Best Library Moment

Sophomore year I was living with my ex-girlfriend and my best friend, Vince, in a 3-person suite in East Campus. It was close to mid-terms, and the tension in the suite was rising as exams got closer. The stress of exams and the uncomfortable nature of my living situation had really been bringing me down. The three of us had been avoiding each other, my ex and I for obvious reasons and Vince because he just couldn’t take living with 2 friends that weren’t talking much. The solution seemed to be studying in different places, something that we adopted somewhere mid-semester, prior to exams. My ex-girlfriend liked studying in the Law Library, Vince liked Butler Library, and I stayed in the suite.

I think one day Vince noticed that I needed to get out of the suite and suggested that I go with him to study at Butler Library. I reluctantly grabbed my books, stuffed them in my backpack and headed off toward the library with Vince.

We quickly sat down at a table and cracked the books. It was there that Vince introduced me to a group of lovely women from Barnard (Shannon, Liz, Sharon, Shira and Lisa), whom he had been meeting there for some time. Now I know why he really didn’t want to study in the suite with me. Vince was extremely regimented when it came to studying, but he managed to fit some “flirting” breaks in between subjects or chapters.

It was that moment that things changed for me. I actually found myself laughing again, while at the same time actually feeling like I was able to focus on my studying. I had been broken out of my dull surroundings at the prompting of a friend, only to meet some new faces that we would party with from that point on.

The next year Columbia football went on to break their losing streak (44 consecutive games) against Princeton, and we were all there (the study crowd from Butler Library).

It was the best thing Vince could have done for me. That year I was able to patch up a friendship with my ex-girlfriend, meet some incredible new people, break out of my shell and at the same time record my highest GPA in my time at Columbia.

Thanks all!

-Bill “not Bob” Helmke