Each week, the Record (using a script in R) randomly selects a student at the College for our One in Two Thousand feature, excluding current Record board members. This week, Alisha Naidu ’24 discussed an early mornings, the harp, and her love of feminist philosophy. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Haley Zimmerman (HZ): We’re talking after our opening shift together at Goodrich Coffee Bar, where we have to arrive at 7 a.m. each Tuesday. How are you doing with this early shift? Are you a morning person?
Alisha Naidu (AN): I used to love working the morning shift my sophomore year. I wouldn’t say that I’m a morning person, but I think Goodrich has a really good energy that motivates me to wake up in the morning. When I do wake up at 6:30 for the 7 a.m. shift, it’s worth it. I don’t know if you saw [the sunrise] this morning, but it was so, so great. I saw the moon and the sun at the same time, and that was awesome.
HZ: How do you like working at Goodrich?
AN: I love it. I randomly applied my sophomore year, no barista experience or anything. I feel like it’s always been sort of a dream to be a barista and work in a cute little café. And Goodrich is the perfect place to do it because you don’t get stressed like in a real coffee shop, because you’re only serving students, and they can’t complain.
HZ: I always say it’s like a simulation. Aside from barista-ing, what else do you do on campus?
AN: I used to run cross country and track. I also lead UnICS, which is Underrepresented Identities in Computer Science. We do a lot of community-building events for people with marginalized identities in the computer science major, like faculty dinners, volunteering, Tunnel [City Coffee] tabs, advice — whatever. I also started taking harp lessons, and that’s been really exciting. I had no experience — I played the trumpet in middle school, and that was it. I think the harp is a very hard instrument, but I have weekly lessons with this really great teacher.
HZ: That’s so cool. What made you want to learn to play the harp?
I don’t think I really even knew the harp existed when I was a kid, and that’s why I chose the trumpet when I was choosing what instrument to play. I feel like I probably saw [the harp] one day, a picture of it or something, and I was like, “That’s a crazy instrument, and it looks awesome.” It’s so big, so much bigger than you would expect. I think the sound that it produces is just very, very magical, and I feel like you don’t have to be really good at playing to make it sound pretty good.
This is my first time ever taking music lessons at Williams, and it’s my senior year. I was like, I really want to do things that I have always wanted to do while at Williams but haven’t gotten myself to do, and taking lessons was one of them. I was looking through all the different instruments that [the music department] had on the website, and they’ve got all sorts of really cool instruments. I was between a couple of different Indian and Chinese instruments, and then I saw the harp. I was like, “Okay, I have to, no question.”
HZ: I know you studied abroad at WEPO [Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford] last year. How was that?
AN: It’s a really good balance of an academic study abroad program and also having fun exploring and traveling. I had so much more free time, because I only had class for two hours a week. I didn’t have lectures, I just had my two tutorials, and so I could do work from wherever. It was really nice living in a city and having things to do. My professors were all pretty well-known in their fields, and that was really exciting. I got to sit down and chat with a really smart person for an hour every week.
HZ: That’s awesome. Did you study computer science, philosophy, or both?
AN: Both. I took two computer science classes, and then I took three philosophy classes. My favorite was Feminist Philosophy. But I also took an Indian and Buddhist philosophy class. [My classes] were just so, so wonderful, and I was so engaged in the material. I feel like that’s sometimes hard to find.
At the same time, I was also traveling around Europe for the first time. I had never been before. I loved it. I miss the public transportation and being able to get to the airport without asking someone to drive you. I miss restaurants. I miss the balls that we had. Those were really awesome. It was like prom, but way more extravagant. And London is really great.
HZ: Was it hard to come back to the College?
AN: It was really hard to leave Oxford. I don’t love endings, and I knew that I wouldn’t be going back to Oxford for a very long time. I don’t really see that in my immediate future. But I got some advice from the program director, [Professor of Philosophy] Bojana [Mladenovic], during the last weekend. She said, “Try to extend yourself in both directions. You can feel sad about endings, but if you extend yourself into the past and into the present, then that helps a little bit, because you don’t miss things quite as much. You can look forward while also valuing the past.” I think that really helped me adjust to Williams. It was interesting. I think I forgot how small it was here.
HZ: Ok — time for a speed round. Number one, what’s your favorite Spring Street establishment?
AN: I go to Tunnel a lot. I don’t really go to any of the other ones.
HZ: Even though you’re a Goodrich barista?
AN: I like the coffee better at Tunnel. It’s stronger.
HZ: I’ll pretend you didn’t say that. Number two, what’s your favorite dining hall?
AN: I don’t go to the dining halls anymore, but I’ve discovered my favorite grocery store. And that’s Big Y [in North Adams]. It’s like a cheaper version of Whole Foods. It’s fantastic. It’s so groovy. They’ve got all the little cute little vegan things, and I’m not even vegan.
HZ: I’ll keep that in mind. Number three, what’s your Goodrich order?
AN: I’ve been doing this since sophomore year, back when it was a secret menu item. I like to say that I invented it: a maple coffee. Now it’s sort of more mainstream. That, and I love the raspberry maple skyr. It is so good. I love it. It’s easily the best skyr [flavor].
HZ: Number four, what’s your favorite class you’ve ever taken at Williams?
AN: I’m gonna cheat and say my feminist philosophy class at Oxford because technically, it counts as a class at Williams. My professor was awesome. I would just read really good feminist literature, write an essay on it every week, and then talk to her about it. It was like it was a dream come true, because it didn’t feel like a class.
