October 2014

It's cold and rainy, and I'm exhausted from the long drive down from Albany. I'm sitting in a room in the Undergraduate Admissions building, watching the typical presentation that's given before prospective students go on a tour of the St. John's University Queens campus.

The man who is giving the presentation starts discussing the core classes all students are required to take. It all sounds pretty standard: First Year Writing, Philosophy, Theology, Scientific Inquiry, Discover New York... wait. Discover New York? What kind of corny class is that?

The admissions guy explains that all students are required to take Discover New York, even if they have lived in New York City for their entire life. It's purpose is to familiarize new students with New York, and give long-time New Yorkers a fresh perspective on the city.

This class seems interesting, but also feels like a waste of tuition money. My mother taps me on the shoulder and whispers, "Isn't that cool Mol?" I shrug.

October 2015

Flash forward a year, and I'm halfway through my freshman year at St. John's. I'm sitting in the Freshman Center, waiting to meet with my advisor. She leads me to her office, where we discuss my midterm grades and my class schedule for the spring semester.

She signs me up for the typical classes: Bio 2000, Bio 2000 Lab, Introduction to Health and Human Services, First Year Writing, and Scientific Inquiry. I tell her I'm interested in doing the Global Passport Program at the end of the semester. She suggests I take another core class, but there are limited choices for classes we can take abroad. The only class left for me to take is Discover New York.

I secretly dread this idea, but sign up for the class anyways. My roommate had taken DNY this semester, and hated it. It wasn't relevant to her major, and just piled on extra papers and homework assignments. The thought of signing up for a class like that without getting to chose the theme or professor terrified me. But I have no choice.

November 2015

I am accepted to the Global Passport Program for the spring semester, confirming my spot in an unknown DNY course. The only information I get is my professor's name - Douglas Cantelmo.

January 2016

I am relaxing in bed after a long week of festivities. College is the last thing on my mind, until a notification appears on my laptop screen. A new email from my professor.

"Ciao a tutti!"His email greets me. What does that even mean? I have to Google it. The email contains information about the class, and has the syllabus and first homework assignment attached. I open the first attachment and see the theme of this course is Urban Design. Again - what does that even mean? The syllabus says the class is about studying the way New York City and Rome developed from early cities to the urban hubs they are today. Sounds interesting enough, but I don't appreciate the idea of doing homework already. I hope this will be an easy A.

March 2016

It's Wednesday morning, and I'm running late to class again. I hastily enter the classroom, only to see the room is not in its usual arrangement. Professor Cantelmo tells me to join a group of three girls at a table. I usually sit by myself in the corner, so I resent the idea of me trying to awkwardly interact with these girls. They're clearly already friends, and I'm terrible at introductions.

This class period, we are given a large subway map and game board pieces. Our professor has concocted a trivia board game to help us study for the midterm. I actually end up befriending the girls at my table, and we end up winning the game. In the bonus lightening round, I end up tying with a girl named Danielle. We win free food for our field trip at the end of the semester.

May 2016

It's mid-May, and I am 30,000 feet in the air as I write this. I have 4 hours left in this flight until I land in Rome. The stress of finals week is behind me, but the impact that this class has left on me is not.

DNY was so much more to me than a gen-ed class. It not only taught me about New York City and Rome, but about urban culture and life.

Professor Cantelmo is a dedicated young professor who actually cares about the success and well-being of his students. Every class started with a snack (#goals) and some music to get us in the mood for that week's topic.

He would craft a Spotify playlist for each class, and often included funny videos to spice up his lectures (my favorites were always from "The Office"). At the halfway point, we always got a break for Starbucks, which was probably the reason I got a gold card membership so quickly. Class was never boring, as he always made sure to keep the class engaged. Part of the final was based around getting to know us and understanding our goals for our time in Rome and for the rest of our undergraduate careers. He made us write vows for the rest of our time at SJU, and then handpicked a song for each of us. He even made an 8 hour playlist for our flight to Rome (at my request).

If there's one thing Professor Cantelmo is known for, it's that he has a tendency to over-share. And I don't mean that in a bad way. He would share tidbits of his life with us at first, eventually moving on to showing us his prom photos and reading us his vows. On our field-based learning trip, he showed us the spot where he proposed to his fiancee. One class, he read the famous Walt Whitman poem ______ to us. He would always end class with an inspirational anecdote, but the story that accompanied that poem was particularly touching.

Yes, I did learn a lot about New York. I have a deeper understanding of the city now, and actually know where things are. If someone stops me in a subway station asking for directions, I no longer have to nervously shrug at them and point them to the subway map. When I'm watching "Broad City" or "How I Met Your Mother", I recognize all those subtle NYC jokes and references, and have actually been to most of the locations where they were shot. I no longer need a GPS just to walk the streets of Manhattan.

But most of all, I learned confidence and adventurousness. I willingly get lost in the streets of Brooklyn now. The girls I played the subway game with are some of my best friends now. I'm going abroad for the first time in my life, and can confidently say I know my way around a city I have never even been to yet. I readily accept and sometimes even embrace the unknown, awkwardness and all.

As corny as it sounds, I have to thank Professor Cantelmo for that. I guess while discovering New York, I discovered a new side of myself.

And if you're wondering, I did get an A ;)