coffee-and-tea-festival

On July 10, University President Lee Bollinger announced the opening of the Columbia Climate School. He based the decision on Columbia’s commitment to public life, writing: “We are not free to ignore the issues of our age and pursue whatever we want. We are ultimately responsible to our societies and the world. To that end, we must answer the call to serve.”

When sophomore Rachel Marsh first arrived at Columbia, she felt like something was off, but wasn’t sure what. Marsh, a sprinter on the track and field team, came to New York from Garland, Texas, and spent her first semester caught up in the whirlwind rhythms of practice, competition, and academics.

While it may seem impossible to replicate the campus experience, many of us pull up pictures of our favorite spots and replay old videos when we’re feeling nostalgic. Alternatively, for a truly immersive experience, let your sense of smell come into play and introduce familiar scents to intensify your flashbacks. Here are 12 popular scents to conjure up a vivid image of your college lifestyle.

At the beginning of the short film “Oleander,” the spirited teenager Oleander Jones kisses her boyfriend in the back of his pickup truck, proudly declaring, “I believe in the power of love. And by love, I mean sex, and by sex, I mean that sexual fulfillment is a fundamental right.” In a country where sexual education—particularly the continued emphasis on abstinence-only sexual education—is an increasingly contentious subject, Oleander’s unabashedly pro-sex attitude shatters norms of female sexuality.

Wind gushes down Broadway, pushing stressed students toward their dorms as they tuck their hands in their coat pockets and their ears in their hats. Twelve coffee shops offer these students a momentary haven filled with the smells of fresh coffee and tea. COVID-19 indoor dining restrictions prohibit students from hauling their books and laptops to these shops, but warm drinks in disposable cups keep the shops alive and Morningside Heights and Harlem residents toasty.

As the spring term begins, thousands of Columbia students have returned to campus. Despite facing economic challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, many local galleries and art-related businesses continue to offer a diverse array of artistic experiences for Columbia students, ranging from exhibitions confronting the pressing issues of race and gender inequalities to craft and pottery workshops that provide an opportunity to step away from the screen and into the studio.