Columbia University College of Pharmacy - Apothekan Yearbook (New York, NY)

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3ird y ear Our story begins, not at the beginning but in the year 1973. We see a distinguished gentleman reclining in his easy chair by the fire, his great dane to his left and his sixteen year old son by his side. We look closer and by his bearing, we realize he is a member of the renowned class of ' 53, which left an indelible mark on the annals of pharmaceutical education. Well son, entering college is a major step in your life. Let me tell you what it was like in my day. I ' ll never forget my first train ride to school. I beamed with anticipation and qui- vered with fright. This was to be my first day at college. Emerging from the station, I walked briskly across the campus , only to trip over an Oldsmobile. My eyes search among the tenements, trying to discern which one was to be my home for the next four years. Starting at the corner, I narrowed down my selection. The A P? No. The paint store? No. The deserted building? No. 121? No. Oops! back to the deserted building. This was it! I had finally arrived. I strolled up the steps, my attire new, and my soul burning with ambition. As I opened the door, an air of professionalism enveloped me. They were burning garbage in the boys ' locker room again. As I was early, I decided to do some exploring of my own. I started in one of the hidden recesses of the building — the locker rooms. I soon dis- covered that the locker numbers ran in logarithmic progression. For lack of a log table, I was forced to carry my coat for the rest of the day. Suddenly a bell rang, and what had previously been a lonely desolate spot was now a bedlam. They seemed to come out of every wall and I retreated in surprise. This was my first contact with the pharmacy student. Undaunted, I went to my morning classes and thus began my education. You know son, your first few weeks pass very quickly. Soon the novelty wears off and the routine begins. . . What started off as assignment reading in C. C (Contemptible Civilization) never got any further than the introductions. Bless those introductions! The oral recitation ended up as a race between the one textbook in the class and the student called on ro read. For at a moment ' s notice the text could be passed to the four corners of the room without disturbing the students reading the racing forms. It was this class that taught us that a wise nod and a knowing look was worth a thousand words. After a year with the class of ' 53, Mr. Chill, our instructor, was forced to take a health cure on a milk farm in Oxford, England. We bade him farewell with our best wishes and an ex- pensive brief case. Now that I think of it, two other instructors were forced to take similar cures after a year of coping with us. Then there was Chemistry! As soon as we walked in for our first lecture we were weeks behind. This was followed in our second lecture by an exam. The next three

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lectures were also exams. It seemed as rhough the lecture material was covered in the ten minute breaks. There was also an ingenious arrangement of seats during exam periods. Those with the highest averages were the farrhest from the proctor and the nearest to God. Those who needed help most were forced to sit in the front row and receive sympathetic looks from Prof. Bailey. During the second half of the first year, the students in the first row mysteriously departed from the school and the second row moved forward en masse. Until my freshman year at C.U.C.P. living was a simple process. I ate when I was hungry, slept when I was tired, and never gave a second thought to breathing. How- ever, my contact with Zoology and Mortormorlie ' s uncle taught me differently. When I realized how much effort is required to live, I decided to give it all up and remain a student. Formerly, eating a meat sandwich was a natural act, but after listening to the original creator of the blonde shicksa, mealtimes became the scene of the some of the goriest internal battles in history. I was to be the battleground. The salivary enzymes, act- ing as advance scouts, secreted themselves behind my tongue, awaiting the approach of enemy meat. Quickly the meat sandwich overcame the scouts sustaining few losses. Led by General Peristalsis, the main bolus of the army advanced confidently down the canal. With cries of vicrory, happy gurgling, and a few burps, it rushed toward the cardiac sphincter. It was now or never, up or down. The bolus entered the stomach unsuspect- ingly, and suddenly chaos reigned. The battle was short and furious. Ten hours and fifteen pages of notes later, what remained of the once proud meat sandwich finally left us. A rose by any other name would be just as confusing. This was the creed of our botany course. One of the texts required for the completion of the course was road map leading into Monticello, for to have seen the Ginko is to have lived. Oh! Those unique exams. Nine pages of, The of... is found because it is So ended the first year! Those that made it were a little sadder, a little wiser, but still in one piece. Second Vft ear Until now, Columbia University centered around the sixty-eighth street campus. Since we had to take the physics course uptown, we soon made contact with ' Joe College ' . You could always tell when we had invaded stately Pupin Hall, for the solemn dignity of its halls was soon shattered by the moans and groans of future pharmacists. Our mild-mannered instructor Dr. Sachs, realizing our minds would he elsewhere, implored us to remain quiet and not feed the squirrels that scampered outside our lec- ture hall window. Our interest was centered on the lecturer only during demonstrations, for it became exceedingly difficult to read the New York Times when the lecture hall lights were turned out. The lab course, too, was interesting as it was the most inexpen-