My love affair with New York started while at Barnard. As a high school senior, I came with a friend to visit her sister for a weekend, and I was hooked. My parents loved to joke about how decades before, they had worked hard to abandon gritty New York City life for the suburbs, and their daughter couldn’t wait to get back! Much of college was about trying to break out from my sheltered upbringing and experience all that New York City had to offer.
With all the cultural activities that Barnard made available to students, it was easy to always find interesting new things to do. I will never forget my first Broadway show (with Marci Levy-Maguire’93 — do you remember that??) and the feeling that overcame me when we stepped out of the subway in pre-Disney Times Square. I would go to Israeli folk dancing across town and dance until 2 am. As a biology student, I had access to the library at the Museum of Natural History and would wander around for hours just drinking it all in. I spent many Friday afternoons jumping on the subway and just getting off in a new neighborhood and exploring. Barnard afforded me so many opportunities to venture outside of the college gates, and was always there to welcome me back home.
But for me, the real New York was all about Morningside Heights. Despite what my non-New York friends and family thought, I felt very safe and comfortable in the areas around campus- like it was my own private stomping ground. Years later, New York City remains my home. Even after leaving for Dental School and residency, I always knew I would be back. It wasn’t a coincidence that in deciding on our new apartment on the Hudson river, I picked a north-facing view — somewhere among all those buildings in the distance, my Barnard home is smiling back at me. When I look out the window every morning from 42nd street, I imagine a student looking back at me from a window in Sulzberger Hall and I give her a little wave.
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Now that you mention it, I do remember that trip! However, I don’t actually remember what we saw. I’ve enjoyed reading the blog entries. Both you and Atoosa have mirrored many of my own thoughts. I, too, am still in NYC and most comfortable north of 96th Street. My husband and I live in Harlem now, where we are looking forward to the birth of our first child (a girl). She is due June 4th, so my attendance at the reunion is somewhat in doubt. It was actually the first thing I thought about when I found out our due date!
On a different note, I thought you’d be interested to know that my current job as a professional developer for science teachers with New Visions for Public Schools (a School Support Organization for NYC public schools) includes a partnership with the American Museum of Natural History, so I’ve been spending a lot of time there recently. Every time I pass by the library, I think back to my college days. Tonight I was working with teachers there, and I actually shared my story of watching a lunar eclipse from the 12th (or 13th?) floor of Altschul while I was working on a Microbiology project. Some things you just never forget.