Making the most of NYC

Midnight view of Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge

A huge draw for me when I was considering Barnard was its amazing location – who wouldn’t want to live in one of the most exciting cities in the world for four years?!  However, for me (and for a lot of the prospective students I speak to) this is also a point of concern.  Many students worry that the pull of New York City would be hard to resist.  And when the sun is shining and your friends are going to hang out in Riverside Park and you know you really should start on your Women in Culture paper, sometimes it can be hard to drag yourself to the library.  However, most semesters I found myself wishing I had taken advantage of the city more than I did.  Campus life itself is so fun it’s often easy to forget the wider world outside Barnard’s gates.  Luckily, you all can learn from my experience and go exploring more often than I did!

Here were some of my favorite things to do in the city while I was a student:

View of the Financial District  from the Staten Island Ferry

Field Trips: Classes at Barnard utilize the city as an extended classroom.  As an art history major, I visited museums and galleries in nearly all of my classes.  Friends in Environmental Science collected and tested water samples from the Hudson; my first-year seminar went to the opera.  There’s no limit to the things you can learn from New York City, and Barnard professors make full use of it.

Urban New York: Each semester, students can participate in Urban New York drawings to win free tickets to various New York City events.  Concert tickets, sports tickets, theater tickets… you name it.  I got a ticket to something each time I participated.  You can also buy discounted tickets to many city-wide events through the Columbia University Arts Initiative.  I tried to see a show at least once a semester, and rarely paid more than $30 for my ticket.

Eat: Most of my babysitting cash went directly to various restaurants around New York City.  After a long day, I would occasionally treat myself to delivery Indian or Thai food (you can get basically any type of food you want delivered directly to the Barnard dorms).  Weekend nights often revolved around an adventure to try a new type of food – dumplings in Chinatown, Korean BBQ, Indian frankies at Roti Roll on Amsterdam Ave.  Absolute Bagels (at 108 and Broadway) was a Saturday-morning must. 

Treats from Smorgasburg in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Boating in Central Park

Parking: Spring in New York is my favorite time of year (although winter with the lights on College Walk is a very close second).  People emerge from their apartments like they’ve never seen sun before in their lives and the parks are crawling.  Sheep’s Meadow in Central Park was one of my favorite weekend outings, and during the week I would often run in either Riverside Park or Central Park.  In a time crunch or on a weekday afternoon, Lehman Lawn at Barnard is a perfect spot to read (or in my case, read for 5 minutes and inevitably fall asleep for an hour).  A picnic blanket was my first purchase once I got to college, and it got a lot of use over my four years.

No matter where you go to college there will always be things you would rather do than your calculus homework.  But if you’ve gotten this far, you know how to prioritize, and why in the world wouldn’t you want to be at a school with the world’s greatest distractions?!

Melanie :)

The Best of Morningside Heights

Riverside Park

You may have heard about all the exciting things that New York City has to offer, but you probably didn't even realize that you don’t have to get on a downtown subway to enjoy yourself. Barnard is located in one of the most amazing neighborhoods in Manhattan—Morningside Heights. It has everything that you need to make your college life a wonderful one. 

Every day, I wake up to the beautiful view of river outside my window. (Yes, the Hudson River is our neighbor!) Everyone knows that Central Park is awesome, but Riverside is no less! It is a scenic waterfront public park with an esplanade lined by honey-locusts and it is only a two minute walk from Barnard's campus. When spring is here and I've had enough of indoor work-outs, I go for a morning run in the park. The green nature refreshes my body and mind and prepares me well for another busy day of school and work. If you are a biker, don’t miss the waterfront car-free bike routes! Biking is one of my favorite spring activities, so don’t be surprised if you spot me biking down along the river on Sunday afternoons. I like the bike route in Riverside more than any of the others in the city because it literally runs along the water. Parts of the route are even built directly above the water. All my stress seems to go away when I see Hudson glowing under the sun. 

Riverside Park & the Hudson River

If you aren't an outdoor sport person, that's okay too; I'm not always in a sporty mood either. There are tons of great indoor places to explore in Morningside Heights. You might hear your friends say, "Let’s grab coffee at Starbucks!" Yes…but no. Morningside Heights has something better than that! My go-to coffee shop is Oren’s Daily Roast. It is a three minute walk from Barnard. One of the aftereffects of having studied abroad in Paris is that you care how coffee smells. I do and I love Oren’s because their coffee smells so good! (This might sound a little crazy, but I feel like I can smell their coffee aroma even when I am a block away.) 

Blueberry pancakes from Community

If you're a brunch person, don’t be discouraged by the long line outside Community Food & Juice. There are various opinions about what is the best brunch place in Morningside Heights, but Community always has my vote. Their blueberry pancake is the most elegant one that I have ever had, not to mention their freshly squeezed fruit juice! 

As a student, I am never disappointed by the intellectual life in Morningside Heights, either. You will very likely hear the name “Book Culture” again and again during your first week of classes at Barnard because your professors like to order textbooks from them. But it doesn’t just sell textbooks. It is a lovely boutique bookstore with great selections of books to read for fun outside of class. Sometimes it has used book sales and you might be able to get the book that you have always wanted to read for as little as one dollar! Again, don’t be surprised if you see me standing in front of the stacks, not knowing which one to read for next weekend because Book Culture just has every book on my reading list. 

One of two Book Culture locations near campus

I could go on and on about all the amazing things that Morningside Heights has to offer, but I prefer to invite you to explore it yourself. I have no doubt that you will find your own must-go places whether they are restaurants, coffee shops, or just your own secret spots to relax. If you run into me grabbing coffee in Oren’s or taking a walk in Riverside next semester, please say hi! :)

 

Fangdai

Balancing the Demands of Life at Barnard

Good morning, friends! Today I write to you from Joe, the wonder-coffee shop I mentioned in my last post. It’s well lit and right across the street from Barnard, and generally manages to make 8 AM studying somewhat more palatable.  

I suppose that it is somewhat ironic that I am writing about how to manage the demands of a Barnard schedule when, today particularly, I am struggling a little in that regard. But what better way to give you a taste of the excitement and challenges of a difficult course load than to write about it on the day (hehe, one of the days) I’m wrestling with it?

Barnard and Columbia students are known for pushing themselves. This is most likely a large part of why they are here (and why you will soon be here too!), and let me reassure you: they keep it up upon arrival. Though 4-5 courses is more or less considered average, many students take as many as six academic courses along with one or two fun classes (dance, P.E., etc.). That kind of a work load, especially when combined with involvement in clubs, student groups, work and internships, can make life here…exciting.

It really is exciting in a good way: it feels good to learn! However, it also comes hand-in-hand with a certain degree of stress, and it is imperative that you figure out how much of it you can handle and how you can keep your net stress level below that. Fortunately, Barnard will help you do that!

Well Woman: a great resource to help stay balanced!

To begin, there are a variety of services to help you out. There are tutors, help rooms, office hours, and Writing Fellows to help you feel more confident if your concerns are strictly academic. If you wrestle more with the emotional side of it (and don’t we all sometimes?), Well Woman runs an office on campus where you can talk to counselors and trained peer advisers about your situation. From their website: “Stop by our office to talk to a staff member during the day or a peer educator in the evening about anything related to health and wellness, to browse our library, ask questions, or just relax and have a cup of tea. Be well!” And, they host weekly runs in Riverside Park (exercise is the single greatest stress-reliever ever) and a Knitting Club. This kind of support can make all the difference in how you feel about your courses, and our school is here to help us out.

But you can also make some wise choices when you are selecting courses that can save you from a lot of grief later in the semester. This is on the brain recently, as we are in the middle of course registration (“program filing”) now, so here are my top two tips:

1. Try not to spread yourself too thin. I know that the courses are incredible here, but you have four years here, so pace yourself. You will enjoy each course much more (and get more out of it, and have better grades to show for it) if you have the time to give each course the attention it deserves. Also, college courses expect more of you, so don’t worry if four sounds like a light load compared to high school!
2. Think about how to balance reading-intensive, writing-intensive, and problem set-intensive courses. Even if you spend the same amount of time on work, it will feel a lot less daunting if you can mix it up. I have had more than one semester where it feels like all I ever do it read, and—weirdly—throwing a Calculus class into the mix can feel good. Keep that brain moving in multiple directions!

Alright, guys, I’m out. But, as usual, leave me your comments, questions, and concerns; I have fun responding :). And don’t be daunted by this: college is going to be challenging, but it’s also incredibly exciting, motivating, and sometimes downright mind-blowing!

Chloe