Alma Bwogger Youngweon Lee on McBain, Columbia Libraries, and the Core, one last time.

Name, School, Major, Hometown: Youngweon Lee, Columbia College, French and Classics, Seoul.

Claim to fame: Running this site, among other things.

Where are you going? No.

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2024?

1. International delivers for free. Just call them and tell them your address and what you would like to order. Make sure to tip the deliveryperson, of course.
2. Columbia has one of the biggest library systems in the country. It is an incredible resource; take advantage of it!
3. Join Morningside Heights CSA. It is a program that partners with a farm in upstate New York to deliver fresh vegetables to Morningside Heights once a week. Every week, you get one share of vegetables, which is enough vegetables for four people. I love the variety and the incredible quality of the produce I received for a fraction of the price that I’d pay at a grocery store. It’s also a good way to support a small local farm. Get three friends and sign up together!

Also, if your lottery number permits it, never live in McBain.

“Back in my day…” Carman had cinderblock walls. Amigos, M2M, Amir’s, Nussbaum & Wu, and Up Coffee existed. HMart, Shake Shack, Pret, Hula Poke, Junzi, Wu & Nussbaum, and the Joe Monopoly did not. Barnard had a Milstein-sized construction hole. EC didn’t have stoves. The downtown 2/3 didn’t run express on the weekends. Hewitt had a B health rating. Ferris didn’t have avocado toast. Absolute and Nuss took turns getting shut down by the Department of Health.

Favorite Columbia controversy? “Sharing these perfectly reasonable follow up questions from Bwog that we will not be answering just to give you some idea of the questions floating around.”

What was your favorite class at Columbia? Lit Hum with Prof. Thomas Austin Graham, Art Hum in Paris, Women and Writing in Early Modern France with Prof. Laurie Postlewate, and Roman Comedy with Prof. Darcy Krasne.

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? Well, I’m a French major.

Whom would you like to thank? Nino, Amara, Finn, and Rachel, for keeping me sane. Stacey, Emilia, Eva, and Michael, for afternoons at Dream. Sarah Dahl, for summer 2019. Claremont 43, for senior year. Prof. Gareth Williams and Prof. Pierre Force, for directing my theses. My advisor, Justin Snider, for the answers to my questions. My commenters on Bwog, for the attention.

One thing to do before graduating: Four years ago, the spring before I came to Columbia, I saw this senior wisdom by Omar Abboud, SEAS ’16. His answer to the question is as follows:

“Before you graduate, rent a Zipcar (or if you don’t drive take a friend who does). Leave Columbia no earlier than 1:00 am. Take the Westside highway all the way down the island. Get off at TriBeCa and pick up candy by the courthouses. Drive across the Brooklyn Bridge. Veer to the right on the first exit and drive towards Grimaldi’s. Take the first left onto the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. Once again take the first exit on the right towards Atlantic Avenue. When you turn right onto Atlantic from Columbia St. you’ll see an immediate sharp left turn back onto the highway towards Manhattan: take it. Before you will be the best view of New York City you might ever see on open, lonely roads. Put on ‘Choir to the Wild’ by Solomon Grey. Appreciate and never forget the sublimity of that moment.”

I have had this article saved for four years. Unfortunately, I never learned to drive and we are in the midst of a pandemic, so I won’t be able to do this before I graduate. Someone else should, though.

Any regrets? See above. Also, I’ve never been to Staten Island or 1020 trivia night.

Did you know I studied abroad? via Youngweon Lee