Noel Duan

    23 Apr 2012

    “Flint-knapping Exercise (a.k.a. Dangerous Optional Exercise 1): Less a field trip than an opportunity to bleed for your education, the flint-knapping exercise will take place on campus on one or two (depending on interest) Friday afternoons during the first half of the term. Students will have the opportunity to use Paleolithic tools to hammer away at chert cores in an effort to create a simple biface. This is an optional exercise in humility, designed to build respect for the technological accomplishments of our hominid ancestors. (Band-aids will be included.)”
    — From the syllabus of my archaeology class next semester. I am so excited.

    15 Apr 2012

    These K Jacques St Tropez sandals from Net-A-Porter are perfect for summer. Adding to my shopping cart.
However, I still have about three weeks to go before I can start dreaming about beaches doing research for my senior thesis. I have two papers to write and two presentations to prepare/give. And then, I’m off to New York for three days, before I come back to Paris for the rest of the summer. In addition to intense research (oral history! participant observation! archives! being productive!) and some interning (in Paris! be jalouse.), I have plans for a Mediterranean cruise, Barcelona, Rome, the Amalfi Coast, Naples, London and (maybe) Geneva.
Fact: I have more friends than I can count on my fingers (and I have ten fingers! if that wasn’t clear.) who tell me that as long as they don’t screw up their summer internship this year, they’re guaranteed a contract and a full-time well-paid job immediately after graduation. It sounds pretty sweet, and somehow I didn’t choose that path. If my parents are reading this, they’re probably shaking their heads right now. I’m going to be a senior in college very soon, and yet I wouldn’t say I’ve secured my graduation prospects by any means, like some of my friends have.
I have another friend who is graduating early from an extremely prestigious business school to start a company.
I went through an extreme sophomore slump last year in which I felt so much uncertainty about the future (and present), and I’m still feeling uncertain about everything.
But 365 days later, uncertainty feels pretty great. I have no clue if I’m going to get into graduate school. I have no clue if any place is going to offer me a job in a year. Maybe I’ll regret this in a few months when no one returns my calls.
But hey, I’m really lucky in that I have a beautiful few months ahead of me. And that I’ve had the privilege of having all the opportunities I could dream of, and that there’s no point in worry anymore. What more can I do? Get A+’s instead of A’s? Do two internships during the school year at the same time instead of one? Run a marathon every weekend instead of training for half of one? C’est pas possible. (Nor is it healthy.)
And while things rarely happen according to plan, things do…happen. So, while I’m not sure where I’ll be in a year from now, I’m hoping I won’t be in the same place, at least.

    These K Jacques St Tropez sandals from Net-A-Porter are perfect for summer. Adding to my shopping cart.

    However, I still have about three weeks to go before I can start dreaming about beaches doing research for my senior thesis. I have two papers to write and two presentations to prepare/give. And then, I’m off to New York for three days, before I come back to Paris for the rest of the summer. In addition to intense research (oral history! participant observation! archives! being productive!) and some interning (in Paris! be jalouse.), I have plans for a Mediterranean cruise, Barcelona, Rome, the Amalfi Coast, Naples, London and (maybe) Geneva.

    Fact: I have more friends than I can count on my fingers (and I have ten fingers! if that wasn’t clear.) who tell me that as long as they don’t screw up their summer internship this year, they’re guaranteed a contract and a full-time well-paid job immediately after graduation. It sounds pretty sweet, and somehow I didn’t choose that path. If my parents are reading this, they’re probably shaking their heads right now. I’m going to be a senior in college very soon, and yet I wouldn’t say I’ve secured my graduation prospects by any means, like some of my friends have.

    I have another friend who is graduating early from an extremely prestigious business school to start a company.

    I went through an extreme sophomore slump last year in which I felt so much uncertainty about the future (and present), and I’m still feeling uncertain about everything.

    But 365 days later, uncertainty feels pretty great. I have no clue if I’m going to get into graduate school. I have no clue if any place is going to offer me a job in a year. Maybe I’ll regret this in a few months when no one returns my calls.

    But hey, I’m really lucky in that I have a beautiful few months ahead of me. And that I’ve had the privilege of having all the opportunities I could dream of, and that there’s no point in worry anymore. What more can I do? Get A+’s instead of A’s? Do two internships during the school year at the same time instead of one? Run a marathon every weekend instead of training for half of one? C’est pas possible. (Nor is it healthy.)

    And while things rarely happen according to plan, things do…happen. So, while I’m not sure where I’ll be in a year from now, I’m hoping I won’t be in the same place, at least.

    9 Apr 2012

    Senior Fall Course Schedule

    Greek Art and Architecture: Obligatory Mediterranean art course for my art history concentration, but luckily I’m thoroughly going to enjoy this lecture, since I designed togas for myself as a child, right?

    North American Art and Culture: Really excited for this, since we tend to overlook North American artists in art history classes. I know basically nothing, which is a perfect start, in my opinion.

    The Origins of Human Society: An archaeology course in the anthropology department. This will only have been my second archaeology course, but I definitely wanted to be Indiana Jones as a child. I see college as (potentially) my last chance to live out my ultimate childhood fantasy.

    Honors Seminar in Anthropology: In which I write my senior thesis and spend my entire year rambling to my friends about my thesis. Thesis, thesis, thesis.

    Masterpieces of Western Music: Mandatory music fundamentals class, as part of the Core Curriculum. I’m actually kind of worried because I may be tone deaf. And my most-played song on iTunes may be by Justin Bieber.

    French: I should probably continue studying French, since I would have just come back from seven months in Paris, right?

    Self-Paced Running: I still don’t understand why we have PE requirements. At least this class isn’t too different from what I already do.

    What classes are you taking next year? Anything particularly interesting?

    Edit: I just realized I signed up for seven classes. The maximum I’ve ever taken is six. That doesn’t include interning for two whole days, and going to yoga teacher training on the weekends. Oops. At least PE isn’t a “real” class?

    I didn’t feel this before, but I’m starting to get that bit of senior year anxiety about how everything I do will be for the “last” time at Columbia.

    6 Jan 2012

    4.0

    I’m going to reward myself with working harder. 2012, you’re only going to get better.

    10 Nov 2011

    A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything.

    I seem to have a problem with defending my beliefs and opinions in front of people I respect. Today, in class, I voiced my opinion on the recent Penn State scandal and my classmate, who was in opposition to my opinion, said to me, “You can just shush. What do you know, Noel?”

    My face flustered up and my immediate reflex was to apologize. “I’m sorry. Forget it,” I said. What did I know anyway? He was an athlete and I wasn’t, even though I had been reading the news all morning and had already formed my own thoughts and beliefs on the matter.

    “No really, I want to know: What do you know?” he replied.

    “Never mind,” I said, turning away.

    Yesterday, my favorite professor told me I was the most apologetic student on campus. “You need to stop apologizing. You have nothing to apologize for. Just stop,” she said. I told her about being scared to speak up in seminar because I felt that my contributions were worthless compared to those of the graduate students.

    It’s easy to tell myself that I’m intelligent and strong and opinionated, but I am so different in the classroom, and I’m still trying to figure out how to have some faith in myself.

    11 Jul 2011

    An education

    I really want to attend graduate school.

    I know it’s unnecessary, given that I don’t want to be a doctor, lawyer, or architect. Both my parents are extremely well-educated though, and while school cannot teach you everything, I don’t see what’s wrong with luxuriating in the knowledge of books and the wisdom of professors and peers. You don’t get to discuss great literature with your peers all the time once you enter the workforce.

    Earlier this year, I asked one of my favorite professors why he gave up Goldman Sachs to attend graduate school and eventually get his Ph.D. He said, “I went to graduate school because I still had questions.”

    “Undergrad wasn’t satisfying enough?” I asked.

    “No, it wasn’t,” he said, “Not at all.”

    I feel that way too. I feel like I have so many unanswered questions and while school won’t answer everything (or anything), it’ll point me to worthwhile questions that I can answer with my life.

    I just got a research assistant position with a professor I admire very much. It’s going to be crazy, balancing my internships at Vogue and Teen Vogue and my research position, but I think it will be worth it. There is a part of me that loves the passion of academia and there is a part of me that loves the drive of fashion publishing, and I’m not ready to give up on either of them.

    As Sally Singer (editor in chief of T, former fashion news/features director of Vogue, UC Berkeley/Yale graduate) said, “[G]et a real education in a discipline with some history and weight behind it. Be an art history major. Whatever you’re doing, do it to the utmost. People waste a lot of time thinking about the social operations of things and waste a lot of time growing up and half-paying attention to what they’re reading in college or high school. I would say: Whatever you’re doing, pay attention when you’re doing it. Magazines reward wide-ranging curiosity and intelligence. People that want to consume information at a fast and ferocious level do well at magazines. To be really good at fashion, it’s not about what you wear. Looking good in clothes is fairly interesting, but that doesn’t help you.”

    I read these words two years ago, and I’ve never forgotten them. Of course, now I have to think about getting into graduate school, which is another ordeal that I can’t be sure of, but I know, at least, I have curiosity and passion.

    And I shouldn’t take that for granted.

    27 Nov 2010

    Old habits don’t die

    This morning, I cleaned my desk and gave myself a nice workplace for my laptop.

    It was nice, because I had forgotten how much I really, really, really love to study.

    Study, not cram, being the keyword here.

    2 Sep 2010

    Empire state of mind

    Picked up my new Givenchy glasses today. Bought fresh school supplies. Almost done packing. Ate dinner with my entire family for the last time until Christmas Day, unless I end up joining them in Canada for Thanksgiving.

    So, yeah. Tonight is going to be a late night of more packing and cleaning up my room. Ordering a birthday present for my little sister. Lots of work for Hoot (the Tinsley Mortimer photos are in!). Two articles for Columbia Daily Spectator to work on. Lunar Gala fashion show to make flyers and send email for. Last-minute move-in arrangements to confirm.

    But, deep inside, I know I am excited to be back. I can’t wait to read my books. I can’t wait to go to class. I can’t wait to see my friends. I just need to suck it up for the next 24 hours.

    26 Aug 2010

    116 Things to Do at Columbia

    1. Enter the 116th Street gates or participate in the candle-lighting on the first night of orientation.
    2. Go to Orgo Night.
    3. Make a spare key with an old credit card and an Exacto blade.
    4. Walk over the Brooklyn Bridge with your floor-mates.
    5. Eat a slice of Koronet pizza and seasoned chicken from JJ’s in the same night.
    6. Eat and get drunk with an administrator and your Lit Hum or freshman-seminar professor.
    7. Go to a World Leaders Forum event.
    8. Go to a fireside chat.
    9. Explore the tunnels.
    10. Watch a sunrise over Morningside Park after pulling an all-nighter.
    11. Pretend to be interested in a club to get free shit; get spammed for the next four years.
    12. Get sexiled. Sleep in the lounge.
    13. Watch the Varsity Show all four years.
    14. Spend a night drinking on the Low steps with friends.
    15. Go to the campus tree-lighting and yule log ceremony.
    16. Dance with one of the belly dancers at Casbah Rouge.
    17. Lock yourself out of your room while in a towel and flip-flops. Proceed to Hartley.
    18. Pull an all-nighter with the rest of your floor studying for the Lit Hum final.
    19. Protest something.
    20. Sled down the Low steps on a John Jay tray.
    21. Forget to transfer at 96th Street and end up in central Harlem.
    22. Actually explore Manhattanville and Harlem.
    23. Find the owl on Alma Mater.
    24. Rock the glass house.
    25. Take Freedom of Speech and Press with Bollinger.
    26. Bike ride through Times Square at midnight with Ken Jackson’s History of the City of New York class.
    27. Take a class with professor Foner.
    28. Go to midnight breakfast.
    29. Catch someone moving your laundry.
    30. Make friends with your security guard and janitorial staff (and buy their CDs if they are selling them).
    31. Run the PrezBo 5K.
    32. Watch a football game at Baker Field.
    33. Go to a Bacchanal concert.
    34. Drink on the Low steps.
    35. Quote a Core text out of class and realize that you’re now a tool.
    35. Take the walk of shame across campus.
    36. Go to a concert for a campus music group.
    37. Study abroad, preferably at Reid Hall in Paris or the Berlin Consortium.
    38. Change your major.
    39. Go to mass at Riverside Church or St. John the Divine.
    40. Do a trip with Urban New York.
    41. Enroll in a 9 a.m. or Friday class; never go.
    42. Volunteer with Community Impact.
    43. See a movie star filming on campus. Later, obnoxiously point out Columbia scenes to friends and family while watching movie in theater.
    44. Go to frat parties only for free beer.
    45. Sneak onto the roof of Mudd or Sulz to watch the sun set.
    46. Have your 21st birthday party at Mama Mexico.
    47. Get the half-and-half pasta (half alfredo, half marinara) at Ferris Booth.
    48. Go to a jazz show at St. Nick’s Pub.
    49. Get parents to pay for dinner at Le Monde or Sezz Medi.
    50. Get a Broadway Shake at Tom’s.
    51. Find your study spot in Butler.
    52. Go to Hungarian Pastry Shop; realize Saurin Park is better.
    53. Spend a vacation on campus while it’s empty.
    54. Go to ADP’s Hot Jazz.
    55. Watch the spring outdoor show by King’s Crown or the Fruit Paunch 24-hour show.
    56. Learn the fight song.
    57. Get a fake ID.
    58. Become disillusioned with the Core.
    59. Spend a night talking on AIM rather than studying. Realize it’s 7 a.m. and you’ve done nothing.
    60. Ignore red flags on South Lawn and play football.
    61. Go to the Organization of Pakistani Students’ Hangama.
    62. Take free-throws against Joe Jones.
    63. Get cited by the RIAA for downloading “MmmBop.”
    64. Call CAVA for a friend.
    65. Get CAVA-ed by a friend.
    66. Go to Fed Bash.
    67. Explore all five boroughs.
    68. Wade in the Columbia fountains.
    69. Participate in the Tent of Consent at Sexhibition.
    70. Dress up and go to the Village Halloween Parade.
    71. Participate in the Athena games.
    72. Regret wearing heels after walking on College Walk.
    73. Stay up for 72 straight hours.
    74. Write a term paper in 24 hours.
    75. Participate in Take Back the Night.
    76. Get misquoted in Spec.
    77. Watch the “Vagina Monologues” on Valentine’s Day.
    78. Lose friends in senior regroup.
    79. Make dean’s list.
    80. Pass without ever scoring above a 60 on a test (SEAS only).
    81. Pass without ever reading a book (Columbia College only).
    82. Stand in line all night for L-registration; still get fucked (BC only).
    82. Realize no matter how you do on your midterm, you’ll still get a B.
    83. Take part in Forty on Forty.
    84. Get a sandwich at 212; don’t pay for it.
    85. Watch the naked run (extra points if you participate).
    86. Take Barnard lab req; almost fail out.
    87. Ride the lion and spin the molar.
    88. Hide under your bed during a fire alarm.
    89. Watch a movie at Ferris Reel.
    90. Drink Red Bull for breakfast.
    91. Host a prefrosh.
    92. Participate in Barnard week.
    93. Go to a professor’s office hour.
    94. Seriously consider dropping out every year-all the cool Columbians have.
    95. Read Orientalism.
    96. Use your CUID for free admission to MoMA often.
    97. Attend a seder.
    98. Have a drunken hookup after a night at The Heights; Awkwardly bump into said hookup everywhere.
    99. Go to Health Services for being sick; leave with condoms.
    100. Take the M60 to LaGuardia.
    101. Go to Shea and Yankee stadiums; be a fan of the Mets or the Yankees, but not both.
    102. Every year make a New Year’s resolution to visit Dodge every day. Then don’t.
    103. Be an OL.
    104. Go for a run in Riverside Park; find your next date.
    105. Fall over after Dance Marathon.
    106. Go on a citywide scavenger hunt.
    107. Facebook-stalk a crush.
    108. Hear Jeffrey Sachs or Sunil Gulati speak and experience liberal guilt. Relieve it by protesting.
    109. Go to a CB9 meeting and find out what the hype is about.
    110. Write a paper based entirely on Wikipedia and Google; get caught.
    111. Write a really good paper; realize value of research librarians.
    112. Work a campus work-study job swiping cards or stacking books.
    113. Work an off-campus internship during the year.
    114. Spend one summer living and working in the city.
    115. Hook up in the Butler stacks.
    116. Take the swim test the day before graduation.

    (via Columbia Daily Spectator)

    Goal is to cross off at least five more things on this list by the end of next year.

    24 Aug 2010

    In spite of four intellectually-stimulating, challenging, fun-filled years at The Harker School

    My fondest memory is still the carving station.

    So, thank you, Harker, for the great classes, great friends, and, er, great lamb with mint jelly.

    I definitely did not eat as well when I arrived in college.

    12 Aug 2010

    No internships for me

    I made the final decision to not intern anywhere during sophomore year — or at least next semester.

    I love interning during the school year because it forces me to leave campus, work with professionals, and conduct myself not as an individualistic student, but as a part of a larger conglomerate.

    However, health-wise — I need the rest. I need to take care of myself.

    28 Jul 2010

    yeunjina:

The city in 5 weeks and 4 days!

(via hellonewyork)
I can’t wait! Must make sure to get plenty of sleep in the next few weeks…

    yeunjina:

    The city in 5 weeks and 4 days!

    (via hellonewyork)

    I can’t wait! Must make sure to get plenty of sleep in the next few weeks…