Kaavya Gnanam on Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone and Getting to Know New York

In this interview, Kaavya Gnanam, CC’25, shares her experiences learning to navigate Columbia and New York City as an international student. She also reflects on the value of art and design as an outlet from academics.

This interview was edited for length, clarity, and style.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

My name is Kaavya. I'm a senior in Columbia College.

I'm majoring in economics and minoring in visual art.

My interests are spread around different areas. I enjoy art and media and that's why I've been a part of Quarto, which is a literary and art magazine on campus. Last year, I was head of art and design for Quarto, and I'm generally involved in a lot of the art and design stuff for that magazine.

I've also been involved with The Sapna Project, which is a South Asian association on campus. I've helped put together the zine for that and help with events and different things. I've also been involved on campus as a student worker. I worked at the Center for Career Education for two years.

What made you want to study at Columbia?

I was born and raised in Sri Lanka in Colombo.

I  always knew that I wanted a change of environment. For college, I was playing around with the U.K., but then I didn't know what I wanted to major in. I liked the fact that the United States has a bit more flexibility with that. 

I'd always seen New York. It has glamor, and I wanted to come to New York and see what it was like. I'm glad I did because I now really love it. 

What were your first impressions when you got here? 

In terms of the pace of life, Sri Lanka is so slow-paced.

It’s very much a place they take it easy, just chill. New York is so fast-paced If you order at a cafe, you can't take your time. You have to know what you want. That was a huge shock to me.

In terms of lifestyle and work lifestyle, it is very much, “go, go, go,” very competitive. You need to have a plan every day. That was a lot, initially. And I honestly considered transferring in my first year because I didn't like New York.

I had no idea how to use the subway in my first year. But in my sophomore year, because I could take it alone and go anywhere I wanted, I got a lot more comfortable navigating the city and now I really love it.

I just spent my first summer in the city and I love it so much now.  I want to stay here for a few years after I graduate.

How did you overcome the challenges of being in a new city?

Time was definitely a part of it. Finding a lot of community as well played a big role in it, as cheesy it is. Finding people who could maybe help me navigate the city, or people who are more comfortable, or just finding people who were also not sure what was going on but we could figure it out together, made it feel a little bit less daunting.

Over time, I found people who can go places with me. Then, I could start to do it by myself. Over time, I got a lot of confidence in myself. A big thing I realized was there were going to be times I had to step outside of my comfort zone.

At first if I felt nervous, I was very much like, Okay, I'm just staying on campus, and I'm just going to stay in my room. I'm just going to stay on this floor. I realized if I always followed what I was comfortable with, I was never going to explore. 

I became big on going to campus events that seemed fun. Read the emails like there’s so many fun things to do. That was a good first step: for me to get comfortable on campus and then getting comfortable off campus.

Do you ever get homesick and how do you manage that?

Yeah, I get homesick a lot. Especially during the winter when it's really cold and I think, Oh I would really love the Sri Lanka sun right now. I'm really lucky I have a lot of people back home I can stay in touch with.

If I feel like I need a little slice of home, I'll call my friends, I'll call my family, and just stay in touch with them, so I don't feel too disconnected from everything going on back home. Another big thing for me is food. I'm sure most international students can relate to this.

Even students from states where they have different types of food, I think when you start to miss home, food is a huge part of it. You start to crave that one thing you love to eat every day. A big thing for me was learning how to cook the foods from back home.

That helped so much because when I miss food, there's something tangible that I can make from back home. Homesickness is tough you kind of just have to accept: This is something that will accompany my time here a little bit.

How were you able to find your community in New York and at Columbia University?

It was strange at first when I realized there were almost no Sri Lankans. Over time, I think I've met a total of three Sri Lankans. At Columbia, in terms of finding community, for me it's been more about interest-based community.

If someone's feeling homesick, definitely find community with people from your cultural background or people who have some sort of connection there. But if that's not a possibility, an interest-based community is so helpful. Being part of the art and literature communities on campus is something that's not connected to my major, which is why I think I enjoy it so much.

I'm an economics major. Much of my day-to-day work is doing economics problem sets and going to those classes. Having an escape is important. I don't think everything should revolve around what you want to do with your career or what your academic aspirations are.

It’s great to join clubs that will further your career and further your academic aspirations, but having something that feels more removed can be a nice breath of fresh air. I've found community in those spaces because I don't have to worry about work and I don't have to worry about how this plays into the big picture. I can just be happy and have fun in the moment.

Do you have any advice or tips for someone who’s new to New York and/or Columbia (a first year student)? 

Go easy on yourself.

In my freshman year, I was so disappointed all the time when I wouldn't take those “big steps.” It’s true that you do need to push yourself, but also give yourself a little bit of grace because it's a huge change and it will take time to feel comfortable for a lot of people.

If you are looking to figure out how to take those next steps, a big thing would be, as I said earlier, go to those campus events. Find groups on campus that are doing things you're interested in. For example, I really wanted to go to museums, but I didn't know a lot of people in my first semester, and I especially didn’t know a lot of people who wanted to go to as many museums as I did.

I was able to find events where they would take students to museums, and I would go with a club that would meet at museums and take tours. Now I'm in a place where if I want to, I can talk to someone and say, “Let’s go to this museum.”

Early on in my time here, I needed that group and those spaces to do the things I wanted to do. Don't feel embarrassed about going with a campus group or going to on campus events. Sometimes there's a weird stigma around it, and especially in freshman year, you see so many people who are like, “I'm not going to go to that event.” There's nothing embarrassing about it.

The next piece of advice would be to find things that you are really excited about doing either associated with the university or outside of it. Being intentional with your time is important.

It's difficult to find a lot of free time to do these things. So maybe read online or go on social media and ask yourself, “What is something really fun that I am excited to do in the city?” and make it a point to have priorities with the things you want to do with your free time. That gives you a lot more agency while you're here. That’s something I wish I did more, just be a lot more intentional with things I wanted to do. 

What would you recommend someone go see or do, if they’re new to New York City?

I'm a big museum person. One thing I'd recommend is getting a list of places that are free in the city for either everyone or students and make the most of that. We're not going to have that forever.

Go to the MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art), The Met, the Guggenheim as well. All of these museums have free days for everyone. Even the Whitney. The exhibits are always changing, and it is such a nice space to relax, to just go, even if there's only one painting you love in these museums, just to go sit in front of that painting for a little bit and just breathe.

When things get hectic, it feels like a waste of time sometimes to just go sit and look at paintings. But I've never regretted it. If I'm feeling stressed during school and I need to relax, I have never once regretted just going to a museum. Another thing I would say is enter lotteries to go see late night shows.

That's something which seems so bizarre to me that we can do that. But I went to go see Saturday Night Live (SNL), for example. I went for the show with Sydney Sweeney, and it's free to enter the SNL ticket lottery. 

It's one of those things where it's like, just do it. There's nothing lost by just trying, and most of the shows you can enter online.

I've seen Stephen Colbert by doing that! I would recommend everyone try doing that. 

What’s been your favorite moment at Columbia?

For my favorite moment, I would say it was Quarto’s last publication because this was my first time having such a big role in something that a club was doing. I was head of art and design. I did the layout and the cover for it, and it just felt so rewarding to see it come together.

I've never done anything like that in my life. It was a really nice moment of, “Wow, we did this together.” I think that's such a cool part about Columbia, as well. The students put out such cool work. 

It's so cool to see how diverse the talent is across Columbia and how much people can do. Even the work we get from Quarto, sometimes I’m like, “Wow, a student wrote this.” 

But for my favorite tradition, there are definitely certain campus events that I really enjoy. The Halloween event at Slate organized by the Columbia College Student Council is so fun. It's really nice when there are those yearly events that everyone is looking forward to. The tree lighting is a big one where it's a nice shared experience and  a community moment.

What are your plans for the future?

I was initially not a fan of New York, but honestly, this last summer has changed my mind a lot. I got a taste of what it's like to work in New York.

It felt easier to have a more bearable schedule doing that. I want to be in New York for a few years, but there are so many logistical things I have to think about. I am thinking about a visa and so many other things, but for as long as I can, I would like to be in New York.

After that, I just want to find somewhere in the world that I enjoy being in, and then many years down the line, I will probably go back to Sri Lanka.

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