Fernanda Diaz

Unlike many study abroad programs, mine doesn’t come with a welcome party or a group of fellow Americans looking for a cultural exchange—and perhaps I’ve learned more about myself than about the British people. But even if I wasn’t quite sure when I picked this place, I know now that I came in search for that stillness, a stillness I could only realistically deal with for six months, tops.

*In what is lately becoming an increasingly fragile climate in which to talk about race relations, the debate about Ethnic Studies at Columbia is one of the most obviously delicate components of this discussion.

This summer, "What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage" became a cultural phenomenon. Immediately after Amy Sutherland's "Modern Love" column appeared in the New York Times, the piece became the most e-mailed article on the Web site, and fluctuated between the top two spots for weeks and weeks.

"Going green" is so hot right now. So hot, in fact, that it might be losing its impact-at least if we keep hearing that the greening of America is taking place but aren't even aware of how we're a part of this widespread process. While the craze to become environmentally friendly is rooted in noble causes, as a buzzword it has manufactured its own desensitization.

At a party recently, someone who I'd never met said he recognized me. I told him maybe he'd seen my picture run with my column sometime. After a few seconds he seemed to remember and remarked, "Oh yeah, you're that girl who takes cabs."

He said that if he could make it there, then he could make it anywhere. He didn't say how, or why, but Frank Sinatra was sure that this was the case in his New York, New York. And even if, like him, we can't just wake up in the city that doesn't sleep and find that we're king of the hill (top of the heap), our New York, New York is still that place that provides success' ultimate measuring device.

Before this weekend, I had no real idea where "El Barrio" was. I assumed it was somewhere in the Bronx, somewhere I would trek to one day in order to find the perfect tortillas.

If you're a little scared right now, that's OK. I know that most of what they tell you to expect about your first year seems a little dramatic and apocalyptic-not to mention what you've been told about the big scary city and its big scary transportation system.