The first week of classes brought with it a wave of assignments. But there was one which stood out from the rest. We had to do ethnographic observations of NYU Shanghai’s elevators and write a one page response paper on the notes we jotted down. Basically, we had to observe everyone as soon as they stepped into the school’s elevators. How did they behave? What did they do? And boy, we are interesting. But don’t worry, I won’t give out any names. Your elevator habits are safe with me. There are certain activities we all engage in within those four steel walls, and most of them are to avoid any form of social interaction. It’s not a bad thing, just that we’re not really curious to know each other’s entire schedule at 7 am while we’re still sporting pillow marks on our faces. Instead, I’ve seen students and faculty — yeah, they’re in on this NYU Shanghai elevator culture too — put on headphones and fade into their own little world. You know what the worst part is? Sometimes, music isn’t even playing. Really, you gotta love us.People take their phones out to scroll through…what? What can you possibly be scrolling through on an elevator that has no data coverage or wifi whatsoever? I get it though, I do it too. It just makes pretending like you can’t hear the conversation going on behind you much easier. Except you really should tune into that conversation. Cause that’s another great elevator activity— eavesdropping. Anyone ever notice all the gossip you get caught up on in the elevator? It’s insane! People forget we all know each other within these school walls. Just some minor life advice: switch to another language whenever you “Kiss and Tell”. Spanish usually does the trick. Even when somebody who took three years of it in high school is riding the elevator with you. Yet the most prominent part of our elevator culture is the elevator rules we’ve “established” which nobody really follows (I obviously do, of course). In the hypothetical case that someone is unaware of these regulations which are practically set in stone — not really — let’s do a brief recap.

NYU SHANGHAI LIFT POLICY

One shall not call the elevator if their final destination is the floor above or below.

One shall not press the button of a floor which is just below or above a button which has already been pushed — at least not during rush hour.

Refrain from using the middle elevators to go from floors 1–6.

Failure to comply to these regulations has sparked many awkward situations within our beloved elevators. In the mildest of cases, the person who dared break rules 1 through 3 would be simply glared upon by the other commuters. The main purpose of this is usually to have the criminal regret their obviously unforgivable mistake and refrain from committing such an atrocity again. Yet it gets slightly more awkward when the sinner gets called out by another rider — the elevator ambassador — and is asked to take the stairs instead, or take the other set of elevators. Now, two outcomes are possible. One, the rule breaker leaves the elevator and does as he was told. Two, the wrongdoer ignores the ambassador's remark and continues their journey up and down the floors. The latter tends to be extra uncomfortable for those within those four steel walls. Yet, the ambassador’s reaction is more than justified. One tends to doubt whether everyone in the elevator is conspiring against them, when floors 1–9 are all pressed and they’re trying to get to the 10th floor. Let’s just make it clear: it is impossible to scroll through old facebook feeds for 10 interminable floors. At one point, the feed just doesn’t load anymore. Alas, we have managed to create a new culture which revolves around these pulley-run machines. It is as if we’ve established a nation separate from the world of NYU Shanghai; a nation with its own intrinsic traditions, underlying policies, and corrupt ambassadors (cause we’ve all broken the rules at one point). I doubt any other school can claim that. Go NYUSH! This article was written by Oriana de Angelis. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Arshaun Darabnia