At nineteen, Langston enrolled at Columbia University But left after a year. He traveled throughout Europe and Africa and worked at many jobs, including being a deckhand on a ship and a dishwasher in a Parisian nightclub. Money was always a problem, but he persevered and remained optimistic. Whether he was struggling as a student at Columbia or working as a waiter in Washington, D.C., He continued writing poetry that praised his race for its beauty and humannity.