From a coffee aficionado, ILAS enthusiast, and walk advocate: please say “hi!” to each other!

Name, School, Major, Hometown: Astrid Liden, Columbia College, Political Science and Latin American & Caribbean Studies, outside Minneapolis, MN

Claim to fame: URC!! (you’ve probably seen me give tours, sending the URC emails, talked about giving tours, or convinced you to join the URC); the Institute of Latin American Studies (aka ILAS and my pride and joy); being a music director for my acapella group (love you Metrotones); being Venezuelan and making sure everyone knew it (s/o to VENSA); Catholic Ministry; MUN (STAFF CESIMS!); and of course @mydailysip.

Where are you going? Heading across the pond to Oxford with a Rhodes Scholarship for two years—my first year doing an MSc in Refugee & Forced Migration Studies and after that a Masters in Public Policy (MPP)! We’ll see after that how much longer I stay in school.

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2027?

1. Remember that you’re in NYC! Get off campus as much as you can, whether it’s to work at a coffee shop (follow @mydailysip for my recommendations), explore a new area of the city, or just take a walk. It’s so important to take advantage of being in New York whether it’s for fun (as it should be) or for work, that too. As a senior who lost so much time in NYC to the pandemic, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CITY.
2. Saying hi goes a long way: Whether it’s just walking along College Walk or while in line for the Ferris omelet station, acknowledge people’s presence. Maybe it’s because we are in a huge city or just because we are in college but don’t assume others prefer to leave their music in and not be acknowledged. Take out that Airpod, say hi, say thank you, and ask them how their day is going. And treat EVERYONE—friends, suitemates, classmates, dining hall and residence hall staff, etc with respect and how you would like to be treated. Reach out to that old friend or classmate, send a text to check in—it all matters and you won’t regret it!
3. Depth over breadth: It’s so easy to get overwhelmed as a first-year and join every club at this school during NSOP. It’s so important to find what you love, the people you want to surround yourself with and stick with it. I tried some things out over the years, stuck some, and said goodbye to others, and that’s ok! And if you have to find a work-study job or even just want to get a job, find a place you will enjoy being at! I started working at the Institute of Latin American Studies a few years ago and could not have asked for a better group of coworkers, faculty, bosses, and friends. I’m so blessed to work in such an amazing place- sometimes having so much fun that I forgot I was at work. 

“Back in my day…” JJs was open 22 hours a day, the LLC was a thing and first-years lived with upperclassmen (shout out to Wallach 3), you would come to campus early for CUE and COOP (CUE 4ever), Faculty House was just a fancy place professors took their classes out to lunch, and tour guides didn’t get paid (but here I am, four years later and still in the URC).

Favorite Columbia controversy? Being in PrezBo’s class in Fall 2021 during the grad student strikes and watching him getting whisked away into the Schermerhorn tunnels, Venmo me for my emotional labor, CIRCA almost blowing up my freshman year (glad CIRCA is thriving and still in one piece <3).

What was your favorite class at Columbia? Latin American Politics with Vicky Murillo, Drugs & Politics in the Americas with Eduardo Moncada, Portuguese for Spanish Speakers with José Antonio Castellanos-Pazos (+ all the amazing Portuguese Professors), Seeking Asylum + Families in Latin America both with Nara Milanich, Gender & Migration with Jose Moya, Comparative Constitutional Challenges with Elizabeth Ouyang, Transnationalism, Citizenship and Belonging with Randa Serhan, LitHum with Jenny Rhodes, CC with Manan Ahmed and so so many more.

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? My life runs on Parmigiano, Burrata, and Tequeños so there’s my answer.

Whom would you like to thank? To my H905 suite and my best friends: Kati, Lorenza, Elvin, Elias, and those who were suite-adjacent: Helena, Sebas, and so many more. To Annie, my first-year and junior-year roommate and one of my first friends at Columbia who put up with me in our Wallach and Watt doubles and my excessive thievery of Ferris bananas (I really promise I was gonna eat them, I just left them on the counter too long). To Naira, Malia, and so so many other friends from recently and those there from the beginning. To Kathy from the EC front desk & Jose from ButCaf. A special thank you to the Fac House Staff & Salmon, idk who had the idea to complain that there was no variety at Faculty House you made my life so much harder. To Columbia Catholic Ministry and our amazing FOCUS missionaries, for always being there for me and my home away from home. Thank you to my Laidlaw and Mellon Mays communities, especially Dean Ariella Lang and Estela Diaz. To Eliza, Esteban. Gustavo, Vicky, and everyone at ILAS (especially the absolute best coworkers, faculty, and friends: Camila B—I’ll miss our coordinated schedules and fofoca, Camila H, Pedro, Andrea, and so many more) I don’t know what I would do without you all. To all of my fantastic professors and advisors I’ve had the honor to learn from and grow with. To the Columbia Global Center in Santiago for all of your support these past few years and for making my work in Chile possible. To my VENSA, CESIMS, Metrotones, and URC families—I am so so glad to have you all in my life and am so grateful for every one of you! And the most important thank you to my family, especially my mom and my brother, Emil. I’m so sad I won’t just be able to take a 5-hour bus to visit you anymore, buddy. Thank you both for loving me unconditionally and always being my #1 fans—los quiero mucho <3 

One thing to do before graduating: Try to visit the Barnard Greenhouse and visit all the best places to view the sunrise and sunset! Having an EC townhouse is great, but not getting much sunset because of IAB in the way kinda sucks.

Any regrets? Only discovering the power of Cafe East Strawberry Mango smoothies and sushi in my junior year. And then running out of all my dining dollars by the end of September. Those things change lives and take away any hard-earned dollars I have, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Astrid via Astrid