POV: Your First Summer in New York City!

Imagine it! You’re an NYU Admission Ambassador. You lead guests through Bobst Library, our Kimmel Center, and our Washington Square Mews. You see guests coming from far and wide – your hometown, a completely different country! Everywhere! This is my normal day!

During the weekdays, I have frequently found myself working at the Bonomi Family Admission Center as an Admission Ambassador. Bonomi offers a variety of support for visitors such as self-guided campus tours, guided tours, pamphlets, and support when it comes to the Admission process. As an Ambassador, we give tours, mingle and interact with guests in Bonomi, answer phone calls directed to the undergraduate admission line, and even do Instagram takeovers on MeetNYU! We also have Brooklyn tours covering our Tandon School of Engineering and our Clive Davis Institute. 

Working as an Ambassador over the summer has allowed me to get closer with different ambassadors and also interact more with guests. I’ve given so many tours this summer! 

I have been giving tours for nearly a year at this point, and honestly it’s been one of my favorite experiences here at New York University. Since getting to NYU, being an Ambassador has been one of my dreams. Additionally, through touring this summer in New York, I’ve gotten to connect with guests with similar major interests and even people from my hometown!

You’re now in a different role! Now you’re working in a NYU Residential Building, answering questions at the Resource Center and logging packages. You help bring the community together and you bond with your team members. That’s what my evenings are like! 

During the evenings and weekends, I have been working as a Summer Assistant! Summer Assistants, or SAs, act like Residential Assistants in Residential Halls. We typically reside on every 1-2 floors of a Residential Dorm and generally help out the building leadership team (the adults) to make sure everything is going okay! As a summer assistant I spend most of my time working in the Resource Center (RC). Every hall has a RC which is where all mail and packages come to. The Building Leadership Team has been amazing during my time here, answering all my questions and supporting me. 

This year, I’m a Summer Assistant at Gramercy Green! Summer Assistant is a bit different than being an RA, as I am not doing any programming and working much more at the Resource Center. But I still serve as the SA/RA on Duty and help out residents if they need anything. I typically work around fifteen hours a week for my Summer Assistant role.  The nice thing about being a Summer Assistant is I’ve been able to grow close with my team and community. 

There’s three summer roles: Summer Assistant, Summer Assistant of Operations, and Program Assistant. Program Assistants meanwhile help with the pre-college program putting on fun events. To apply to get a summer role there’s an application! You have to attend an information session, submit a digital application, and be interviewed. It’s similar to the Residential Assistant application, but with fewer steps and requirements. You can get a summer role as soon as you finish your first-year. It’s a great resume builder, but also NYU subsidizes summer housing and a meal plan. 

Now imagine –  between the Ambassador role and Summer Assistant role, it seems pretty hectic and hard to find time. But you’ve somehow managed to do it! During the weekends and afternoons of some weekdays, you’ve gotten to explore all that summer has to offer in the City! From free concerts to shopping sprees, the world is truly your oyster! 

A lot of my friends have stayed up in New York City this summer! I’ve to have a fun little tea party with a group of friends and also do some movie nights. Also, I’ve done a ton of escape rooms with friends! May was the month of Escape Rooms for me. Once school finished up, I met up individually with two friends, Dafne and Eleana, and we had some chaotic adventures. Dafne and I attempted to take on a 12 person escape room on our own, and we failed, but we made it to the final room! In May alone, I managed to do four escape rooms!

I’ve also been playing Dungeons and Dragons this summer! I’m a game master.I’ve gotten to do it much more often now that class has let out! While it’s been a lot of work planning sessions, I’ve gotten to continue tapping into my creative side with these sessions. I’ve even gotten to grow my dice horde a little bit (I have so so many dice sets).

Both my Dad and Mom came up to visit me this summer. My Mom took Joe and I to Yankees Stadium to see the Subway Series. My mom is a Mets Fan, while Joe, sadly, is a Yankees fan. Meanwhile, my Dad took my best friend, Joe, and I to Citi Field to see the Mets play the Nationals! While I’m originally from the DMV originally, I can’t help but love the Mets. This is the first time I’ve seen either stadium so it was amazing to see both! 

I also started my honors thesis. Here at NYU, some departments offer Departmental Honors Thesis for Seniors. The requirements differ from department to department, but I am completing mine in Classics. I’m currently using this summer to get a jump on my reading. So far I’ve managed to read and annotate the Iliad (translated by Emily Wilson). I’m currently reading and annotating the Odyssey now by Emily Wilson! I’ve gotten a lot of books so far, most focused around Athenian Theater, so I can tackle my topic!