Location, Location, Location!

Exterior of the Bronx Museum of the Arts

Location is a big pull factor for Fordham; students from all over the country and all over the world are drawn to pursuing higher education in New York City. The city doesn’t just offer plentiful opportunities for future careers, but also those for cultural engagement and entertainment.

Personally, I love to spend weekends visiting museums. Like any big city, New York has its fair share. There are the famous ones in Manhattan, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History, and then there are the smaller ones dotted throughout each borough.

The Bronx Museum of the Arts is a world-renowned institution of contemporary art exhibitions and innovative education programs. Just four subway stops away from Fordham’s Rose Hill campus, admission is always free! The museum is also known for its special cultural events, including live performances and workshops in poetry, salsa dancing, and more.

Last spring, I attended a truly spectacular event where women of the Bronx performed music, stories, and poems inspired by an art piece within the museum, in front of that specific piece. This July through October, the museum is home to "Art AIDS America," the very first exhibition to explore the impact of the AIDS epidemic on American art and culture.

Willie Cole, How Do You Spell America? #2, 1993
Exhibit: Art AIDS America

The Bronx Museum of the Arts is not one you’d want to miss!

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Be a Tourist for a Day...For Free!

One of the best things about Fordham is that there is always so much happening on and off campus. Last weekend my friends and I received free, yes free, tickets to go to the Top of the Rock Observation Deck in Rockefeller Center through the Campus Activities Board. One of my friends waited online in McGinley Center on the day the tickets were given out just to make sure that we got some. 

Getting to Rockefeller Center from Fordham is incredibly easy by MetroNorth, located right off Fordham's campus. Additionally, since it was a Saturday we only had to pay for a city ticket. Surprisingly, even though I grew up only an hour away from the city my whole life I rarely had the opportunity to sightsee and do all of the touristy things that someone coming to New York for a one time trip would get to do. 

The Top of the Rock Observation Deck was absolutely incredible and unreal. We took an elevator up to the top floor and when we looked out we had the opportunity to see the entire city. Standing on top of the city, I felt so proud to call Fordham my school and New York my campus. 

From Pakistan to New York

Name: Meera Aladin

School: Fordham University at Rose Hill

Year: Junior           

Major/Minor: Psychology/Biology

Hometown: Karachi, Pakistan 

Laura: As an international student, have you ever been concerned about your safety at Fordham or in New York City?

Meera: I lived on campus my freshman and sophomore years and had a great experience. Fordham’s campus is secure, and I never once felt unsafe living at Fordham. I moved off campus into an apartment this year as a junior, and I love it. Of course, living in any big city, it is important to be aware of your surroundings, but I have never been in a situation where I have felt like my safety was threatened.

L: Is it easy to make friends with the American students?

M: Yes! If nothing else, Americans are probably the friendliest people I’ve ever met. Although there is an international community at Fordham, my best friends here are all Americans.

L: What is one thing you wish you knew as an international student before coming to Fordham?

M: Coming from Karachi, I wish I knew how cold it would get here and what clothes I would need to get me through the winter. I also love eating Pakistani food, and I wish I knew what type of food would be available at Fordham and the surrounding community.

L: What made you initially interested in Fordham and what made you decide to enroll?

M: While I was applying to universities, Fordham waived my application fee. I took advantage of this, and after applying, I did more research online about the University and asked some of my friends who go to school in America about Fordham. The more I learned, the more interested I became in attending Fordham.

L: What clubs/activities are you involved in on campus?

M: Fordham has numerous international students groups on campus. They put together various cultural and religious events for all students throughout the year. I participated in intramural soccer last year. I have also volunteered at a center for teaching refugees English in the Bronx. The center was close to Fordham’s campus, which made it very convenient to volunteer there. This year I am doing an internship at Columbia University’s Child Psychiatric Epidemiologic Group, and it has been a great experience!

L: Overall, how was your experience adjusting to life in New York City and at Fordham specifically?

M: I think my first year here was the hardest, in terms of adjustment. However, I was living on the SILC (Science Integrated Learning Community) floor of Alumni Court South and found a really great group of friends with very similar interests to mine. My professors thus far have been extremely helpful, and I think that played a major role in easing the adjustment process, especially in the beginning. New York City is full of diversity, and there is always so much to see and so much to do. Overall, I have had nothing but a positive experience.

Getting Around in NYC

One of the best things about Fordham is the fact that it's in New York City, where there is so much to do and see. It's also easy to get around, with easy access to public transportation and Fordham-sponsored ways to get to and from your city excursions.

From the Rose Hill campus in the Bronx:

1) By train: If you walk out the Third Avenue gate and walk about 10 steps to the right, you'll find yourself outside the Fordham Road Metro-North station. The Metro-North is great because it gets you to Grand Central, in the heart of Manhattan, in just 20 minutes! Going home for the weekend? The Metro-North goes up to Westchester and Connecticut. Penn Station is also a quick subway ride from Grand Central if you want to take the Long Island Railroad or NJ Transit. 

Tickets to Grand Central are $8.25 one-way during peak hours and $6.25 one-way during off-peak hours. If you take the Metro-North to Manhattan on a Saturday or Sunday, make sure to buy a CityTicket, which only costs $4 one-way. Keep an eye on the time, though! The Metro-North generally runs twice an hour during the week and once an hour on the weekends, and the last train from Grand Central to Fordham is at 2 a.m.

2) By subway: A short 10 minute walk up Fordham Road is the station for the B and D subway, and another 5 minutes past that is the 4 subway station. To get on the subway, you simply swipe a MetroCard. Buying a MetroCard costs $1 and then you can add money to it and refill it. Each swipe costs only $2.50. Once on the subway you can go almost anywhere in the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. In particular, Fordham students take the D train to get to Yankee Stadium, Columbus Circle and Lincoln Center, Times Square, Herald's Square, and the West Village. It also runs pretty frequently, especially during the week and during the day. If you take the subway at night, Fordham security shuttles will be there waiting to drive you back to campus.

The subway may seem overwhelming if you've never taken it before, but it's definitely worth trying as it's the easiest way to get around in New York, and it's a part of the New York City culture. 

3) By bus: Right outside the gates of the Rose Hill campus are stops for the local BX9, BX12, BX22, and BX61 MTA buses that takes riders around the Bronx and upper Manhattan. Using a MetroCard for $2.50 per ride, students often take the BX12 up to the D subway station or the BX9 over to Target to do some shopping for their dorm rooms.

4) The Ram Van: The Ram Van is Fordham's own method of transportation, driven by students, between the Rose Hill campus and the Lincoln Center campus.  It runs every half hour, with the last van leaving from Lincoln Center at midnight on Sunday-Wednesday and 4am on Thursday-Saturday.  To ride the Ram Van, you have to reserve your place online and then buy a ticket in the Ram Van office at Rose Hill or in the lobby of Lincoln Center's Lowenstein building.  A one-way ticket is $3, but if you're taking the Ram Van for class or an internship, you can get free passes.

The Ram Van also has other great services, such as an office-campus shuttle that brings students who live off campus to their apartments at night and an Airport Service that will bring students (and their luggage) to LaGuardia and JFK International Airports before a long weekend.

From the Lincoln Center campus in Manhattan:

In addition to the Ram Van, the A, B, C, D, and 1 subway trains all stop down the block at the 59th Street/Columbus Circle station, and the local M5, M7, M10, M11, M31, M57, and M104 buses all stop right near the campus.

The Grocery Secrets of Arthur Avenue

One of the biggest changes from school life to college life is the food. You are now dependent on the food that your school provides instead of getting a home-cooked meal every day. And no matter how good it is, everybody will get sick of cafeteria food sooner or later.

Luckily, Arthur Avenue is right around the corner from Fordham's Rose Hill Campus

and offers numerous great opportunities for off-campus food. In addition to its great Italian restaurants, Arthur Avenue also has a lot of grocery stores at which you can get very good food. First of all, there are two supermarkets, Modern Food Center and C Town, at which you can stock up on snacks, fresh fruit and vegetables and many other things. But don’t stop there: Arthur Avenue also has great specialty stores. You can get the best freshly baked bread and pastries at one of the bakeries: Terranova, Madonia Brothers, or Addeo. They also offer homemade pasta and pizza dough. If you're craving pasta you should go to Borgatti's Ravioli & Egg Noodles and get some homemade pasta. If you want some Italian sausage or prosciutto you should go to Vincent's Meat Market. If you want to make some good sandwiches you should to to Calandra's Cheese and get some cheese form their great selection (they are also very generous with samples!).

Although you will not have your own kitchen as a freshman, you will appreciate the variety of grocery stores to cook up your own meals with your roommates as an upperclass men. So don't be afraid to venture out and explore the great food opportunities Arthur Avenue has to offer.

Everyone's Italian at Ferragosto!

On Sunday, September 8th, thousands of people crowded the streets of Arthur Avenue to attend its annual feast, Ferragosto. As a proud, full Italian, I was of course very eager to check it out!

Every year, the restaurants, bakeries, and grocery stores that line Arthur Avenue pull out all the stops to make their customers happy, and this year was no different. From noon until 8 pm, the streets were lined with many different food, clothing, cigar, wine, and even iced tea vendors. If you looked closely enough at the tables, you could even receive some free samples! For instance, one table hosted a free wine tasting for consumers 21 and over, another gave free cups of iced tea, and another had pieces of mozzarella for everyone to taste. In addition, consumers could purchase dishes of pasta, rice balls, personal pizzas, cannoli, zeppoles, and the famous sausage and peppers and roasted suckling pig sandwiches. My personal favorites were the fried zucchini flowers--I got three of them for only $4! The delicious food and great prices kept me (and my appetite) feeling very satisfied.

Ferragosto also featured the grand opening of a brand new restaurant on Arthur Avenue called John's Pizzeria. Many people, including myself, recognized this restaurant right away, as there is a branch in the Theatre District in Manhattan. John's sells its pizzas only by the pie, making it a great place for students to bring their families and friends. At Ferragosto, chefs from John's were cooking pizzas in an outdoor oven for everyone to taste.

Overall, Ferragosto is a great event to attend if you would like to learn all about what Arthur Avenue has to offer. Definitely check out all the restaurants and bakeries--you simply can't go wrong!