Melaina de la Cruz is a bubbly senior majoring in creative non-fiction writing with a minor in radio production. She loves to read and write, but initially came to Columbia as a graphic design major. Melaina loves to discover music, work on her aerial skills (she can climb a rope and hang upside down), and above all, travel.
HC: Where have you traveled?
“I’ve been traveling my entire life. My parents have always been real wander-lusters. Aside from living in a few different parts of the U.S. I’ve spent a lot of time in Europe-France, Spain, Budapest, and a cluster of random airports. I’ve also studied abroad in Italy, Iceland, and the Czech Republic.”
HC: What prompted you to switch from graphic design to creative non-fic?
“I spent the first 18 years of my life convinced I’d be an artist. Then in high school, I started taking graphic design classes at various art colleges in the Northeast and decided it was a slightly more lucrative way to design band posters, album covers, and book covers! But once I started the undergrad program, I felt like something wasn’t right and I was out of place. I was the happiest in my LAS Writing and Rhetoric course, writing essays about education and censorship, which prompted me too realize that writing was what I truly wanted to do. I picked the creative non-fiction program after I met an extremely interesting person with great stories to tell who recommended that I dive right in. I did just that and never regretted it!”
HC: What are you looking forward to after graduation?
“I’m not going to lie, I’ll miss being a college student. The real world is scarier than any horror movie I’ve ever seen. But, I’m excited to no longer worry about homework or final exams and to be able to devote myself full time to a job that I, hopefully, will love.”
HC: What do you aspire to do with your degree?
“I aspire to freelance write about travel, culture, music and people. I want to gather stories and turn those into essays and articles. I’d also like to do something with audio documentaries and translate stories into sound. Media is huge these days! But for a steadier career, I aspire to write for a magazine and do something with editing or publishing.”
HC: Any favorite memories made when traveling?
“That’s tough to narrow down! In Iceland, I was covering their annual music festival, Iceland Airwaves, with a class. I got to meet so many awesome and talented people. We were all busy and stressed out but that was a bonding experience in itself for both performers and journalists. Then this past summer, I was studying abroad in Prague. My friend and I split a soft-serve cone of Absinthe ice-cream. It was bright lime green and tasted like a sweeter version of Absinthe’s trademark licorice and lighter fluid flavor. That was a little surreal.”