despite the imminent dawn of 4 more midterms and the tragically slow elevator in my residence hall, college is still all kinds of awesome. i’m going into my third month here, and i’m still as thrilled by the novelty of the university and the city – and i suppose the new life in general – as i was when i first arrived. i remember thinking as i got out of the car on that crisp August day, that i would never be able to familiarize myself with the maze-like neighborhood that encompassed the campus. but now, two full months later, i feel local already. i know all the nearby restaurant names by heart. i’ve learned the price difference in stationery between the three different bookstores in the vicinity. i’m also a regular recipient of routine emotional abuse from the cashiers at Morton Williams. now those girls have some ‘tude. but i forgive them, because they are the last barrier between me and a nice hot plastic plate of microwaveable tikka masala.

you guys, you all have to come study here. or at least, come visit. i dont quite know how to convey my excitement of just being here, and how much i think so many of you would love it here at Columbia or in New York. for instance, we discussed memes in Frontiers of Science class today, and i couldnt help but think of Waffle who wrote us an angsty email once because we kept referring to online personality quizzes as ‘memes’ when it really meant something scientific. i see cute white guys and i wish Skyler were here to feast her eyes. and yesterday, i bought some Keebler peanut butter cookies because KY says they’re really good. and i know Wai Min would love latin dance classes every Tuesday night as much as i do.

i’ve found some kind of comfort here that i cannot explain. yet, it is a fast-paced kind of comfort, because there’s always something to do or something new to explore. all the museums, art galleries, neighborhoods, dog parks, bookstores, shopping avenues, chinatown, avant garde boutiques… how does one not feel overwhelmed by the sheer expanse of this place? how does one know where to go first? i suddenly feel like 4 years here isn’t enough. i fear that New York will evolve before i get to experience it fully. and that it will keep evolving, and i will never be able to ever say, i know New York.

in a more micro sense, i love my room. i love the people at college – my floormates, my classmates, the people from Model UN, ballroom classes, the DDR club (oh yes), italian cinema nights and the random ones who strike up a conversation while waiting in line for bubble tea. they are all so smart and knowledgeable that it’s thrillingly challenging, yet fun. and i love my bottom drawer where i stash all my food. i love the fact that if i need anything, i can just walk down to the 24-hour supermarket across the street. and i love the cheesesteak at JJ’s…

in many ways, i feel like someone who’s been reborn, learning to speak, walk and talk all over again. i’m delighting in all the new discoveries – the apprehension in the pit of my stomach as i load my clothes in the dryer, room raiding drunkenly at 4 in the morning, learning how to play ping pong and getting hit in the nose by the ball, crowding in front of the television to laugh at Sarah Palin, salty microwaveable popcorn on Gossip Girl Mondays. then there’s also the stress of assignments and classroom expectations; i wish someone had warned me there would be this much work in college. i have my burn-out moments, but i think i’ve come to relish the stress of working hard. it feels so good to see a perfect score on my assignments even though i spent sleepless nights working on them. plus everyone here doesnt sleep at night, so there’s always company in the long horrid hours of churning out a 2000-word paper on the day it’s due.

it’s 7 in the morning as i write this; i’ve been up all night cramming for my Literature Humanities midterm tomorrow. i feel good about it, which is inane because i only started studying yesterday and have been Sparksnoting my way through the semester so far. which is why i have to go back to studying now :) but i leave you with an exclusive photograph of an original Martian masterpiece. this is the front of a card he left for me:

i love my boyfriend very much, but for the sake of modern art, i hope he never decides to take his artistry to professional levels :\