College . . . As Seen from the Other Side

A really interesting thing about my fellowship (at least to me, maybe others think so too . . .) is that I am working for another Ivy League University. A specify 'Ivy League' because, like Princeton, Columbia University makes its Ivy school spirit evident in so many ways. Walking around campus, I see and hear Columbia tour guides constantly -- we are talking at least once a day. And I hear these tour guides -- who walk forwards and not backwards -- comparing this school to Princeton and the others. In addition, I complete a lot of my research in the Butler Library, and I believe that it is nearly impossibly for a Princeton alum to walk in without immediately thinking of Firestone. More directly, when working for the head of my organization, a professor here at Columbia, I am made aware of his shared network of some of the professors and researchers that I studied while attending Princeton. Princeton is so different than Columbia; I could seriously go on about this for pages and pages. But what I am trying to say here is that I have not yet left that Princeton bubble entirely.

The difference is that I am now a staff member in this Ivy tinted bubble -- but one that is surrounded by a thriving NYC metropolis. And it has been such a learning curve from graduating from college and then turning around and making a huge course packet this summer. And we thought that it was a lot of work reading those course packets -- I never knew about the time spent making them. Or what an experience it has been to research, fact-check, spell-check, and the like for someone who is writing those same types of articles that I spent the past four years doing a healthy balance of reading and skimming :). And I have definitely been made aware that professors, like students, have page-counts, deadlines, and their own special notebooks and binders.

When I was at Princeton, I didn't spent much time imagining what the whole experience was like from the other side. And these past 2 months or so, I have gotten a little taste of that. At the same time, I have become more acquainted with the non-profit sector; this same professor runs the non-profit that I am also working with. But it is important for me to note that my position has taught me just as much about academia, and I have not spent that much time digesting that information until now.

Classes at Teachers College, Columbia University start the week after Labor Day -- where I will be taking notes for the same class that I have been helping prepare. I will be going to class every Wednesday evening from 5:00-7:00 pm. But this time, I won't be a student :).