RIP to the Milstein Peet’s Coffee.

Name, School, Major, Hometown: Ariana Eftimiu, Barnard, Political Science & Human Rights, Bergen County, New Jersey.

Claim to fame: Being a music deputy editor for Spec, a managing editor for the Political Review, and a grave Oren’s addiction.

Where are you going? New York City will have to drag me out. Perhaps one day I’ll venture further away … but I’ve got more complaining that NYC doesn’t have enough nature and then complaining everywhere else in the world doesn’t compare to NYC to do. 

What are three things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2029?

1. If you live in the 600s or Woodbridge, I promise East Campus is not that far. If you live in John Jay and are being invited to the Barnard Quad, you can make the trek—when graduation is around the corner, one of the things you’ll be mourning is living across the street from so many people you love, something that likely won’t happen again for the foreseeable future—so take all the opportunities you get to be around your friends, accept their invitations to bake together; to sit on the lawns together. I promise you will still get your work done. If all else fails, sit in the library together!
2. Don’t cancel!!! Show up for people!! I acknowledge I am being a hypocrite, because we’ve all done it, and of course there are exceptions. But most times, it will be worth it, so power through the tiredness or something being too long of a trip on the 1. 
3. Don’t hobbify or cast the things you love to the side. Re-audition or reapply if you first don’t get into the group, the play, the club, whatnot.

“Back in my day…” Absolute Bagels existed… Too soon? We would go to Altschul to get COVID tests (and formals were superspreaders), Plimpton had mold (which… maybe it still does), you were able to study in the BEAUTIFUL library in Kent (I hope the renovation is done soon, for all of your sake), Barnard had two places you could get coffee (I also hope the future provides more caffeine choices for you)

Favorite Columbia lore? The Columbia Daily Spectator admissions process. Hate to love ya, Spec. Also, this lovely song, that Kesha dropped out of Barnard, and that “Hey There Delilah” was written about a Columbia grad.

What was your favorite class at Columbia? I wouldn’t be able to choose, so I’ll have to be really annoying and give you a list … 

Transnational Kleptocracy, with Professor Cooley; Politics of the Arctic, with Professor Marten; Humans, Nature & the Future, with Professor Mylius (who has unfortunately since left); Drugs & Politics with Professor Moncada; Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, with Professor Franzese; Topics in American Democracy, with Professor Mitchell.

Twentieth Century Architecture, with Professor Çelik Alexander; Acting I, with Professor Zucker; any and all creative writing workshops. I’d take 100 more classes if I could (grad school, here I come). 

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? I would rather leave my response something for the audience to ruminate on and speculate about.

Whom would you like to thank? My parents and my younger sister, forever and always. My best friends from home, who I have laughed with and cried to in JJ’s, a Hewitt single, the Heights rooftop and beyond. 

All of the incredibly, incredibly awesome and interesting people I have met here. You are all so cool, and I am so lucky to have been able to pick your brains, and hear about your theories, and psychoanalyze one another to the point of collapse. I hope to learn from all of you forevermore. Everyone you will meet in the future is so lucky to get to know you. Thinking about how much you have all inspired me brings me to tears: Ava & Will, the Esteemed Poets group chat, the DC gals, 620 10C, and everyone who has beef with market hotel, you know who you are. 

Hewitt Dining Hall (and everyone who entertained me when it was the only one I wanted to go to). The Burke Library at UTS. Butler. The view from Faculty House. Arts & Crafts mead. Plimpton 11D hallway table. The admissions officer who let a very, very overjoyed 18-year-old me into this place with the beautiful blue-green roofs.

My 8th grade English teacher, my high school choir director keeping us engaged even over Zoom, everyone who has ever written me a letter of recommendation, everyone who has ever told me that I am capable. Because of you I believe it, too.

Also the fact that growing up, my friends and I would read. It sounds simple, but if you babysit, if you have younger siblings, if you have any young person in your life, encourage them to read books. Encourage everyone in your life to read books. Read with them. Send them news articles, and pester them about whether they’ve read them or not. I owe a lot of what I’ve been able to accomplish, and able to imagine, to competitively trying to finish A Series of Unfortunate Events before my best friend Steven in the 4th grade. 

One thing to do before graduating? Take the train from 125th St. somewhere in the Hudson Valley. It’ll heal your soul when you feel suffocated by the University environment. Go somewhere really, really quiet, and look at the stars. Alternatively, go somewhere with plenty of trees and a neighborhood feel in Queens or Brooklyn, and people-watch. And make sure to give others, and yourself, grace. Do not doubt your intelligence, do not doubt your fortitude, do not doubt your ability to make someone else’s day. 

Any regrets? No use dwelling—anything I think I could have done better, now is the time.

Photo via Audrea Chen