Hot Child in the City

Day Twenty-Four

Even though the weather was shitty, I chose to tour Columbia University Wednesday. Even though their law school is even harder to get into than NYU's, it's one of the schools I'm considering applying to, so I figured I might as well check the place out while I'm here.

But before I got there, I did a bit of shopping. I bought a new LSAT prep book - one that doesn't suck, hopefully. I also bought an eye mask from Claire's. I know it's a stupid store, but it was only $5 and I cannot continue to be woken up by the sun every morning at like 8. Even when I go back to sleep, it's crappy sleep because there's so much noise. But if there's no light to wake me up, the noise won't bother me nearly as much.

Before I got here, I didn't realize Colubmia was so far uptown - it's actually RIGHT on the edge of Harlem. The dividing line is only a block or so north of campus. The campus itself was really pretty. I was pleased to see that they actually have a campus even though they're in such a big city. The main library is an amazingly beautiful building. It's just very impressive looking.

I wandered around the campus for a bit, mainly looking at the different buildings associated with the law school. However, I guess this week is orientation or something, because there were tons of people milling about wearing nametags. It was almost intimidating - these people have to be SO smart and at least kind of wealthy in order to be attending just Columbia, not to mention Columbia Law School.

I also visited the bookstore, which was much more relaxed. They had some pretty cool stuff, but I didn't buy anything. One of the things I fell in love with was a planner a nearby stationary store had. It was just a regular At-A-Glance student planner with a notebook style cover, but it was amazing. It had weekly pages, monthly pages, pages for keeping track of monthly expenses, pages for notes for each month, a page before each month to list special events, pages for addresses. Despite all this, it was a great size - not too big, not too small. However, there were a few minor things wrong with it, so I didn't buy it, but I'm keeping it in mind in case I don't find something better. I just so happen to have this thing with planners. Crazy, I know.

By the time I left the bookstore, it had been raining for almost an hour. Regardless, I headed over to Grant's Tomb armed with my pink umbrella (to match my pink backpack and my pink t-shirt). It was a lot creepier than I thought it would be. I didn't realize that it was so massive. I thought it was just going to be in a cemetary or something. But no - it's a HUGE mausoleum (largest in the country) and he and his wife are in the center of it in these enormous stone coffins. Very, very creepy.

After leaving the tomb, I hopped back on the train to head home. However, just as I was approaching the subway (which for some reason was 3 stories ABOVE the street and you had to take these creepy stairs up to a rickety platform) I saw, across the street in Harlem, a Taco Bell! For some reason there are only three in the entire city - one in Harlem, one in Queens and one hidden somewhere on the lower west side that we have not been able to find yet. Elke feels as strongly about Taco Bell as I do about McDonald's, and I am also a big fan. So I crossed over into another world and bought us a bunch of delicious food.

I was very taken aback by the stark difference between the city north of 125th Street and south of it. South of it is Morningside Heights, aka as Columbia University territory - it's very wealthy and very intellectual. On the north side, however, is Harlem. The difference is striking. You go from cute little brownstones and apartments filled with young well-dressed, well-spoken, well-read wealthy people to crumbling skyscraper projects filled with black, loud-spoken, poorly-educated black people just by crossing the street. I'm not saying everyone in Harlem is dumb and poor, but there is definitely an income gap represented by that one block.

Of course, I was the only white person in Taco Bell (complete with my pink shirt, backpack and umbrella), and it was kind of weird. I'm not used to being a minority. But it was all worth it for the deliciousness of the Crunchwrap Supreme and Cheesy Gordita Crunch. Of course, I didn't admit this until after I was safely on the subway. I wasn't afraid of the people, just that the platform would collapse under the weight of the approaching train.

The weather continued to be shitty the rest of the day, so we just stayed in. We wanted to watch the second episode of Weeds. And then we watched Breakfast at Tiffany's, which was perfect, as always. Audrey Hepburn is a pure icon.

posted by Megan @ 11:14 PM