An Adventure?

I went to Columbia for its campus tour and information session today. But this is not the story.

I left my house at 12PM and took the Mexican bus across the bridge and then A train--because I thought A trains runs local on the weekends. Even my mom said yes. But that's not the case. Apparently the A train is still express on the weekends. I realized that after it arrived at 145 street and I didn't want to wait for uptown A and then take 1 train downtown. So I got off at 125th street and got onto a local train for just one stop. And there I was, at 116th street. Well, I thought the 116th street stop on the A train line wouldn't be too far from the 116th street stop on the 1 train line since that's what the map appeared to show me. From the MTA subway map it appears that they are just a couple blocks away. Right, and WRONG. These two stops ARE in fact just "a couple blocks away" and Columbia IS situated right between them but so does a freakin' mountain!

So yeah, I did some climbing today. It wasn't that bad actually; it was really just a "mini" mountain. Plus I haven't climbed for quite a while so I actually got really excited as I fanatically running up the stairs.

Well, just one little reflection. The difference between the two "sides" separated by that mountain is huge to me. When I asked a woman how to get to Columbia she said something like "you mean the other side?" I didn't understand what she meant until I climbed over that "mountain" (and I hate to use the word mountain because it's really not a mountain). The East side where the A train runs seems dull and a bit shabby, whereas the Columbia side is much more lively and elegant in a sense. It's amazing how even within the UWS such a small area can be divided by just a tiny mountain, and develop so differently.