Friday Morning Rain is Falling

Yes, it was pouring here at 5 AM. Now this may not have been cumbersome for most Columbia students, but that’s a different story for those going to see Maroon 5 that morning. And fortunately for me, I was one of them. I awoke at said time to depart for the Maroon 5 performance at Rockefeller Center. So imagine my face when I walked out my dorm. My jaw probably dropped and I cursed the rain for the umpteen time. So after grabbing a plastic poncho to keep myself partly dry and breaking out my umbrella, we were all ready to depart for the subway. Usual commuters probably gave us peculiar looks seeing teenage girls at about 6 AM partially soaked on the subway. Or they were used to weird occurences in the city and they paid us no mind.

Maroon 5!

Once we exited the subway, we made our way towards Rockefeller Center. Then we arrived near the center, and we dispersed into our respective groups, promising to meet in front of a cathedral to leave together later. So Morvarid, Adrianne, Brittany, and I all pushed our way through to get as close as possible. And along the way we made a few friends with fellow Maroon 5 fans. Al Roker filmed our side of the crowd, so maybe many of you saw me on the Today show! When our departure time came close, we decided to head to the cathedral and back to Columbia University.

After a bustling morning in downtown, I decided to grab some much needed coffee before class. And thank the above I did because if I didn’t then I probably would have fallen asleep; definitely not a good idea. Today during class we watched a documentary on Alexander Hamilton. But before the movie started, our teacher tested the projector with an Alexander Hamilton rap from youtube.com. The rap was very interesting; the rapper narrated the song from Aaron Burr’s perspective, so parts were of course bias towards the man on the ten dollar bill. The video gave me a newfound respect for Hamilton. I always knew of his contributions into America’s economic system but I never realized what a huge impact it had on us. Although, I will always be a Jeffersonian at heart.

Lunch then came and once I had my fill I made a beeline for my room for a quick nap. I’m amazed I stayed awake the whole day up until my head touched my pillow during midday break. Thankfully my roommate woke up me up when she entered the room or I might have been late for my next class.

As I arrived at Butler library, I settled myself in a corner to get some work done. My outline for my research paper is near completion and I have most of my sources found. I just need a book on Eisenhower, I believe. And I have finally established my research thesis and I don’t plan on changing it anymore. So now I will be doing the differences in presidential legacies as time goes by.

So after my usual session in Butler Library, I had some time to kill due to the upcoming dinner we had with current Columbia students. So for a good two hours I wandered campus and relaxed. Then as six o’clock rolled around, I started to get ready for my dinner. After a good hour and a half of pampering and refreshing myself, I exited the Carman building with Morvarid. I’m sure people were giving us a few peculiar looks with the way we were dressed. While everyone else around us was dressed in shorts and t-shirts, we were dressed in dresses and heels. Even a few people turned their heads when they saw Lenny and Lucas.

We're so fancy!

After taking the subway to Columbus Circle, we met Ms. L to depart together for the restaurant. Since we were a little early for our reservations, we decided to stay inside Time Warner to cool off from the heat. Inside we discussed potential trips we will be taking, and one of them must be a museum. We all have potential locations we want to visit, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Museum of Natural History.

Once dinner time neared, we trekked to “Marea,” an Italian restaurant near Central Park. Luckily for us, the restaurant reserved a private room for our group that evening. There we met with four current Columbia students; Mario, Matt, Adriana, and Theo. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Mario, a rising junior from Ohio, while across from him was Adriana, a rising junior from Florida. Dinner was definitely an interesting affair. As I observed Adriana and Mario, I found the way they interacted was very similar with Adrianne and Lucas. Tomi and I came to the conclusion and we immediately started laughing. Watching the two pairs banter playfully back and forth was definitely entertaining. I learned some much needed advice about Columbia University. They explained the core curriculum in depth, so I now have a better idea as to what to expect while going to college here.

Unfortunately for high school students in the summer program, we have curfew. Sadly we had to depart a little earlier than we liked to get back in time, or our residential advisors would have grounded us. So the six cohorts for the Columbia program must have looked odd running back to our dorms all gussied up. It’s okay, we all made it back in time. Hopefully.