Our next Senior Wisdom is from Arvin Ahmadi, who completely changes our perspective on Loraxes.

Arvin Ahmadi

Name, Hometown, School, Major: Arvin Ahmadi, Centreville, VA (“outside DC”), CC, Political Science, Computer Science

Claim to fame: President of Ivy Council. Former reporter/blogger/columnist/photographer for Spec. I once joked in a Spectrum post that the ultimate mark of success is to have shirts made with your face on them, and now, thanks to a 21st birthday surprise from Nicole Bleuel, there are approximately 35 #Arvining shirts floating around campus with my face on them. That makes me fame-ish, right?

Where are you going? Scotland for six weeks and then back to New York. I’ll be working on a small startup within a somewhat larger startup called Yext.

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2018?

1) You learn the most in uncomfortable circumstances. I’m not saying you should turn off your AC in July or try driving through Times Square – those are New York City nightmares. But do get out of your comfort zone. Whether that’s taking a job you’re not totally qualified for (check), traveling alone to a foreign country (check), or sampling that caffeinated drink everyone is so obsessed with (both coffee and Four Loko changed my life), throw yourself into situations where you can’t predict the outcome and watch yourself grow.

2) If you really want something, you’ll make time for it. Very few people are ever actually “too busy.”

3) Distractions are inevitable. If you were attracted to New York City then chances are you’re at least a little ADD. So turn those distractions into breaks. I have this semesterly routine where I’ll go downtown to get my hair cut, grab dinner at Cheeky’s* and watch a movie at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema. Just me. I consider myself a fairly social and active person, but when you’re stressed with papers and internships and other commitments or non-commitments, a little “me time” does wonders.

*SIDE NOTE: Cheeky Sandwiches is in the Lower East Side and serves literally (I don’t use that term lightly) the best chicken sandwich I’ve ever had. Fried chicken, red cabbage slaw, gravy, homemade biscuit. I know there’s a “One thing to do before graduating” question coming up, but this is one thing you need to do NOW.

“Back in my day…” Themed parties weren’t a form of micro-aggression, Pupin Plaza was a minefield, anyone could pretend to be a Columbia student, and you could get a margarita, Yuengling and subway ride for under $10 (thanks inflation).

Justify your existence in 30 words or fewer: I’ve lost two pea coats in my life: One at senior night, and another to a drunk man in Hong Kong who tried to kill me at 5 AM.

Write your most memorable note from the field: Junior year, my roommate grew a beard. Now I know the Brooklyn Beard is going mainstream and facial hair is a mark of manhood and personal preference is a thing and all, but another friend and I didn’t like the beard. Period. So we staged a Finntervention (guess my roommate’s name) and invited a bunch of people. This would have been legendary, except on the day of the intervention I was showing Finn something on my Facebook Newsfeed and he noticed one of my events was called “FINNTERVENTION (don’t tell Finn).” Needless to say he did a little snooping, figured it out, and came to his intervention 100% clean-shaven.

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? Oral sex is an anagram for Loraxes so the Dr. Seuss fan in me is tempted to keep it, but I love cheese too much.

One thing to do before graduating: Spend a summer in the city.

Any regrets? Yeah. Mentioning my middle school Xanga to my friends freshman year. In general I regret not deleting all of my pre-2010 Internet activity, since most of the embarrassing stuff has since been dug up and proliferated by Bruno Mendes.

I kind of wish I had been more controversial. I’m neither the nicest nor the meanest person on this campus. I don’t write polarizing op-eds or Facebook posts, and the closest I’ve come to staging a protest is Finntervention. This is mostly a good thing, since I think the majority of Columbia students are relieved not to be the target of anonymous Bwog commenters or the subject of gossip. But my extensive political science study of revolutions (read: one seminar) suggests that controversial people make the most impact. And don’t we all want to make an impact? I think there’s a Beatles song along those lines. Anyway, this is all very stream of consciousness, but you get my point.

I should also be more careful what I wish for, probably.