Does he look wise enough?

Here’s some additional reading for you this reading week: the Senior Wisdom of  Dimitri Nouveau’s, who self-describes as one of PrezBo’s guinea pigs.

Name, Hometown, School, Major: Dimitri Nouveau, Paris (France, not Texas), GS – Dual B.A., Social Sciences at Sciences Po, Financial Economics at Columbia.

Claim to fame: Made it through not one, but two crazy challenging colleges. In other words, I was among PrezBo’s guinea pigs for a life-size experiment on “Global Higher Education”. Seriously though, I learned so much from my time in both institutions: highly demanding analytical frameworks – the infamous “three-part plan” – in a French grande école, and intellectual freedom in an amazingly stimulating Ivy League university. Non-GPA wise, there is hardly more thrilling experience than settling down in two major cities. If you think moving to New York forced you out of your comfort zone, imagine having to deal with the French administration: Dante’s Inferno will take on a whole new meaning.

Where are you going? Since I decided to be bold and original, I will head midtown to work for an investment bank where first-year analysts are expected to work less than 100 hours a week. I know, I couldn’t believe it either when they told me, but apparently such places exist.

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

1. No matter how smart you are, practice being kind over being right. Don’t be too hard on your friends: yes, their lack of nutritional common sense or derelict sleep schedule might infuriate you. I can hear you laugh, but wait until you see someone having a bowl of Parmesan for dinner. You will think that your lifestyle is the shit, and that if everybody followed your example, Bwog wouldn’t have anything to write about. The issue is, people might think the same of you: if you don’t learn to put a hold on these judgments, they might deprive you from invaluable friendships. Think about it twice before passive-aggressively drunk texting your roommate about that nasty habit of his: is being right really worth it?

That said, you should know when to draw a line: pooping in other people’s laundry is just sick. What’s wrong with you, Yale?

2. Read the newspaper every day. Students at Columbia tend to think that the knowledge they receive in class is self-sufficient, when it clearly is not. As a 19^th century German philosopher whose Master/Slave dialectic might have inspired Columbia’s own BDSM club said: “Reading the morning newspaper is the realist’s morning prayer.” I couldn’t stress enough how relevant this is: all those guys who ended up on the façade of Butler Library did so by engaging with the world around them, and so should you – even if you don’t yearn to have your name carved in such massive font size. Also, there’s always a bunch of copies of the New York Times in Lerner for you to pick up – I said free newspaper, not free food – so you really have no excuse.

3. Hold on to your opinions, but stay open for discussion. You will soon realize that there is an ongoing debate at Columbia about how much you should – or not – speak up on a variety of issues, ranging from the proliferation of salmon shorts on campus to what sorority girls are allowed to wear before a costume party becomes cultural appropriation. Your opinion will be constantly solicited from your peers. When the time comes, you might be reluctant to take a stand, and often rightly so. Maybe you won’t have all the facts, or simply will think that things are too complicated for you to make your case in less than 140 characters. Don’t be afraid: it is ok to have an opinion as long as you make sure to be as tolerant as you would expect others to be.

“Back in my day…”

Paris:

Cigarettes only cost 6 euros.

Our president was dealing with size – or is it height? – issues by dating an Italian model.

Parisian waiters were nice (just kidding).

New York:

I got here so recently that I don’t even remember the Spec being in print.

Justify your existence in 30 words or fewer: I’m a half-full glass kind of person. But only when there’s wine in it.

Write your most memorable note from the field: First semester, junior year. Started out the night at a friend’s apartment midtown for some chill wine-drinking, casual French self-celebration: nothing out of the ordinary. Then, shit got weird. Regained consciousness many hours later at Tom’s, sitting at a table with complete strangers speaking Turkish. No recollection of what happened in between. Here’s to cultural diversity!

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese?

Freshman year: cheese.

Senior year: oral sex.

Or the opposite.

One thing to do before graduating: Use the expressions “I can’t even” and “hashtag (insert content)” in a serious conversation, and hear the ghost of my ancestors curse at me in French for losing my soul. Et puis merde.

Any regrets?

Not realizing early enough that recommendations 1, 2 and 3 applied to everyone, including me.