Nothing is more stressful and exciting than being a first-year student at Columbia University! Enjoy this comprehensive bucket list of fun activities, places, and vibes from the Bwog Staff. Go wild, but not too wild, please.

Campus fun

  • JOIN BWOG!
  • It’s nerdy, but go to a guest lecture, there are some cool speakers that come to campus!
  • Go to a CU dance performance.
    • Join a dance group!
  • Mandatory College Walk photoshoot
    • Bonus points if it’s during the tree lighting
  • Join a club but only go to the parties they throw.
  • Go to every library on campus.
  • Postcrypt.
  • Cut and/ or dye your hair in your dorm bathroom.
  • Go to a Columbia jazz performance.
  • Diana smoothies.
  • Make it to your 8:40 am on time.
  • Do the Columbia ticket lottery and get to see a Broadway show for free!
  • Go to a student improv show.
  • Audition for student performing arts! 
    • A few groups cast everyone who auditions
  • Watch Latenite.
  • Watch the Varsity Show.
  • Go to CUMB open rehearsal. Just do it.
  • Have a Hewitt brunch with friends
  • Go to Orgo Night.
  • Go to one (1) student government meeting, even if it’s not for your own college.
  • Go to some kind of guest lecture.
    • Bonus points if it’s an astronomy one!
  • Find the one or two clubs you vibe with.
  • Go to some kind of sporting event, homecoming especially.
  • Vibe in the Barnard greenhouse.
  • Go to Snock!! 
    • Stay til the end for the dance parties/moshes.

Exploring New York

  • Visit each borough at least once.
  • Get on the 1 train and see where it takes you.
  • The little part of Riverside north of Grant’s Tomb >>>>
  • Take advantage of getting into museums for free/lower costs with your CUID.
  • Research restaurants in entirely different parts of the city. Get dressed up with your friends and treat yourself!
  • Do something very touristy with your friends. Laugh at tourists together.
  • Go to HamDel and Appletree.
  • Eat bagels at both Absolute AND Wu & Nuss.
  • Buy something from the Farmer’s Market!!
  • Go to Koronet’s.
  • Picnic in the garden on the cathedral grounds with the peacocks.
  • Pet Poncho (Samad’s Gourmet cat) and let him sit on your lap. If Poncho is unavailable Johnny is also very cute (he lives in the pet store at 109th & Bway)
  • Hang out on swings in Riverside at 111th.
  • Bike down the Hudson River Greenway all the way to Battery Park
  • Go to a free NYPL reading! They get so many good authors!!
  • Ride the subway into Brooklyn/Queens and get off at every stop.
  • Try ethnic food near NYU, get addicted, start going on weekdays to feel something.
  • Take the train north and out of the city to hike Breakneck Ridge (one of the best and most popular hikes near NYC).
  • Visit the NYC public library
  • Visit the Strand
  • Do a lap around all of Central Park and/or have a picnic there
  • Take the ferry to Governor’s Island 
    • Bike around!

Just ~vibes~

  • Realize that your first year is never going to be all good and all bad. It’ll be a mix of both and that’s ok!
  • Go out on a school night.
    • Bonus points if it’s an exam night!
  • Get into a semi-serious fight about which dining hall is best.
  • Get stuck in an elevator.
  • Push open doors and see where they lead.
    • Best decisions I have ever made!
  • Attend random graduate school events because you can.
  • Fall in love with a friend. 
  • Skip your homework to go to a popup, rush a Broadway show, etc. Be spontaneous!
  • Have a mental breakdown and get the RA called on you.
  • Bask in the sun like a lizard on Low Beach or Futter Field.
  • Date an NYU kid and get your heart inevitably broken.
  • Be able to fully recite the stations the 1 stops at without looking at a map or schedule.
  • Be brave and shoot your friendship shot with anyone you think is cool!!!! Chances are they are also looking for new friends .:)))
  • Walk to Petco on 92nd and pretend you want to buy a guinea pig so they let you hold one.
    • Save this one for a day you need some major stress relief.

It looks scary now, but it will soon become your best friend via Bwog Archive.