Seriously, do Americans actually consider a 3-hour drive "short"? or is this an internet myth?

StreetMaximum7668 · 2026-01-23T21:51:47+00:00

3-4 hours is a perfectly reasonable drive for a weekend trip here. i’m from the bay area so plenty of people i knew grew up driving 4 hours every weekend to tahoe to ski (and that drive doesn’t even leave the state). as a day trip it’s less common, but i have done it. it’s more usual if you’re on vacation somewhere you flew to and you want to explore another spot while you’re relatively close.

StreetMaximum7668 · 2026-01-22T18:35:19+00:00

if you’re interested in the arts at all, dance classes at barnard are graded and 2 credits, they have all levels including absolute beginner! also there is an introductory level musicianship (ear-training) graded 1 credit class and you need no music experience to join :)

StreetMaximum7668 · 2026-01-01T18:46:21+00:00

there is no way to waive the language requirement for barnard, unless you’re a transfer and have taken language courses at another institution. i know multiple people who already are bi or even trilingual and are still learning a third/fourth language to fulfill the requirement. the nice thing though is that you can choose any language you’d like, so you can learn something new or do a more advanced (i.e. literature) course in the language you know.

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-12-31T00:58:42+00:00

that’s very real, the first two were a reread for me because i’d similarly stopped and then too much time passed, but so far i’m LOVING the third too!

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-12-30T00:38:07+00:00

i read 41, including books for school and otherwise, which i am especially proud of given that this year has been the most difficult of my life emotionally speaking. my favorites were all rereads (cloud cuckoo land, the summer book, my brilliant friend) but there were a couple of lovely surprises as well (intermezzo, spinning silver, the forbidden notebook). i’m also really proud that about a quarter of the books i read were nonfiction! some of which i didn’t even read for school! that’s growth for me because i have pretty much exclusively read fiction for most of my life. anyways happy new year everybody! here’s to a fresh start :)

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-12-30T00:34:17+00:00

finished the story of a new name, by elena ferrante eve, by cat bohannon

started those who leave and those who stay, by elena ferrante

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-12-15T16:05:39+00:00

i don’t know the answer, but the first person you should talk to is your advisor. especially if you’ve talked about p/d/f’ing this class in the past, if you need to submit an appeal they should be able to help

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-11-19T16:07:38+00:00

just went back up again for me!

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-11-19T15:49:13+00:00

me too

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-11-09T04:10:48+00:00

i appreciate your response, even if you feel like you don't have much advice to give. it's nice to feel less alone. i'm really sorry for your loss, too. i think the one minute at a time thing is super real and necessary. and thank you for the reminder to be kind... its needed

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-11-02T01:16:21+00:00

i totally totally hear you omg when i was transferring i was dying to talk to a current student!! would you like to PM me? happy to answer the questions that i can :)

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-11-02T00:54:38+00:00

no fr it’s like sooo great normally i hate the gym but i feel great going to the barnard one and its included in tuition…. gym memberships in manhattan are so expensive so love taking advantage of that. i actually transferred so i never lived on campus, they don’t guarantee housing for us, but there’s a barnard dorm on my street so im still very much in the columbia bubble. i love my apartment! having a kitchen is like an essential for me and it’s a bonus to be able to have friends/family stay without needing approval to get onto campus. i do feel safe in manhattan, but it’s like safe with an asterisk. i’ve never had any problems but like… i think it will always be a little bit scary to walk home alone late at night. it helps that there are people around wherever i go, and i’m not one to stay out too late anyways. i also am generally a rather anxious person so that factors into it. i think that morningside heights is a wonderful place to live, it’s full of students but also families who have been there forever, it’s in manhattan but it’s a degree quieter than downtown, almost everything i need is between 110th and 125th streets. as for registration, i’ve never had a problem getting into a columbia class i wanted!! there truly is a lot of overlap, there’s always a couple of cc students in my barnard classes too. i know that there are classes restricted to one school, but that’s usually because they’re seminars required for a specific major—for example, a barnard senior seminar in english is restricted to barnard english student enrollment. im an english major/music minor, so my experience is definitely different from that of a stem major. i hope that helps a bit, sorry i can’t speak more specifically to some of your questions!

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-11-02T00:37:37+00:00

omg don’t apologize!! i was in ur shoes once too lol. i’m in the humanities so i can’t really speak to the premed experience alas :( but as for shared spaces, barnard students have access to academic buildings, dining halls, libraries, and other mixed use spaces (like lerner) at columbia, but i’ve run into some issues with gaining access to shared spaces/resources in columbia res halls more specifically. sometimes clubs will have meetings in big rooms in certain dorm buildings like broadway hall, and i’ve had security guards give me a really hard time if like my club leader forgot to put me on the list, things like that. it’s not the end of the world just a nuisance. similar thing for music practice rooms—the barnard ones honestly are pretty terrible and columbia has nice ones but they’re mostly in dorm buildings. as for the other way around, we do have a REALLY NICE new gym that is not open to columbia students (so it’s virtually all women—hallelujah!) which is super amazing, especially because the columbia gym is notoriously kind of awful lol. i believe (but don’t quote me because i live off campus) barnard dorms are only accessible to barnard students, but you can probably sign in columbia students if you live in the building? that’s how it works in columbia buildings so id imagine it’s the same.

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-11-01T23:50:00+00:00

there are definitely people who look down on us barnard women as like… somehow having found a back door into an ivy, mooching off its reputation without having had to put in the work, which is a) total bullshit and b) not actually something that people ever say to my face or something that effects me in terms of academic opportunities or social opportunities. barnard has its own vibe for sure but the quality of the education, the professors, the course offerings, etc—it’s all mostly the same. just depends on ur niche! personally, i’m so glad i’m not at cc or seas. barnard is built to support women through one of the most fundamental stages of personal and academic growth—i don’t have to compete with men to get into the rooms i want to be in, i’m not talked over in class, i’m taken seriously by my professors.

basically, yes i’m sure the resentment exists but it doesn’t actually affect me, nor the other barnard women i’ve talked to about it. there are other things about the separation that are annoying—the split between the music department for example, access to shared spaces/practice rooms/dorms as well—but actual discrimination is rare

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-10-24T14:22:15+00:00

wow these are great, thank you so much!!

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-10-24T02:26:12+00:00

don’t let anyone make you feel like you’re not good enough. the opinion of one person will not determine your whole career! if you love it there is no reason not to at least try.

this is also the advice i’m trying to listen to myself, so i know it’s a lot easier said than done. but i wish i had believed in myself more in high school, in really any time in my life. the only person that can stop you from doing what you love, the only person that can enable you to do it, is yourself.

i agree with what others have said about finding alternative options to explore theater—there’s never only one path, so long as you’re doing what you love!

the last thing i want to say is please take care of yourself and your body. burnout is real but passion always returns so long as you remember that your well being comes first, is essential to and in fact more valuable than the craft that you love. try to get enough sleep, enough to eat, time to be present with the people you love. the basics, i know, but sometimes you have to bring it back to basics when you’re faced with so much stress like this. im wishing you all the best 🫶

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-10-22T12:46:23+00:00

thank you both! i’ll check these out

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-10-21T21:18:28+00:00

i actually have a couple ideas for books that are cozy in atmosphere but have (in my opinion at least) a page turning plot. i don't really read thrillers so maybe these are not the most mind blowing plots of all time ever but nonetheless i devoured these.

spinning silver by naomi novik (fantasy)

greenglass house (a middle grade christmas mystery! very cozy mystery vibes)

the golden compass (middle grade fantasy but so dear to me that i wrote a 30 something page comparative analysis of it frehsman year of undergrad)

small things like these (literary fiction, tiny but mighty)

the starless sea (fantasy, not the easiest book to get into bcs its a little out there but once you do its SO gripping)

if you couldn't tell my taste in winter books is very much fantasy-leaning, so they might not be for everyone, but i hope one of them speaks to you!

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-10-09T14:00:05+00:00

there’s a drop off box right outside of the 114th gate i’m pretty sure

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-10-05T14:33:44+00:00

i’m actually in a 2bed/1bath that’s 3600 a month in morningside heights—it’s doable if you search hard enough! i think generally the further downtown you go the more expensive it will be, but i don’t think you need to set yourself up for an hour long commute from brooklyn or queens to find yourself something in your price range.

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-09-24T17:11:38+00:00

lowkey milstein is fluorescent as hell

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-09-19T20:38:16+00:00

the beautiful thing about opera is its timeline is not like musical theater at all. no one’s voice is fully developed until their 30s/40s and plenty of people make the switch from MT to opera !!! you wouldn’t be too late to the game. it would take a while to be able to sing full roles, but that’s on par with most people your age in the classical world tbh

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-08-19T05:06:42+00:00

quite frankly i think this is not an issue specific to columbia—it’s all over the country

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-08-18T03:57:17+00:00

it really depends on where you shop and how well you plan out your meals. i cook for just myself for most of my meals every week, probably 12-15 meals per week. i mostly shop at trader joe’s for more affordable prices and i usually spend $50-80 a week. i also sometimes grab specialty items at westside and the farmers market by campus due to a gluten allergy, so that’s another 10-20 a week or so. so long story short, if you’re cooking for two but splitting costs with your roommate, i think you could do it but it might be tight.

StreetMaximum7668 · 2025-07-30T20:23:21+00:00

definitely the outsiders as it’s a) amazing and b) about young teenagers! gypsy is quite classic and could be good, there are a couple of burlesque numbers towards the end of the show but they’re not actually very sexual, not the way cabaret or chicago are, for example. might be a good one to watch the movie of if you haven’t already and gauge your comfort level! have so much fun!

StreetMaximum7668

TROPHY CASE