This morning I was up and on a bus by 8.30am, and it was a beautiful fine day outside. Aside from the subway, the buses run regularly and are also an easy way to get around. I got off at Columbia University to go and have a look around. Founded in 1754, Columbia is one of the eight prestigious Ivy League schools, and its recent alumni include Barack Obama. It takes up about 6 blocks on the Upper West Side and is the largest owner of private real estate in the city. I walked onto the main concourse which is massive, old and stunning. Green grass and huge oak trees, buildings hundreds of years ago and constant reminders of the great Greek and Roman scholars:
Obviously this school has a very wealthy alumni, and receives gifts of hundreds of millions of dollars and priceless artifacts from some very important people. The old Library, which is now offices and an auditorium, was a huge marble hall with sunlight coming in a skylight and the walls lined with glass cases of ancient Greek vases, sculptures and busts. There really is a sense of prestige, history, wealth and also learning, knowing that only the best and brightest in their fields have studied and learned at this institution for hundreds of years. I picked up some brochures, wandered around some more and left feeling inspired. I bought a Columbia coat of arms sticker and a small pennant to remind me to really apply myself this year and get the best grades I can so that one day I can be an Ivy League student.
Then I got the subway downtown to visit another top school, New York University (NYU). They don't really have a campus as such, but most of the buildings are around Washington Square and the surrounding blocks. I stopped in the Square for a bit where there were lots of people sitting out in the sun, eating, talking and busking. I videoed and gave money to one incredible guy who was playing 5 different instruments at a time and sounded amazing, it's a pretty big area but his big voice rang out over the square and people gathered round and started to clap along. Brilliant.
I made an appointment with a graduate admissions counselor to talk about their admissions criteria and the system here, which is quite different to home. Their Integrated Marketing program requires work experience, career and academic references, and a 3.0-3.2 (around B+) GPA, and costs between $50-65,000 USD (about $70,000+ NZD) for the two year masters degree. Once you get in you can defer for 12 months which is helpful, however it sounded like financial assistance for non-residents was limited. Also they don't help you with accommodation at all, and apartments in Manhattan are prohibitively expensive and rare so you would have to commute in from Brooklyn or Queens. Their classes are all run in the evenings so people can work and study, something I hadn't really thought about but would actually be pretty beneficial. As much as I can't see myself living in New York for an extended period of time, it's arguably the best place in the world for marketing and for networking. Food for thought.
I looked around some of the NYU buildings. Some were nice but the very inner-city feel was slightly disconcerting. There were lots of students and interesting things around though:
There is a massive shop called Designer Shoe Warehouse just near the square, so I had to go in there. It is absolutely massive, wall to wall with shelves of designer shoes at discounted prices. I headed to the clearance section and ended up getting a pair of outrageous Steve Madden platform heels. Steve Madden designs and makes amazing shoes, all beautiful and many ridiculously impractical so perfect for my taste.
Then I went down to Nolita (North of Little Italy) which is a small district of narrow cobbled streets, cute coffee shops, exclusive boutiques and very thin women who look like supermodels walking around in haute couture speaking French.
I had a look in a few shops - they were small and very specialised, and some were designer stores like Alexander Wang. The consignment stores here are where models sell the clothing and shoes they get given off the runway, so I went into Ina for a look. Funnily enough, they had dozens of dresses in size 0-2 and a grand total of 5 in my size, and 2 in the size above that. The shoes were divine - Manolo Blahnik and Christian Loubutini, any fashion-savvy girl's dream footwear, were on offer for $250-400 which is about 20% of their retail value. Sadly, I did not have any money or occasion to wear a pair of Manolos. I think the salespeople knew I wasn't their usual clientele, because they ignored me and continued their conversation about how best to wash $700 True Religion jeans.
However the shop next door, Variazioni, had a slightly more friendly price range, more fun clothes and a sale rack. They carried mostly Italian designers in the low to moderate price range, and I managed to find a very tight and sparkly party dress within my budget. The tall African American sales lady was funny, helpful, sassy and not afraid to tell me my 'ta-tas' looked great. Her fabulously gay male colleague exclaimed the dress was 'poppin' as they danced around to the new Rihanna album and found me stuff to try on. Sadly the budget only allowed for one dress, which they gave me a further discount off.
By this point I was feeling slightly overwhelmed again and had a few shopping bags so I just went back to the apartment, sat in the sun and read the New Yorker. It's a very good publication, with some excellent pieces which I thought were slightly more controversial than what you might find in North and South at home. I read a report on the gay teenager who committed suicide after his college roommate secretly filmed him with another man and invited others to watch it. I had heard of the case in the mainstream news media but didn't fully understand any of the details, but the article provided a great insight into the US justice system. They recovered all of the accused's emails, instant messages, texts, tweets and Internet activity leading up to, during and after the breach of privacy and he could face up to 10 years in jail. It sounded like a very complex case, but justice is certainly being done.
Although I am firmly heterosexual, I think everyone should be safe from harassment or discrimination no matter what their sexual orientation is. I don't actually have any gay close friends but given the opportunity I would love to make some. I can't stand homophobia or ridicule of anyone, but sadly I find there is a lot of it in New Zealand, mostly fueled by fear of the unknown and lack of understanding. I think it's fantastic New York passed the gay marriage laws, and would love to see more of that everywhere.
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