New York, New York

The City That Never Sleeps

Being a student in NYC is really amazing. Besides all of the activities, speakers, and events offered by JTS, Barnard, and Columbia there is an endless amount of things to do all over the city. Here are some things List College first years have been up to around NYC:

Comedy Shows: Many students have gotten to see sketch and improve comedy shows all around the city. I loved the show I saw at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre that included some of the funniest long-form improv comedy I have ever seen. For comedy lovers there are a few groups on Columbia’s campus that put on very funny shows as well.

Free Museums: Being Columbia and JTS students we have the privilege of free admission to many museums all around the city. I have gotten to tour the Museum of Modern Art and am looking forward to seeing the MET the Jewish History Museum and many others.

Parks: two beautiful parks border The Upper West Side and MSRH is only ten blocks from Central Park. The parks are such beautiful places to take walks, do homework, play sports, and have picnics. My roommate and I love playing frisbee on Columbia’s campus and in the parks.

Time Square: Want to spend time in the heart of the city that never sleeps? JTS/Columbia is only a fifteen-minute subway ride from Time Square. Take pictures, go shopping, and even listen to the street performers. Students also have the opportunity to purchase discounted student rush tickets to some of the best Broadway shows.

Special Events: This weekend NYC hosted the New York marathon. Ben Bromber-Gaber, a List College First Year ran in the marathon. Everyone stood on the sideline waiting for him to come by and cheer him on. There are so many events that happen in NYC, sometimes you only find out about them a few hours before but when you get to see something unique happening it can be a special moment.

Shul Hopping on Simchat Torah

Imagine hundreds of Jews singing and dancing with torahs on this plaza in the center of Columbia Campus. A night to remember!!

List College students have a special tradition of “Shul-hopping” on the night of Simchat Torah. List college freshman explored the many Simchat Torah celebrations on the Upper West Side including those at Temple Binei Jesherun, The Carelbach synagogue, Chabad, Hillel, and JTS among others. There was much dancing and singing all around the city with first years traveling the city together. Simchat Torah is also a popular time for people to invite friends to visit them and experience the holiday in NYC. The celebration at Hillel included hundreds of Jewish students dancing and celebrating in the Columbia student building, Alfred Learner Hall. For the final Hakafah (procession), all students danced with the Torahs to the center of Columbia campus to celebrate and wave Israeli flags. Many Columbia students stopped to watch and even join in with the festivities. After the celebration everyone dance over to the Hillel building, called the Kraft center, to hear the very end of the torah. After shul-hopping List College first years came back to MSRH for snacks in the music room. Most of us were very tired from all the fun of the night!
On Friday morning, services (and obviously more dancing) took place at Hillel and JTS. At the JTS service, one of the Jewish Life Directors of the MSRH building, Ravid Tilles was given the honor of Chatan Torah. Many List College first years went to the service to show him support during his honor. Many first years went to Hillel for a special lunch organized in honor of Simchat Torah.

What is your favorite part of Sukkot/Simchat Torah at List College? Or if you are not a student here yet, what sounds most exciting? Post in a comment below!

Sukkot at JTS!

Art in the JTS Sukkah

With Sukkot and Simchat Torah come community gatherings, special events, and a lot of singing and dancing. List College first years had a blast exploring all JTS, Columbia, and New York City had to offer during these two unique holidays.

Sukkot is one of the busiest holidays at JTS. List College first years spent time eating, studying, and plain dwelling in three sukkot at JTS, the MSRH residence hall Sukkah, the Hillel building Sukkah, the Barnard Sukkah, and many others throughout the city. JTS famously hosts community Sukkot meals on the first and second nights of the holiday. This is an opportunity for the entire community to get together and observe the holiday. The food was amazing and it is really easy to feel at home when people having a great time surround you. During Kol Hamoed all students enjoyed eating outside in the Sukkot including a special List 101 lunch in the Sukkah. List College Student Council (LCSC) hosted a cookie decorating study break in the MSRH sukkah. Hillel hosted a unique “Sukkot flash mob” event, which ended in a pizza party. JTS participated in an interfaith “Justice in the Sukkah” where members of various faith communities on the Upper West Side gathered together in the JTS sukkah to discuss food justice and study sacred texts. MSRH residents hosted special dinners in the Sukkot and had a great opportunity to spend time with friends. Oh, and classes were cancelled so students had time to fully observe the holiday.

List 101 Helps Students Explore New York City, Jewish Identity, and JTS Cookies

The Reason Freshman Sprint to List 101 Each Week

It is so nice to be around JTS during the holiday time. The JTS Sukkot are up everyone is still talking about the high holidays and looking ahead to Simchat Torah. For List College First Years this means midterms are coming, lots of schoolwork, and much going on all over the city. This week has been especially nice because of the weather. High of 86 degrees in mid October? It feels like summer. With LC first year’s being so busy with school and everything JTS, Columbia, and the city has to offer, one of the favorite parts of my week is my List 101 class.

List 101, the seminar for all first year students is a great opportunity to spend time with other members of the freshman class. Every Tuesday all Joint Program and Double Degree students come together for discussion, activities, and food. List 101 is taught by Ruth Decalo, the Director of Student Life, Dean Rebecca Grabiner, Associate Dean of List College, and four amazing List 101 interns who are students from a variety of grades and backgrounds within the programs. The interns spend a great deal of time organizing each List 101 session and have tried to make each class engaging and interesting.

Each session of List 101 brings something new. In our first week we learned about getting around NYC and split up for NYC trivia. We spent two weeks discussing Jewish identity, and had the opportunity to hear from List College Dean, Dean Schwartz discuss the many flavors and identities of American Jews. We have spent time in each session getting to know the members of our class better and finding out what we have in common with each other.

Last week, as part of List 101 the freshman class elected its class president. Two students gave compelling speeches, really showing their love and commitment for the freshman class. I think I saw the candidates shaking hands and kissing babies the entire week before. When the final votes were tallied and all of the hanging chads were counted, List College Student Council President, Hannah Goodman announced that the elected freshman class president was Batya Franklin! We look forward to working with Batya and know that she will represent our class well this year!

Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention about List 101… we get free lunch! The List 101 interns especially enjoy picking the meals that we get every Tuesday, and we have been treated to some great meals including pasta, grilled cheese, specialty pizza, and more. A highlight for me so far was watching one of our guest speakers, Resident Director Eric Woodward throw grilled cheese sandwiches at every student who walked into the class late as he was speaking. Never a dull moment. The most important, and arguably most delicious part of the List 101 meal is the world famous JTS cookies. Honestly, my literary skills are not advanced enough to describe these cookies in a mere blog post. Guess you will need to get one in the JTS dinning hall to understand the obsession. The week there were no cookies was a very tense moment for all List 101 participants and Ruth Decalo has promised students that this would not happen again ☺.

Throughout the rest of the semester we will discuss many more issues, have lunch with the deans of all three colleges (JTS, Barnard, Columbia), speak about time management, pluralism and theology, and much more. While everyone is running in a million directions all week, it is really special to get to have List 101 as a full freshman class each week. I hope Tuesday lunches next semester will still include cookies. Maybe that should be your first action as freshman president Batya?

Having JelLo with Hillel

Great first weekend with List College

Being a List College student comes with the great benefit of being part of an amazing Columbia/Barnard/JTS Hillel. Last Friday, Hillel invited all of the LC first years to partake in their annual Jewish Life Orientation, more commonly referred to as JelLo (or when tweeting it #JelLo). All weekend we had a blast meeting fellow Jewish students and participating in a variety of programs. The weekend started off with a free bagel brunch and coffee. The Hillel board and special JelLo leaders were very welcoming and made everyone feel at home. Later in the day a special session was hosted for transfer students who had spent a gap year or studied in yeshiva. All day Hillel gave out slushy cups with reusable straws. It appeared they were trying to base their weekend off the hit television show glee, but no one was sporadically braking out in song, so it was a bit confusing.

As our first Shabbat as List College students approached, everyone was very excited. Many rooms made last minute trips to the supermarket to buy food for Shabbat. Some MSRH residence even showered for the first time all week. Shabbat is a special time for List College students because everyone has the opportunity to observe the holiday in their own way. Many LC freshmen went to Hillel and could be seen praying at the Kesher, Koach, and Yavneh minyans, all affiliated with different movements (reform, conservative, and orthodox respectively). After services everyone headed over to the Diana Center on Barnard’s campus for a communal Shabbat dinner. Hillel reported that over 300 people were in attendance. Each table at the dinner had a centerpiece with a unique word on it. We were all asked to sit at the table of something that filled us with “glee” (get it). This gave us the opportunity to meet new people who had similar interests. Hillel hosted an A capella concert which included two Jewish groups on campus. It was fun to see familiar List College faces in the two groups. The night ended with a dessert reception for everyone to enjoy. Have you noticed that the first week of college includes a lot of free food!

Saturday morning many LC first years had their first experience with services at Hillel. I attended the Koach service and enjoyed davening with a community of my peers. That evening Hillel hosted a Times Square scavenger hunt where participants were split into groups and spent the evening photographing themselves in front of Times Square’s biggest landmarks. My team came in sixth place, which is probably not something I should be bragging about, but I did have a great time downtown.

Hillel’s JelLo program ended with the Hillel activities fair. Representatives from Hillel’s forty groups, organizations, and clubs spoke to new and returning students about how to get more involved this year. Hillel’s president made slushies for everyone really putting the cups we got at the beginning of the weekend to good use.

New York City has so many resources to learn about Judaism and to be a part of a Jewish community. Hillel is just one of the many ways that List College freshman get to experience a pluralistic environment to study, engage, laugh, and eat with likeminded people. I enjoyed JelLo weekend, and I have heard from many first year’s that they hope to get involved in Hillel in the coming weeks.

Anything you want to know about the List College freshman experience? Comment on this post, and we will try to write about it ASAP!

Thanks Hillel Lehmann for Having Us!!!

The NSOP Rundown!

List College First Year Students on Governor's Island

It has been a really exciting and busy first week of classes for List College first years! I know you are probably really excited to hear about our week, and you will on Monday. But lets get you caught up on the rest of the New Student Orientation Program in ludicrous speed!

From the Top of the Rock

Monday: LC first years met with Columbia School of General Studies administrators, Dean Awn, Dean Halvorson, and some of their academic advisors. Here we learned about the General Studies core classes and how to thrive at Columbia and fill our requirements. Dean Awn was sporting flip-flops and rainbow socks, and without trying convinced most of us to take his class on Islam. We had dinner with our amazing Jewish Life Directors Ravid and Yaffa Tiles and spoke about Kashrut and Shabbat at MSRH. It is nice to be apart of a Jewish community where all members are free to observe in a variety of ways. The falafel they gave us was also superb!! At night we went as a group to the top of the Rockefeller Center building and saw the breath-taking view.

Tuesday: We found ourselves in the Columbia Center for Career Education eating pizza and learning about the resources and networks Columbia provides for finding internships and jobs while in college and after graduation. I was also informed that blogging for JTS will not make me any money, so I may have to visit the career center soon. Tuesday night we enjoyed our favorite NSOP meal, (please don’t say pizza) PIZZA, and participated in Columbia GS speed meeting. We met many new students in our three-minute heart-to-hearts and enjoyed hearing such unique stories from the members of GS. While a night of meeting ballerinas, entrepreneurs, high school drop outs, moms, and soldiers can be very overwhelming, it was really a privilege to meet incredibly intelligent people who have worked so hard to come and receive a Columbia education. It will truly be an honor to study with them over the next four years.

Orli Matlow and I in a more serious moment at NSOP

Wednesday: Wednesday morning began with an interschool breakfast with Chancellor Eisen and the entire JTS community. Getting to meet first years in all of the JTS programs was truly unique. Chancellor Eisen made sure to include his famous anecdote, comparing the JTS experience to the walk between Columbia University and JTS. We LC freshman are learning this walk well. After a student services fair and some relaxing time on Columbia’s sunny campus we enjoyed our List College welcome dinner hosted by Deans Grabiner, Hammerman, and Schwartz. The JTS Provost Dr. Alan Cooper spoke to us about the pleasure it is to be apart of the JTS community. Dean Schwartz ended the night thoroughly embarrassing us individually by highlighting some of the unique activities and accomplishments we listed on our college application. The night was full of laughs and pride for List College. We ended the night on the Low steps with the Columbia University’s community forum. We learned about the history of CU, and had a glow stick dance party on the Low steps. LC students were complimented on their crazy dance moves and got to meet students from all of the Columbia schools.

Alison and Ariela on Water Taxi to the Island! Cool!!

Thursday: Today was our last official day of NSOP sessions. We met with the chief of security at JTS and participated in Columbia’s Consent 101 program. After an hour of awkward laughing and conversation we did come out with a little bit more knowledge than we started with. NSOP ended with the NYC Event on Governor’s Island. All CU students took water taxis to Governor’s Island and spent the night dancing, playing beach volleyball, and making new friends.

More about Shabbat and the first week of class coming up!

LC first years: remember to check out the activities fair on college walk today from 11am: 4pm. I was so amazed to see how many clubs JTS students were involved in. I gave my email out to many many clubs, and expect to spend a good amount of time next week unsubscribing from many club listserves.

Shabbat Shalom!!

Class of 2015 Takes List College by Storm

Brightest minds of LC '15 enjoying NSOP week

As I mentioned in the last post, I am going to try to post all week to get you up to speed on move-in, and the entirety of the last week. NSOP week was packed with so many activities and sessions that it may take a few days to put up all of the posts and pictures. So get in your time machine and join me on a trip to last Friday:

With Hurricane Irene looming from the south, most LC freshman moved belongings into their rooms. With the help of pink-shirted orientation leaders and one of the slowest elevators in Manhattan, first years started to unpack their rooms and put some finishing touches on their new homes. Many parents and guardians were seen making their child’s bed and forcing them to pose for pictures everywhere around campus. Among the parade of stuff that entered MSRH on Friday, two soda makers, a few bed bug covers, and a fire extinguisher could be seen. It is good to know that we will be kept safe in the event of any residence hall emergencies, and if not, that we will have seltzer.

Most freshmen returned home for the weekend or stayed with family who would be in the city through the weekend. A small group of incredible “super freshmen” (full disclosure: I was one of them) bared the storm at MSRH and enjoyed meeting a small portion of the JTS community, attending Shabbat meals and services, and beginning to explore their new neighborhood. All residents were given emergency glow sticks over the weekend in case there was a loss of power. Electricity did stay on, but that did not stop the glow- stick- filled techno dance party from commencing.

On Monday, as Upper Manhattan observed the wrath of Irene in the form of puddles and small fallen tree branches, the entirety of the List College Freshman class moved into MSRH. The students were greeted by their RA’s and orientation leaders and began the weeklong process of meeting, ice breaking, and schmoozing with their new classmates. Parents were sent to JTS for a special session, probably about what to do with their student’s rooms at home now that they have left for college. I am not sure though, since the details of the meeting have not been disclosed.

As both sessions concluded, parents had the opportunity to say goodbye, give long hugs, take more pictures, and begin to give a list of endless reminders including wearing a coat, eating a good breakfast and vegetables, and to call or text home everyday. Next, the freshmen listened to panels of older students discuss their experiences at JTS and in New York City. With much excitement building up for orientation, all first- years filed into the MSRH music room for a pizza lunch!

It did not take long for us to realize that we are part of a very unique program. The quality of the students and faculty alike was so obvious on our first day. Monday morning was clearly a sign of great things to come. And as the List College Dean, Dean Schwartz would say later in the week, LC first- years will always remember the hurricane they had to endure to get to this incredible school.

Meet the Blogger/ Getting Ready for First Day of Classes

Picture from the roof of the Rockefeller Center. So exciting to be living here!!

Before we get this show on the road, I thought I would take the inaugural post to introduce myself and let you know what to expect from the List College First Year Experience Blog this semester. Hopefully you will subscribe to the blog on the right side of the screen to get these whimsical updates in your inbox each and every week.

My name is Tyler Dratch, and I will be giving you a unique insider view of the experience of first year students at List College. I come from Bucks County, Pennsylvania and am thrilled to be living at the Mathilde Schechter Residence Hall (MSRH). I hope to study Political Science at Columbia University and am still undecided regarding my JTS major (there are just so many great ones)! I have two siblings, including a twin brother who is starting college in Boston this year. In my free time I love to read, bike, blog, and spend time with friends.

Over the next few days I will be posting as often as possible trying to catch you up on the amazing NSOP (New Student Orientation Program) that we have had all week. After that the blog will give you weekly insights into studying at JTS and Columbia University, participating in clubs, activities, student groups on campus, and living in one of the most active and vibrant cities in the world. If you ever have any comments, questions, or suggestions for the blog, feel free to post them below or to email me directly at tydratch@jtsa.edu. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Classes start tomorrow for all first year students! Everyone is getting their books and supplies ready, “first day outfits” picked out, and preparing for a good night sleep before classes begin. First year students will also enjoying a cupcake break with student life around lunchtime. I hear they are also giving out apples. I wonder which will go faster? Or, here is a nice compromise ☺

By the way: I tend to include very random and/or witty links in all of my blog posts. If you are looking to read this blog on a whole new level, start clicking away. If you are not into humor, that’s cool too. Enjoy the read!

Spring Break, Purim, and my Gradual Lapse into a Personal Teatise on List College

I want to apologize for my prolonged absence on the blog. I have been very busy with everything at school and in the city, but now I am setting aside time to relate to you wonderful things that have dawned on me over the course of my unintended departure from the blogosphere. But I have returned, with a loving vengeance that will only serve to illuminate you with reveries of recent weeks.

I begin.

Spring Break? Spring Break!

So I undertook what is called a “staycation,” which is like a vacation, but you stay where you are. And it was great. A few of my friends stayed at the dorms too, so we took advantage of the city and all its wonderful, springtime offerings, like good weather (70 degrees last Friday!) and cheap comedy shows (with SNL and 30 Rock cast members!) and a chance to explore good food (awesome Central Park ice cream trucks!). Overall, very relaxing, very enjoyable, and a great chance to explore and enjoy the fantastic city I now live in.

And then that weekend was Purim, which was a lot of fun, as it should be.

I always love Purim, from Hamantaschen, to dressing up, to the Megillah readings, all of which were present at Purim 5771. But what was striking to me that had never happened before, was the fact that under the influence of some readings I had done last semester for my Ancient Jewish History class, I no longer believed in the historical accuracy of the Purim story.

This is not necessarily detracting. I will always love Purim, and I will always celebrate it. Purim is about the endurance of the Jews, about a behind-the-scenes God. And regardless of whether or not there really was a Mordechai or an evil henchman named Haman that liked to cast lots, it doesn’t matter because, in my opinion, the story of Purim relays meaning that is valuable to Jews (and everyone else, too) on survival, and family bonding.

Please excuse this “mini-pseudo-d’var Torah.” It just goes to show how engaging JTS can be, how it pushes its students to really learn, and how it places the student in a relationship with Judaism that is conducive to critical thought.

College is well-known for notoriously rearranging your thoughts and making you consider things you never would have even dreamed about. And despite the uniqueness of List College, it is no exception, and rather provides a particularly engaging rearranging experience that is ultimately and supremely constructive in forming your own ideas about Judaism, God, yourself, secular culture, and everything else in between.

However, this process is not at all scary. It’s actually the opposite. It’s exciting and motivating and inspirational.

It is often heard in the halls of MSRH (Freshmen and Sophomore dorms at List) that those who come here either become more religious or less religious. Now, I have yet to take an in-depth survey at students’ past and present theological views, but from my observations and conversations, I can say for certain that List, with its unique combination of Jewish and secular learning, definitely produces serious thought about Judaism and its relation to the rest of the world and to ones’ self. Whether or not it is limited to observance, I can say that that’s definitely way too superficial and restrictive.

At List you don’t get the traditional, dime-a-dozen college experience.
Yes, a lot of those aspects are present, and I love and appreciate them, like Greek life, dining halls, and sleeping students in libraries.
But you also get JTS.
And I can tell that List isn’t simply a joint program between the undergraduate division of JTS and Columbia University. (I mean, it is, technically)
For me (because I can’t speak for anyone else), The List College Experience (intentional capitalization) brings together Jewish and secular learning in a way that, I think, encompasses the general concept of being Jewish while also being secular.

Final point. I remember during the welcome lunch during orientation week WAY back in August, Chancellor Eisen gave a little speech/dvar about Moses Mendelssohn, proponent of the Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment. While I was too nervous and intimidated by my first week in college to pay as much attention as I would have liked, further readings about Mendelssohn and the like brought to mind what I’m doing here at List and what Chancellor Eisen was probably saying as my mind raced about where my room keys were or about how I forgot to pack my winter coat.

List, to me, is about Jewish leadership and learning. That’s first and foremost. But securing its foundation is this idea of critical study and analysis of Judaism and also its practical yet faithful integration into the larger society.
I love this and I live for this.
This issue of how to be Jewish in a changing world and environment.
And as an 18-year old in college, I sympathize with Judaism as having to deal with a changing world and environment.
List College makes you think. It makes you think about things because you’re in college, it makes you think because it’s Jewish, and it makes you think because you’re in a Jewish college.

But whatever your intentions are, whatever your goals, dreams, aspirations, tendencies, loyalties, discrepancies, and doubts are, List will engage them with each other.

List is a college, but also much more. It’s an opportunity for thought and engagement that is vivaciously enlightening.

It may just blow your mind.

Fast Times @ Campus

This semester is coming in faster than a hurricane. It only started a month ago, and both List, Barnard and Columbia have been jam-packed with fun activities. I’ll try to give a constructive break down of what’s been keeping me busy (and not blogging). Keep in mind I could write essays about each of these things- email me or message me for more information!

LIST COLLEGE STUDENT COUNCIL DINNERS

About once a month, LCSC throws a Shabbat dinner. Imagine a gigantic plate of buffalo chicken wings, sliders, french fries, chilli, and beef&broccoli- all kosher. Now imagine it for $5. Now imagine it with all your friends. Now imagine it with Shabbat, which means paradise (and if you know anything about calculus, then it’s no brainer the limit of paradise as x approaches fun is infinite). These dinners are insane, and February kicked off with too much meat. And we all know how good meat is: http://www.youtube.com/user/EpicMealTime#p/search/2/7Xc5wIpUenQ

Ignore the bacon. In fact, every time you see it, pretend its a fruit-by-the-foot.

CU DANCE MARATHON

Columbia University teamed up with Barnard College to thrown it’s annual Dance Marathon, a marathon dedicated to raising money for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. So basically I danced in a room for 18 hours straight raising money for Pediatric AIDS. I also got to meet famous people, so check out the pictures! The event was nice, it made me realize how much time I have in a day (something like 24 hours). Each hour has a different theme of music, with an incredible array of DJ’s, good food and plenty of cold water. I only started feeling delirious like 12 hours into the event. By the time I hit my fourth wind, it was Sunday, 6am in the morning, with 58 minutes to go. I made friends, got my groove on, and personally assisted in the preventable, and curable, financially-crisesed issue of Pediatric AIDS. For more information, check it out: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cudm/index.html

SORORITY RECRUITMENT

So I didn’t actually participate in Sorority recruitment, but the amount of talk I heard about it was off the roofs. Lots of girls do recruitment weekend at CU to learn more about sororities. Most get offered bids, and only some take it. I now have oodles of girlfriends in sororities, and now feel honorarily involved in Greek Life. To clarifiy, I’m not actually Greek. But no one else here is Greek either, because sorority life at CU is dry and not anything like the television show “Greek.” The Sorority board of CU/BC decided several years ago to transform sorority life at the two schools into a non-dramatic, sisterhood. So if you really want to get drunk, join a frat

Kidding. Don’t drink until you’re of the consented age 21 determined by our nation’s diverse 50 state’s senatorial legislations.

HILLEL CHALLAH

Hillel launched a new program called Challah for Hunger. That means three nights a week now, you, or anybody really, can make challah dough, braid challah and bake it. The new program has been really successful, really social, and really, really fulFILLING

LIST COLLEGE FORMAL

Ok, it hasn’t happened yet. But it’s going to happen tomorrow. I know a lot about it, because I’ve got the “in” at Student Council (not to brag). Catered meals, gowns and tuxs, plenty of hydration- tomorrow night is going to be a good night. Expect ice sculptures, rocket jet packs, and a bar mitzvah DJ. Max, my co-blogger, is my date. STAY TUNED FOR PICTURES. Or don’t. Max and I don’t care. Because if you’ve read this much of the blog post, you’re probably not invited yet (That better be incentive to go to List).

DORMITORY SELECTIONS

Recently all List College Freshmen living in the undergraduate dormitory Mathilde Schechter Residence Hall (MSRH) got to pick their dorm rooms for their sophomore year. Which means besides a very select group of lucky people who got to room again with their room mates, everybody who wanted one ended up with a single. Can you believe it? A single flat, with a sink and mirror, bed, closet, cabinet, desk and cable – in college- in Manhattan. In most schools students never get their own rooms until maybe, by chance, senior year. Imagine doing it as a Sophomore, especially in a place like the city! And getting to pick it in a dormitory that’s so familiar to you. And picking to live next to your best friends. It’s a sweet deal, that only could happen at a small program in a big city.

JPAF

Columbia hosted the first, and potentially the last, Jewish Performing Arts Festival! The festival brought over 11 Jewish A Capella choirs from all over the country to the Miller theater. So if you’re an A Capella junkie, last weekend was your weekend. And most choirs were hosted by List College students, so I got to meet lots of cool, Jewish singers from schools like Boston University, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, Tufts University, Pennsylvania State and more. The lesson of the weekend was that no matter where you are in the country, a capella singers bob all the same. It’s like an unspoken code- you can’t sing STAB (Soprano Tenor Alto Bass- sectional singing- yah, look at me with those musical terms) unless you bob rhythmically.

CONCERTS, MUSIC AND GLORY

While on the subject of music, I might as well put it out there that in New York there are way too many concerts going on. Unfortunately, this is not my expertise. Max Daniel is the one with $3,000 headphones and an undying love for all music. He goes to way more than me. But literally Columbia recently just updated their TIX program, which gives students cheap/free tickets to almost any show in Manhattan. Imagine Opera tickets for less than 10 dollars. Yah, it’s there. Imagine Kid Cudi for free. Yah, it’s there. Or the Lion King for 15. Totally worth at least $50 a pop. But instead of going over the concerts I’ve been to, I’ll just tease you with the eery suspense that I have been to numerous concerts, and that at List College, most people go to them frequently too. Next week, a bunch of friends and I are going to see Girl Talk. Those tickets sold out three months in less than four hours. It’s going to be explosive.

CONCLUSION
As you can see, adventure is everywhere you seek at List College. Whether its being in the elite of the elite (this program), on Columbia Campus, or downtown Rockefeller Center, it’s easy to have a super fun time! Don’t go around sipping your juice minding your business- visit List College and we’ll show you what’s happening. I think this is the only environment on campus where kids work themselves to the bone academically, and keep having fun. I know I go out four times a week! Get excited for next week’s post, it’s going to be big…

Even small people can meet big shots

Big appetite, bigger pizza.

Yah I’m Famous