what I believe to be a quite inebriated state and suggests a diner. A good diner in Ithaca? Yes, she swears by it. What do we have to lose?

Nine dollars and twenty-six cents later I have downed a thick, succulent chocolate milkshake at the State Street Diner.  I have an omelet cooked to order oozing with cheese, hash browns and two slices of perfectly drenched toast, and suddenly all of our hangovers have gone to heaven. The place was jammed; every creaky movie style seat in the house had a butt firmly planted in it from locals to IC and Cornell students alike. Not to mention the waitress was quirky as hell.

It is now 11:30 am, and since our day began early we barely know what to do with ourselves.  Shall we go for the latest indie flicks at Cineamopolis?  Or up to the Pyramid Mall to catch the latest Hollywood release, and maybe do a little shopping as well? However there are only so many times one can shop at Old Navy, Abercrombie, and Gap, before getting sick of seeing what I wear on someone else.

Since it’s getting colder and we are actually awake, we decide to take advantage of the great Ithaca outdoors. One dilemma: it’s a bit chilly and surprise, surprise I think I feel a drizzle. So the gorges are out of the question now for more then one reason, no one is in… peak physical condition today and it’s a gloomy Ithaca day.

So Farmers market it is. Though our bellies are still sore and burgeoning from breakfast, some fresh produce, a good cup of coffee and maybe a crepe or two or three won’t hurt, right? Even the rain does not stop the people of Ithaca from coming here. After ten minutes of trying to get a spot in the grassy dirt lot we unload.

The aroma of continental cooking consumes us instantly. People from all different avenues of life, youthful and aged, abound. My friend selects a beautiful pair of handcrafted wood earrings from one of the vendors. The boisterous woman insists that my friend pay in a check after she discovers she has all ready soaked up all her cash at the Diner. I am astounded by the display of trust she takes in a stranger.

Next we decide to go to the Commons, maybe pick up a gift for my mom in A Thousand Villages (she loves that store). Loving the atmosphere here, I cannot wait for the Apple Festival.  Last year I danced around the Commons for hours, literally danced with people I’ve never seen before, danced as they played folky music, and laughed so hard as the rain came down.

There are good smoke shops here if that’s your thing, and as two of my friends go in to check out the latest contraptions, I decide to go to Uncommon Rags and take a look in Petrune.  I could almost get lost in here, it’s like looking in a picture book of different decades of clothes, but they are wearable and affordable for the average college student.

As we trek back to campus the walk seems unbearable in addition to the three flights of stairs up to my balcony. It’s 4 o’clock and already the focus is on what we will do tonight.  Sake?  Bars?  House party?  One thing is for sure, staying on campus to sleep or watch a movie is not an option for this group. We wished we went to the gorges or how we could have taken a run or walk behind Terraces on the trail, but overall we did a pretty good job at mapping out the day. For such a small place, there is so much to do in Ithaca, great dining, great venues, natural beauty and amusement; it is hard to take it in. I mean even Wegmans, the supermarket, is entertaining. So for my one lazy Saturday, that one day of leisure, I really did do a lot, even nursing that hangover and the blues from the drizzle and drab, Ithaca still has you getting out and exploring.

I should head to the fifth floor of the Library, even though I prefer the slightly more social second floor schlep with all of my stuff to the Library for what turns out to be a highly unproductive hour, but I feel better that I went. What I really want is Stella’s delicious goat cheese dumplings, mmm… I heard people were Sake Bombing in Collegetown, but that’s too much noise for us tonight.

Instead, we opt for our favorite skirt steak salad with chunks of gorgonzola and the perfect Balsamic Vinagrette, I don’t know how they do it… The service there is slow but it is worth the wait… make sure to ask for the bread, their molasses butter is scrumptious, I have never seen four girls lick the plate like we do for this stuff.

On the way back, my friend has to pay a ticket at the police station (get acquainted with this: if any of you have a car in Ithaca you will soon know the pain of countless tickets).

Stuffed beyond belief, but what a full day… time to head back, shower, pregame and get the night rolling.