Maame's College Extravaganza: Columbia University (Columbia College/ Barnard College)

The final stop in my College Extravaganza (before looping back to Ithaca) was Columbia University. I've driven through New York City before when I was younger and I've watched most episodes of Gossip Girl, however I've never been to Columbia before. I had no idea what to expect because Gossip Girl didn't do the best job of showing the campus and pamphlets can only show so much.

We arrived to New York through the Hudson River, or really, over the Hudson. I remember thinking about how much greenery there was in this Concrete Jungle of sorts. I started thinking about everything other people have told me about New York City: "it's dirty," "the streets are trash-filled," "the people are mean," and braced myself for the worst. My parents did the same, my dad was frantic about not opening the trunk, as to evade thieves, while my mom made sure we locked the car door three times. The City, obviously, is very busy. There are people everywhere. One thing I noticed was how there are traffic lights everywhere that tell pedestrians when to walk, but no one at all actually follows its instructions. As for dirty, I didn't find it all that dirty, I only saw one side-street with trash bags on it; however, it did have a certain smell to it, the city did. I later found out that the burrow that holds Columbia is the safest residential burrow, so maybe that's why I didn't experience any New York horror stories.

Columbia's campus is like Narnia. Hear me out, I literally walked through a gate and left a bustling city into an area of calmness, green space and beautiful buildings. Right after we entered we had to high-tail it to the Low Memorial Library (which isn't even a library #fact) where the tour sheet told us to meet. If anyone is wondering, the Low Memorial Library is arguably the most iconic building in all of Columbia, with its huge staircase and Alma Mater statue. I was a little tempted to stand at the gates and walk through again just to confirm that I was still in New York City.

After an hour long information session we were split into groups and led on tours by various guides. There was one tour guide that everyone in the room knew was the cutest, and there I was in my blue printed shorts praying that I would fall into his designated area, but I didn't. Having had one dream crushed at Columbia, I was a little sad, but I kept going. My tour guide was named Jess and she was like an older, Asian version of me (I was called an honorary Asian freshman year, so I guess she's just an older version of me). Being someone who likes STEM and liberal arts, it was good to see that people at Columbia were the same way and were able to pursue both fields. It got to a point where I was pretty much praising Jess for meeting my Queen Mother Ana Wintour, while being a lab aid for a Nobel Laureate. 

Columbia was a sweet surprise for me. I never thought I would've liked the school so much. I like to think of myself as somebody who can only handle the clean streets and strict ordinances of suburban America, but the urban lifestyle that Columbia was showcasing was interestingly comfortable to me. I think I realized that New York City wasn't as awful as I thought it was when we went up to a walking bridge on the campus that let you see 100 blocks in both directions, because it, in a way, made the city seem smaller: more tangible of being real. 

If you're ever going on college visits I suggest planning a guided tour because they really bring the campus to life. For example: Low Memorial Library stopped being some icon, and started looking like a complete failure: it no longer holds books because the architects didn't create a foundation strong enough for the weight of a library. Tour guides, from my experience at least, are students at the college, so they can answer admissions questions and college life questions. Plus, it's good exercise, especially if you're going on a college tour road trip where you're cramped in a car for hours.

The moment everyone has been waiting for: Snapchat filters. Columbia University itself had a lot of filters that didn't make a lot of sense to me like "Low Beach" when I was in the Low Memorial Library. New York City also has its very own Snapstory, which is beyond anything I've ever seen. Because of the building customized and burrow customized filters along with a citywide Snapstory, Columbia receives a 8.5/10 on its filters, better than my hometown. 

Lastly, we need to discuss New York food. My family went to a pizza joint and ordered two small pizzas and received these huge masses of New York style pizza filled with cheese and toppings. It was so good and we were so surprised that our waiter asked us where we were from, apparently all Midwest pizza joints do is cheat us all.

If you've ever been on a college tour, plan on going on your own College Extravaganza, or have a fun story from a time when you were nearly college-aged let me know! 

Maame's College Extravaganza: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT and Harvard are in the exact same city, which makes Cambridge Brain Central. Because they're within the same city limits you'd think that I wouldn't go over location again, but you guessed wrong. Harvard is right in the 'downtown' area of Cambridge, right across the street there is a Panera Bread. MIT is past the downtown area, but not by much so you're not in the outskirts. Still, people are driving faster because there's less traffic and no one parallel parks at MIT because there is a huge parking garage right next to the campus.

MIT's campus is very metropolitan. Unlike Harvard, there are no gates, there is just a street where one part is MIT and the other side is not. The buildings of MIT are not very beautiful, I'm sorry it had to be said. Many of the buildings reminded me of the Grand Budapest Hotel after Zero took over and it was falling apart, not that MIT is falling apart, but it's the same kind of 1960's/1970's minimalist architecture. I'm not really a fan of 1960's/1970's minimalist architecture. There was one building, across the street from the Alchemist, that was truly breathtaking. The building that held the Admissions Office, one of the Maclaurin Buildings, was huge, with "Massachusetts Institute of Technology" (with "u's" as "v's") etched into the top of it. Being surrounded by a failing Grand Budapest was initially off-putting, but I decided to give the campus a try because it was MIT.

The real magic of MIT comes from the people involved, I think. Everyone I met there was extremely nice and informative, especially Tamika in the Admissions Office. After touring the school I had some lingering questions and she answered all of them really well without making the school seem daunting. In the bookstore the lady at the register was telling us all about the binary behind the new MIT shirts (every letter is made up of its own binary code).

My favorite part about my visit to MIT was how it wasn't just mine. If you're unaware my dad deals with computers for a living and my little brother took after my dad's keenness for motherboards and what not, so it was a family trip. When we went to the bookstore to look at shirts my dad and my brother were laughing at everything (that didn't include calc because my brother is 13). MIT was where my family had the most fun overall experience, and even though I can't put them in my suitcase if I were to be accepted, it's still nice to know that they enjoyed their time.

Now for the serious stuff: Snapchat filters. MIT's filters looked exactly like what a school for tech nerds would create. I didn't love them, but they made a lot of sense, so for that, I give MIT a 7/10. Nowhere close to the level of my hometown, but still very original and very MIT-like.

Maame's College Extravaganza: Harvard College

I've been in love with everything Harvard since I was about five years old when my dad and uncle were talking about great colleges (I don't think I'll ever forget that day in Albuquerque), anyway I've never stepped foot on the campus in my life. Everything I know about Harvard comes exclusively from the Internet: whether that be from Gilmore Girls via Netflix, Youtube videos or Harvard's virtual tour. If there has ever been a single school that was a must see in the heart of Maame between 2003 to now, it would be Harvard.

Cambridge is, for starters, beautiful. Everything about it is completely wonderful. I'm still not sure if I'm saying that because I've romanticized the entire town for so long, or if it truly is breathtaking; I think it's a bit of both. Cambridge feels like my hometown--remember, I'm the kid that packed the same home lunch for years, so I'm a fan of normalcy. I will admit there is one disparity: the roads are very narrow, and I was always convinced we'd hit something, even though we never did. Still, I enjoyed my time. Everything there is brick, on Massachusetts Street, I mean, which is a lot like Massachusetts Street in my hometown. The people are friendly, the sidewalks aren't very dirty, and bikers do whatever they want all the time.

Everyone knows how I feel about Gap--short story: I love the Gap. Anyway, literally steps away from Harvard Yard is a Gap store and an Urban Outfitters (even though I don't really shop there anymore, it's good to have choices), plus an Anthropology (I'm not sure I can even afford that, especially as a student, but again, it's good to have options), along with an American Apparel (I really can't afford that, but I can take pictures of cute outfits in the dressing room and dream).

Harvard itself is beautiful, as if that wasn't already obvious. Harvard Yard is smaller than I expected, but Harvard isn't really known for its high acceptance rates or anything, so it's understandable. Everything around Harvard Yard is made of brick, or at least some sort of stone. We went on a guided tour, so it included stories of different buildings, which really pulled everything together to know that a certain pile of bricks once housed George Washington or another was on its third try at being a building. The college is pretty spread out, there is the main campus on Mass., but it branches out throughout Cambridge, with every building looking distinctly Harvard-esque.

The worst moment of my life happened when I identified a Harvard student, from some obscure, exclusively Harvard video from Youtube. I'm sure he was weirded out, but I was on a high from the Cambridge air, and Yale students were in the room next to me. I was very easily knocked off of this pedestal when my mother asked for a picture, which I refused before he could even accept or deny because I am most definitely not a creep.

While on tour, we stopped at the "John Harvard" statue. I put this in quotation marks because John Harvard is not the one immortalized in brass, it's actually some rando that was related to the President of Harvard at the time. Another nugget of information: our tour guide said they call it the "Statue of Three Lies" because John Harvard isn't pictured, the establishment date on the statue is wrong and the founder's name is wrong. The "John Harvard" statue was created by the same man who did the Lincoln Memorial, so maybe he was a bit preoccupied at the time, but still, poor work, man. I saw a Youtube video where a bunch of kids got so drunk they allegedly peed on the statue, but I still got in line like everyone else, and rubbed the statues stinky, pee stained foot. It's supposed to help you get into Harvard, I guess only time will tell if I even have the gall to apply.

The filter options at Harvard are very nice, again not as good as my hometown, but Harvard isn't home to the most artistic people. I'm trying very hard to not let my sweet disposition for the school affect my scoring; between how the many filter options, and how certain buildings had their own filters, I'm giving Harvard a 7.5/10 for its Snapchat filters.

My next stop was MIT, which I will discuss in its own post at a later date. After we leave the Boston area, we'll be headed for the Big Apple.

If any of you have been to Harvard feel free to tell me what it was like.

Maame's College Extravaganza: Cornell University

This summer I’m embarking on my giant college tour trip, my parents and I are taking the East Coast by storm from Ithaca to Boston. This has been, by all means, an Odyssey to get here (Mr. Rabiola would be so proud). We drove because, well, I don't really know why we drove. Still, we drove. It wasn't a bad trip, but it was the longest we've ever taken as a family. I like long car rides because it allows me to do my favorite things: listen to music, eat, and read. It's uninterrupted time to relax for me because no one ever tries to make me drive. I assume as I get older this relaxation period will turn into something very different when I'm the one driving for twenty hours and not reading "Americanah" to Laura Mvula's album and a bag of Oreo Minis. Nonetheless I still read some 300 pages of one of my first fiction books written for adults in the driving period. I've also memorized all of "Green Garden" both the studio and the Metropole Orkest (I prefer the latter version, but only marginally).

As I embark on this journey I find it best to describe each place we stop, or at least the interesting ones. My first stop was Cornell University to

1. Visit my sister; and
2.  Go on a tour of the school

Ithaca, NY is in Upstate New York. I'm from Kansas, so when they say it's flat, I always think about how my hometown has huge hills that are scary to walk up, and then I came here and I'll never think that again. In Upstate New York everything has a slope. In Ithaca if you look up from pretty much any point, you see rolling hills, maybe mountains, for miles. It's really beautiful when you don't think about how somewhere in the rolls and rolls of forestry hills exists a few packs of bears that are very prepared to steal your Tim Hortons.

On the way to the cabins you have to go through a dramatic ride through Upstate, and just before you reach the Arnot Forest you're so close to the forest that you can see individual trees. The trees in this area are very thin, but very tall, like a teenage boy with a pituitary gland imbalance, and the roads are always raised up by about 10 feet, unlike in Kansas. So, you can't really swerve around on the roads, unless you enjoy 10 foot car drops onto the family of bears that still want your donuts.

Ithaca itself is a lot different from what I expected. My parents told me it's just like our hometown: that was a lie. Ithaca is very much a different city. It has a vibe to it that I've only found in the East Coast (this isn't my first rodeo in the East Coast please see 2008 and 2010 of my memory for more details). The roads are narrow and the rent is very high. When you pass single family homes, more than one family lives there. The people are very similar to my hometown, I'll give Ithaca that.

It's probably because they're colleges of similar sizes, although my hometown doesn't house an Ivy. Wegman's is a grocery store that's always packed with people because of its many organic options. My hometown just opened its third organic grocers. Ithaca feels smaller, I think it stems from how different the college town area is from everything else.

I've enjoyed my time here, in Ithaca I mean. There is an avid Amish population, which really excites me because they've always fascinated me. The Snapchat filters for the city aren’t half bad, but nothing in comparison to my hometown. I'll give their filters a 6/10. My next stop is Boston to tour the plethora of colleges that exist within the area. 

Let me know if any of you have been to Ithaca. How was it for you?