Maybe Father McShane gives this speech to every group that comes into Fordham, but on my accepted student day (oh-so long ago in 2009) Father McShane single-handedly sealed my decision to come to this university by insisting that Fordham was at the center of the capital of the world. The whole “Fordham is my school, New York is my campus” really rings true for us Rams. One of the biggest, bustling, culture-rich cities in the world is our playground for four years. We’re some of the luckiest college kids to get the chance to stomp across New York City.
Sometimes though, this is easy to forget. Between homework, class, internships, social life, and extracurriculars, it’s a wonder most of us even find time to breathe. Sometimes all the experiences in New York City have to take a backseat to our thriving academic career. Personally it’s sometimes easy for me to forget that there’s a whole city waiting a short RamVan ride away.
My roommate Sarah and I recently came to this sad realization. Sarah volunteers at the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge in Manhattan, which provides free housing for cancer patients getting treatments in the NYC area. Often, the people staying at the Hope Lodge are from out of town and will ask her for something fun to do in NYC. Sarah told me she was really disheartened when she realized that she could only give them a handful of cliché and overpriced things to do around the city. That’s not the way a college student should be- we should know the cheap tricks of how to best enjoy all that the city has to offer.
This set off a mission- find some of New York’s best-kept secrets. Sarah and I, driven by our desire to squeeze every bit of juice out of the Big Apple, compiled a list of everything we’ve ever wanted to do around the city. We’re calling it our “NYC Bucket List.” For those of you unfamiliar with this term, a bucket list is kind of like your life’s goals compiled into a neat checklist- everything you want to do before you “kick the bucket”. My general bucket list has things ranging from “Pet a squirrel” to “Go to South Africa” to “Meet Tina Fey” to “Go to the opening ceremony of the Olympics.”
Our NYC Bucket List has slightly more achievable goals (although some of the squirrels on Fordham’s campus are particularly friendly, so that fantasy might be realized quicker than I expected). We’re looking to find everything that’s great about NYC, from walking across the Brooklyn Bridge to visiting lesser-known museums to finding the best street falafel. We’re always open to suggestions- it’s becoming a quick tradition for me to ask every Campus Celebrity what their NYC Bucket List entails so that we can add it to ours. The city has so much to offer, and it’s ours for the taking! Each week I’ll be blogging about crossing one thing off my New York City Bucket List, so you can start on yours!
If there’s something you want to add to my bucket list, list it in the comments below!