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The Columbia and Barnard campus is built on top of a hill, The Morningside Heights, which is called the "Acadamic Acropolis" or the "Acropolis of New York" and sits on top of one of the highest geographical points of Manhattan island.
There are two very nice parks on each side.
The Riverside Park to the West with views of the Hudson River and the Morningside Park to the East where some of the students walk or exercise...
You can clearly see the cliffs of the Heights and the two parks when looking from either the Hudson river and New Jersey or from the East.
A newcomer will be surprised to find out that Columbia University owns most of the housing in Morningside Heights. There are thousands of students and faculty that live around the campus, one of the most high in demand areas to live in Manhattan.
The fortunate ones...
A prospective student should attempt if he or she is in good shape to walk south from Columbia and through the Upper West Side all the way down to Penn Station, about 80 city blocks to get a real sense to how different and unique is life in New York than any other cosmopolitan city.
The ones that can't do it should take the Broadway Avenue bus for part of the trip.
Walking, busing or taking the subway in the City, people watching and shopping, the museum, theaters and clubs, there are so many things to do.
It's almost impossible to feel bored when you live in the Big Apple. It's huge in its offerings, some expensive, but a lot more very inexpensive.
Now you can live most of your student life in a lab or the library and still find yourself after graduation a pretty sophisticated guy or gal with not just loving NYC' s flavor but also the international flavors tasted by being in contact with people from every corner of the world.
Can you get tired of life in the City as a student?
Of course you can't and you don't have to be arrogant about being a New Yorker.
It's just a fact of life.
Note for the curious:
I don't live in NYC anymore but I still visit and enjoy it frequently.
From the very new to the very old there is an almost invisible line to guide us, like Ariadne's thread of love in the Labyrinth of our daily existence.
Literature reveals universal truths.
Classical literature is not just a collection of gimmicky dialogues or display of material wealth but an immersion to the richness of the human spirit, with all those characteristics that make us a biped capable of complex thinking and emotions, some very "reasonable" and a few too "unreasonable".
"As when, among
The deep dells of an arid mountain-side,
A great fire burns its way, and the thick wood
Before it is consumed, and shifting winds
Hither and thither sweep the flames-so ranged
Achilles in his fury through the field
From side to side, and everywhere o'ertook
His victims, and the earth dark with blood."
If one can't recognize the scenery and the action in today's world then in which planet has this person lived for the last few years?
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