Does walking around Columbia in the fall make you want to embody Blake Lively in 2008? Keep walking. There might be better options.

The late 2000’s saw The CW’s Gossip Girl take the teen universe by absolute storm. Tenth graders were showing up to school practically wearing their Tumblr-inspired mood boards. Now, because of the show’s popularity, New York became a particularly special place for girls of all ages to scream, cry, and throw up over the fantasy of falling down the Met steps in shoes more valuable to them than air.

But if this wasn’t enough to personify the fuck out of Manhattan, the Gossip Girl characters spent a great deal of season four waltzing around Columbia’s campus too. Seeing the University weirdly glorified on such a status-centered show seems like a bit of an oxymoron if you ask me (you’re not and that’s okay).

I feel as if now would be a great time to state that I am in fact a Gossip Girl fan. The opulent outfits and outlandish writing almost make me believe in great television again This being said, assuming the role of Blair Waldorf while walking through college walk is very been there, done that. It’s always Team Serena or Team Blair? Never Team Bart or Juliet?

So, here is a list of Gossip Girl characters you should embody, during this wonderful fall we’re having, instead (though Serena and Blair will always have our hearts):

Jenny Humphrey: I’m so sorry. But the dramatic eyeshadow will swallow you whole, and that is something more exciting than being blonde and happy.

Jack Bass: The ultimate heartthrob. I recommend this one if you are trying to focus on yourself.

Venessa Abrams: You know what, I truly think that there is a place for everyone on campus. Those of you who subject yourself to some nice borough hopping, might enjoy embodying Ms. Abrams this semester.

Lord Marcus Beaton: Climb to the top of the U.S. News ranking yourself, by being an actual lord. Just walk around in a high-collared mint green Polo and you’re practically there.

Bart Bass: Embody him if, and only if, you have amazing hair (or an Oedipus complex).

Images via Author