Secret Places on Barnard's Campus

(Ok, so maybe just less visible places on Barnard's campus.)

As this month comes to an end, maybe you’ve explored every link and photo on Barnard’s website. Maybe you’ve also toured Barnard’s campus already and/or come for admitted students weekend. I’m gonna try to tell you about some cool places on campus that I didn’t know about before I came to Barnard.

 

So maybe you caught a glimpse of it on a tour, but on the roof of Milbank Hall, there is a greenhouse! This space houses all sorts of plant species, including some for different professors' research. The greenhouse is open to everyone on Wednesday afternoons, but you might also have the chance to visit it with your Biology or Environmental Science lab courses. Coming from the desert, my favorite part of the greenhouse is the cacti section. 

Feels like home!

Additionally, the top of the Diana Center is a green roof, which means the vegetation grown there helps improve the energy efficiency of the building. While this space is used for research and work in different classrooms, it’s also a great space with a view for different events, like yoga during Spirit Week!

Though the 9-15^th floors of Sulzberger Tower are (unofficially) reserved for upperclassmen housing, the 16^th floor is more of a meeting space. A number of events and meetings are held there (like the one during Spirit Week that I missed out on). But when there isn’t something going on there, it makes an awesome place for getting some studying done, with a great view of the city!

Lastly and a bit more personal, I end up sitting at the tables in the little space between the library and Altschul Hall at least once a day if the weather is nice. I often go there to do some reading or call my sister or a friend, because it’s quieter and slightly removed from the main “thoroughfare” on Barnard’s campus. It’s a great little place to be alone and outside. As I was talking on the phone with my mom the other day, I realized that Einstein also hangs out near the back of Altschul (which I find funny since Altschul is the science building). If you prefer the tables on the north side of Altschul, you might be able to wave at one of the deans (some of my favorite people at Barnard!) whose office windows face that space.  

Einstein keeping me company

If you come to Barnard, I’m sure you’ll find your own favorite spaces on campus, just as I have.   

Margeaux

Adventures at Spirit Week 2014

What’s better than free food? Free food on Lehman Lawn, in beautiful spring weather, under the blooming magnolia tree, complete with a mechanical surfboard.

This past week was Spirit Week at Barnard, and it entailed all of these things. Spirit Week is a celebration of Barnard-ness organized by Student Government Association (SGA) and McIntosh Activities Council (McAC). It is comprised of a number of different events (often with free food!) around Barnard’s campus, and always seems to coincide with the blooming of the magnolia tree. This year’s Spirit Week theme was "road trip," so each day had a different mini-theme like a stop at the beach or stop at the park.

The first event was on Sunday night on the top floor of Sulzberger Tower. I wasn’t able to go to the event, but I heard they had the terraces open, and now am forever mad that I couldn’t go. Reason number 1298493 to go to Spirit Week events: cool things happen, like Sulz Tower being open.

Here's a photo that I took from Sulz Tower last year, which gives you an idea of the view that I missed on Sunday!

On Tuesday, there was flower pot painting and s’mores on the roof of the Diana Center. And on Wednesday, there were free drinks in coconuts and a mechanical surfboard on Lehman Lawn.
 

A stop at the beach: Meghan with her piña colada and someone “surfing” in the background!

Thursday came with free donuts in the morning, a BBQ lunch on Lehman Lawn, and ice cream in the afternoon.
 

BBQ on Lehman Lawn

Lina (in this year’s Spirit Week t-shirt) and me enjoying sunshine and BBQ.

Spirit Week and seeing all the Barnard students out on campus enjoying the beginning of spring always reminds me about why I chose Barnard in the first place.

Margeaux

 

Residential Hall Spotlight: The Quad

The Quad

As a first-year, you will be living in one of three residential halls: Sulzberger, Reid, or Brooks. These halls, along with Hewitt Hall, comprise what's known as the Quad.Here's a description of each of the three possibilities.

Sulzberger ("Sulz"): Coveted because of the mere fact that it is the only hallway with air conditioning, which is definitely an asset in those hot summer months.  Although I was lucky enough to be placed in Sulz my first year, the other dorms aren’t too bad temperature wise, just remember to bring a fan!

Sulz/Reid (and how it works!): Sulz, Reid, and Brooks are described as individual halls, but that is technically not the case.  Because of the Sulzberger Tower, a housing option for upperclassmen, the design of The Quad includes a “Sulz” hallway, but also a “Sulz/Reid” hallway that is split up into Sulz (with air conditioning) and Reid (without air conditioning). The Sulz hallway has its own RA, the Sulz/Reid hallway has its own RA, and the Brooks hallway has its own RA.   

 

The room of Alyssa Blackman '17 and Jenna Beers '17 in Sulz/Reid

Brooks: With its own entrance and deep cherry wood doors, Brooks Hall is a great hall to live in.  Although the gate closes at 10 PM and during extreme weather, the secondary entrance gate is a great way to quickly enter The Quad without having to go all the way around to the main gates.  Brooks has its own entrance and elevators, and the Brooks side is also where valuable services and spaces are such as the Brooks Study Lounge, Primary Health Care, Furman Counseling Center, and Well Woman.

My first-year room. (Sorry about the mess!)

Room Size: As Margeaux mentioned in a post earlier, do NOT worry about the roommate selection process; Res Life is generally so spot on.  However, I am also aware that a lot of anxiety stems from how big the room is.  I moved to New York expecting the living-in-a-shoebox scenario that I have often heard about in Manhattan. I can honestly say that is not the case at all.  The rooms are pretty big as far as dorms go, and I have never felt as though I lacked space.    

Sharing a Bathroom: So, yes, you are living with at least one roommate, and, yes, you have to share a bathroom with an entire hallway of people.  Although this may sound like the worst thing in the world right now, there are actually many positives to sharing a bathroom.  There are typically two bathrooms per hall: a gender inclusive one, and a women’s only one.  The set-up is like that of a public bathroom, with various individual stalls and a couple of sinks with mirrors.  There are also showers, and it depends which floor you are on as to whether there is a separate room for just showers or if it is still in the space of the bathroom and sink area.  One thing I really liked about corridor style housing is that you never have to clean your own bathroom (yay)!  Facilities will clean out the bathroom often twice or more a day, which is probably more than you would if you were in charge of cleaning it yourself.  Another thing is that because there are so many bathrooms, showers, and sinks, you probably will never have to wait for one to open up, which is always convenient.

 

The view from my Sulzberger 8th Floor Room

Floor Bonding: One great thing about this corridor style housing set up is that everything is connected.  If you have a friend in Brooks and you live in Sulz, you can just walk through the hallways and get to the room.  At the end of my first year I found that my best Barnard friends were actually the ones that lived on the 8^th floor. We all spent so much time together and it was so easy and convenient to see them.  The corridor style set up is definitely instrumental to hall cohesion among the students who live on your floor, and it’s a really great experience to have all of these friends so easily accessible!

Maria

Sunset at Columbia, as seen from a room in Sulz/Reid