Hey, everybody! Greetings from Butler library, where I am
mulling over an infinite number of amazing classes for next semester, trying to
reading a Pulitzer Prize-winning book by my history prof (Eric Foner; look him
up!), and eating pecan pie stolen from the dining hall. Not too shabby, eh?
7:00—My alarm went off, and I obediently dragged myself out
of bed and into the kitchen to cook myself some pumpkin oatmeal. The dining
halls are pretty cool (I have a post on that coming up!), but for financial and
health (physical and emotional) reasons, sometimes it’s nice to cook for
yourself. I actually only have 30 meal swipes this semester, so I’m getting to
play grown-up and buy my own groceries!
7:15—I settled down in our floor lounge to tackle a few articles that I couldn’t quite finish last night. They were about Abstract Expressionism and were for a seminar, American Cultural Criticism, that I’m taking at Columbia.
2:00—I grab a coffee from Joe (the best coffee on
campus—take note!) and head back to Columbia for the aforementioned seminar. It
was hard today—I’m not really an art person, so a lot of it went over my
head—but my professor is truly wonderful (think hardcore-academic-wonderful),
and my classmates are so intelligent. It is beyond exciting to be able to feel
like you are in the middle of such a hotbed of serious critical thought.
So, today I thought I’d give you the scoop on… my day. (A
little self-centered, I know. Bear with me; it might prove helpful!). Specifically, my day on Tuesday, which is my busiest day of the week. So here's how it went this past week:
7:00—My alarm went off, and I obediently dragged myself out
of bed and into the kitchen to cook myself some pumpkin oatmeal. The dining
halls are pretty cool (I have a post on that coming up!), but for financial and
health (physical and emotional) reasons, sometimes it’s nice to cook for
yourself. I actually only have 30 meal swipes this semester, so I’m getting to
play grown-up and buy my own groceries!7:15—I settled down in our floor lounge to tackle a few articles that I couldn’t quite finish last night. They were about Abstract Expressionism and were for a seminar, American Cultural Criticism, that I’m taking at Columbia.
8:40—I headed over to Barnard Hall for Ballet 5. It is
normally taught by a wonderfully enthusiastic New York City Ballet soloist,
Antonio Carmena, but he was absent this week, as the company is on tour.
So…Wendy Whelan was teaching our class. Those of you who dance know what a big
deal this is—she is one of the very top dancers at one of the (if not the single) best companies in the
country. One of the absolutely incredible things about being in New York is
that things like this can happen. (Check out this link to see her in action.)
10:10—After that mind-blowing experience, I speed-changed,
and walked across the Barnard campus to my Electromagnetic Physics class. My professor, Janna Levin,
is so cool (read: way more brilliant and way more stylish than the rest of us
combined), which manages to make a rather challenging class completely worth
it. I’m taking this to satisfy one of the Nine Ways of Knowing, and even though I’m having to work my…rear…off,
there are people here to help, and it is all working out just fine. Plus, we
get to talk about things like her research on black holes and her friendship
with Neil deGrasse Tyson.
 |
| My walk to class today. |
11:40—Tuesdays are long ones, I’ll admit. Immediately after
physics, I head across Broadway to my Latin class at Columbia. While I absolutely love being a Barnard student, I have also loved my classes at Columbia, and some classes, like Latin, are only offered there.
1:00—In my hour off, I rush back to my room to make lunch
and finish off some reading.
2:00—I grab a coffee from Joe (the best coffee on
campus—take note!) and head back to Columbia for the aforementioned seminar. It
was hard today—I’m not really an art person, so a lot of it went over my
head—but my professor is truly wonderful (think hardcore-academic-wonderful),
and my classmates are so intelligent. It is beyond exciting to be able to feel
like you are in the middle of such a hotbed of serious critical thought.
3:40—My prof gave a classmate and me permission to leave
early to go to a talk entitled Ebony and Ivy (about slavery and the foundation
of America’s elite universities) in Low Library at Columbia. It was hosted by
the president of Columbia (Lee Bollinger) and one of
my professors (Foner, see above) was on the panel. So many amazing
opportunities here!
5:30—Napped, snacked, called my dad to exclaim over housing
for next year (good news!) and Wendy Whelan.
7:30—Met my roommate (a visiting student from China) and my
friend at John Jay dining hall at Columbia. On the menu tonight (for me
anyhow): salad, gnocchi, jerk chicken, and that pecan pie. And I helped myself
to rather a lot of fruit…
8:00—Set myself up in Butler to get down to work!
Want to tell me how cool your day was? Wondering about my
classes, or that never-ending reading? Leave me a comment! I love them all!
All the best,
Chloe