Manhattan and Columbia

This is Columbia, the very statue where the tourists line up to get their photos taken and incoming graduates whip out there cell phone cameras. She's an Ivy League babe, cause this is Ivy League, baby. Columbia has lots of faux grecian columns. Where have I seen this all before?







These guys scamper around all over the campus ... it adds to the Harry Potter feeling that I get from some of the professors.






The campus is way up on the North East part of Manhatten, sandwiched between Harlem and the Hudson River. Most New York addresses are written with street coordinates. Columbia is 116th/Broadway.














And here's a view down Broadway with a taxi (yellow, but no checks - when and why were these abolished?):





International House, where I am staying, is a lot of fun, friendly atmosphere and a grand location 5 minutes from the uni. The sole disadvantage: the rooms are tiny! Here are the 8 square metres of New York I call my own:

And here is the gotham-city view I have over Harlem and Washington Heights in North Manhatten ... the metro line 1 comes up above ground just here and it sparks and squeels over this old iron bridge. The 125th street metro station (the closest to IH) sits up on this bridge, and the whole thing shakes as the trains roll by. Not sure when the last time was the metro got a cash injection, but it was a long time ago. This is a genuine New York real deal view, no parks or river or other frills. Further advantage of my room location: I don't have to spend money on an alarm clock, because the roar of the traffic and the squeeling of the subway wakes me up at about 7 in the morning every day.

International House and the ISSO (international student organisation) have been doing a lot of orientation activities ... this was one of the more unusual: a trip to a fake city beach (yup, that palm tree is not real) in Queens with a brilliant view across to Manhatten. It is called Water Taxi Beach because the Water Taxi ferry stops here. The view is amazing, but that was the best thing that could be said about the beach: otherwise bad beer and cringe-inducing open mic session blew this one out the water ... and no amount of skyscrapers could save it.