While scrolling through my super cool 161 things spreadsheet in a bout of procrastination at the library last week, I noticed #22: Pick apples at the Cornell Orchards. I immediately abandoned my reading and invited myself on the apple-picking outing my friends had planned for that afternoon.

Twenty minutes into the car ride, I wondered aloud why the Cornell Apple Orchards were so far away from the actual Cornell Campus. Everyone turned around to stare at me. Apparently, this had always been intended as a trip to non-Cornell owned orchards. Oh well. I’m still crossing it off the list because I did go apple picking and I’m not above cheating to complete all of the 161 things.

Because of our location in the heart of New York’s apple country, it’s no surprise that apples get three mentions on the list. I have yet to complete one of the easiest tasks — #153: Buy a Cornell-grown apple from a vending machine. I’ve heard the apples are delicious, and this is such an easy thing to accomplish, but every time I think to walk to Plant Sciences, I decide it’s just too far.* I’m also a little freaked out by the greenhouse.

Though my own taste for apples has been tainted by over consumption of vodka-apple juices while abroad last semester, apples seem to play a relatively central role on campus, at least as far as fruit goes. Yes, this is a stretch. But you don’t see pears making an appearance on the Big Red Ambition list.

My freshman year, in particular, seemed to be ripe (Ha. I’m so clever!) with apple experiences. Before the existence of the campus-Wegmans bus route, I went grocery shopping with my friend and picked up a big paper bag of Ithaca apples. As we were turning the corner into the Dickson loading dock, the bag of apples spilled all over the cab we took home. Of course, it was pouring outside, and I had to stand outside hunched over and dripping wet, gathering every last apple out from under the car seats.

Later that semester, an RPCC employee reprimanded me for trying to smuggle four apples out of the dining hall (Basically #46: Smuggle food from the dining hall and run for your life as they try to get back your stolen cookies. Attempting this with apples counts.) I tried to explain that I had already touched the apples, and no one else would want to eat food covered with my germs, but I was still forced to put them back in the display.

In the spring, I met a girl in class whose diet consisted primarily of apples in an attempt to lose weight. One apple a day: awesome. 10 apples a day: You’ve just ingested 1000 calories of pure sugar and haven’t eaten a meal yet. You might as well have eaten a cheeseburger. And a burrito. Plus, listening to you chomping all through lecture is seriously annoying. My freshman year apple experiences culminated with an introduction to someone who is actually named after an apple variety.

The third apple appearance on the Big Red Ambition list is #23: Attend the Apple Harvest Festival on the Commons. If you have not yet made it to the Apple Festival, make it a priority this year. My roommate’s mom is even planning her visit to Ithaca around the fruit-filled weekend. Once you taste the caramel apples, you’ll understand why. I’ll spare everyone the stories of me cutting lines, fighting over samples, and generally caring way too much about apple products, but if you want to observe for yourself, I’ll see you on the Commons next weekend.

*Editors Note: Cornell apples are also available at the vending machines in the basement of Uris Hall.