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I heart NY. I really do. I have since I found out it existed. What was I smoking when I accepted the IBM offer in San Jo-freakin-se ? Hopefully one day I can move to NYC. That would make me so happy. I just got back from spending 5 days in the city with Bernice! It was incredible! I had such an amazing time and I can't wait to do it all over again.
Let's see, from the beginning: I left Kalamazoo on Friday morning. My flight's were uneventful and on-time, which is always appreciated. I was supposed to meet up with Bernice @ baggage claim, so when I got off the plane, I called her and let her know I was coming. I got the the baggage claim area, got my bag (it was the second one out - I felt so special :) and I started looking for Bernice. But she was no where to be found. I waited for about 15 more minutes thinking she might be in traffic. Turns out that she was also waiting for me at the baggage claim - in another terminal. So after calling each other several times and realizing we were at opposite sides of the airport, I hoped on a shuttle and met her where she was. It was so great to see my other half after ALLL this time!
I got to see Bernice's apt. which is soooooooooo nice. Granted, it'd be good to have such utilities as gas, laundry, dsl, and a phone line, and not be living in a construction site, but the apt. itself is really nice. Sameer's story is not as great, but hopefully they can either get their floor fixed/be able to move in or they can move to some place that isn't as crappy. The location of the Crest (where everyone's staying) is so convenient, close to almost all the subway lines as well as South Street Seaport, the Staten Island Ferry etc. Needless to say, I wanna move in :)
Friday night was really fun. We went to dinner with Andrew, Jennifer, Sameer, John, and of course Bernice in Chinatown and then went to a Korean desert place that had super mango deserts. Apparently John and Sameer go there everyday - I can see why. We then met up with some of John's friends whom no one else knew and we all went to the Russian Vodka room which consisted of 15 of us standing outside not knowing what to do cause no one was in charge and no one really wanted to go - so we ended up splitting and going to Alex's apt. cause Sameer was email deprived. Alex has an incredible apt. The view of Manhattan/mid-town/whatever else was amazing and I could stare at it all day/night.
Saturday we spent running errands, going to Kmart and Bed Bath and Beyond so Bernice and Jennifer could get things to furnish their apt. with. It took forever but it was fun. That night there was a party at Alex's which was great. There were so many CMU people there! It was like one huge reunion. It was awesome to see so many people from school - people I never thought I'd see again! Unfortunately we didn't get to go clubbing, but it's ok. Next time I visit NYC we'll definitely get our dance on :p
Sunday was spent once again hanging out with Sameer and John who are such a riot. I miss them so much! They can take the most dull conversation and turn it into something quite entertaining. We went to lunch at Lombardi's - mmmmmm pizza - and then Bernice and I went to the Guggenheim. There was an exhibit there on Brancusi, whom I learned about in Art History class. I really liked seeing his sculptures in real life, especially after having learned about them. Unfortunately I wasn't the best tour guide for Bernice since I had forgotten so much, but with a little help from the exhibition booklet, we figured out a lot :) We also went Salsa dancing at Pier 25 that night with Sameer and John. Although I don't Salsa, I did pick up some moves as did everyone else and it was really fun. Unfortunately my feet were killing me so I had to sit for some time, but the music was really good and the views were really nice. We also went to Serendipity's for desert - the line was huge, of course, but what wasn't very cool is that the line was created - there were empty tables and chairs in the restaurant so it's not like the place was full. But I guess if it looks like there's always a line, more people will want to come check out the place due to it's "popularity." The deserts were incredible, though, and I can still imagine the cheesecake...it was heaven.
Monday was laid back. Bernice and I wanted to catch a show on Broadway but then it dawned upon us that there are no Monday matinees. So we then ended up going to Minados for all-you-can-eat sushi. I had never seen so much sushi in my life. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Afterwards we went to the Museum of Sex. It was rather, um, interesting. I thought it would be more about the history of sex in new york, discussing prostituation as well as how new york city transformed the image of sex throughout the years. But this, it was not. I think it scared Bernice, but I'm very proud of her for going through the entire museum.
After dinner we went on the Staten Island Ferry to see the views of Manhattan at night. It was gorgeous and free! There were two guys who stood in front of us who were really cute and so Sameer and John kept talking about them and making fun of me and Bernice :p It was hilarious.
Tuesday I had to leave unfortunately :( Bernice and I tried to go roller blading in Central Park but it turns out that starting August 9th (the Monday before) they turned the rink into an amusement park. So there was no blading. We parked it on a bench and had a very relaxing and awesome afternoon just reminiscing. Ok, so it was mostly me complaining about how far California is from NYC and EVERYONE.
Getting to the airport wasn't bad, but apparently the weather in the midwest was. So many flights were cancelled - the flight before mine (that went from lga to detroit) was cancelled and the one I was on was delayed by 45 minutes. My layover in Detroit went from 30 minutes to 20 - and once I got off the plane I had 13 minutes to make my flight which was at the other end of the airport. I literally ran to the terminal only to get there and see that there was no plane and all the people were still at the gate (btw, how does gate 3 come after both 4 and 6?) It turns out that the flights were incredibly delayed and we didn't leave for another hour and 35 minutes but all the monitors claimed we were still leaving at 10:13 on time and on schedule. I got home really late and quite tired but I made it home. It was FREEZING here in Kalamazoo and raining - compared to it being in the 80's in NYC.
Well I'm exhausted now so I'm gonna get some caffeine. I have a whole night of practicing left ahead of me and it'll be very tiring...
Let's see, from the beginning: I left Kalamazoo on Friday morning. My flight's were uneventful and on-time, which is always appreciated. I was supposed to meet up with Bernice @ baggage claim, so when I got off the plane, I called her and let her know I was coming. I got the the baggage claim area, got my bag (it was the second one out - I felt so special :) and I started looking for Bernice. But she was no where to be found. I waited for about 15 more minutes thinking she might be in traffic. Turns out that she was also waiting for me at the baggage claim - in another terminal. So after calling each other several times and realizing we were at opposite sides of the airport, I hoped on a shuttle and met her where she was. It was so great to see my other half after ALLL this time!
I got to see Bernice's apt. which is soooooooooo nice. Granted, it'd be good to have such utilities as gas, laundry, dsl, and a phone line, and not be living in a construction site, but the apt. itself is really nice. Sameer's story is not as great, but hopefully they can either get their floor fixed/be able to move in or they can move to some place that isn't as crappy. The location of the Crest (where everyone's staying) is so convenient, close to almost all the subway lines as well as South Street Seaport, the Staten Island Ferry etc. Needless to say, I wanna move in :)
Friday night was really fun. We went to dinner with Andrew, Jennifer, Sameer, John, and of course Bernice in Chinatown and then went to a Korean desert place that had super mango deserts. Apparently John and Sameer go there everyday - I can see why. We then met up with some of John's friends whom no one else knew and we all went to the Russian Vodka room which consisted of 15 of us standing outside not knowing what to do cause no one was in charge and no one really wanted to go - so we ended up splitting and going to Alex's apt. cause Sameer was email deprived. Alex has an incredible apt. The view of Manhattan/mid-town/whatever else was amazing and I could stare at it all day/night.
Saturday we spent running errands, going to Kmart and Bed Bath and Beyond so Bernice and Jennifer could get things to furnish their apt. with. It took forever but it was fun. That night there was a party at Alex's which was great. There were so many CMU people there! It was like one huge reunion. It was awesome to see so many people from school - people I never thought I'd see again! Unfortunately we didn't get to go clubbing, but it's ok. Next time I visit NYC we'll definitely get our dance on :p
Sunday was spent once again hanging out with Sameer and John who are such a riot. I miss them so much! They can take the most dull conversation and turn it into something quite entertaining. We went to lunch at Lombardi's - mmmmmm pizza - and then Bernice and I went to the Guggenheim. There was an exhibit there on Brancusi, whom I learned about in Art History class. I really liked seeing his sculptures in real life, especially after having learned about them. Unfortunately I wasn't the best tour guide for Bernice since I had forgotten so much, but with a little help from the exhibition booklet, we figured out a lot :) We also went Salsa dancing at Pier 25 that night with Sameer and John. Although I don't Salsa, I did pick up some moves as did everyone else and it was really fun. Unfortunately my feet were killing me so I had to sit for some time, but the music was really good and the views were really nice. We also went to Serendipity's for desert - the line was huge, of course, but what wasn't very cool is that the line was created - there were empty tables and chairs in the restaurant so it's not like the place was full. But I guess if it looks like there's always a line, more people will want to come check out the place due to it's "popularity." The deserts were incredible, though, and I can still imagine the cheesecake...it was heaven.
Monday was laid back. Bernice and I wanted to catch a show on Broadway but then it dawned upon us that there are no Monday matinees. So we then ended up going to Minados for all-you-can-eat sushi. I had never seen so much sushi in my life. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Afterwards we went to the Museum of Sex. It was rather, um, interesting. I thought it would be more about the history of sex in new york, discussing prostituation as well as how new york city transformed the image of sex throughout the years. But this, it was not. I think it scared Bernice, but I'm very proud of her for going through the entire museum.
After dinner we went on the Staten Island Ferry to see the views of Manhattan at night. It was gorgeous and free! There were two guys who stood in front of us who were really cute and so Sameer and John kept talking about them and making fun of me and Bernice :p It was hilarious.
Tuesday I had to leave unfortunately :( Bernice and I tried to go roller blading in Central Park but it turns out that starting August 9th (the Monday before) they turned the rink into an amusement park. So there was no blading. We parked it on a bench and had a very relaxing and awesome afternoon just reminiscing. Ok, so it was mostly me complaining about how far California is from NYC and EVERYONE.
Getting to the airport wasn't bad, but apparently the weather in the midwest was. So many flights were cancelled - the flight before mine (that went from lga to detroit) was cancelled and the one I was on was delayed by 45 minutes. My layover in Detroit went from 30 minutes to 20 - and once I got off the plane I had 13 minutes to make my flight which was at the other end of the airport. I literally ran to the terminal only to get there and see that there was no plane and all the people were still at the gate (btw, how does gate 3 come after both 4 and 6?) It turns out that the flights were incredibly delayed and we didn't leave for another hour and 35 minutes but all the monitors claimed we were still leaving at 10:13 on time and on schedule. I got home really late and quite tired but I made it home. It was FREEZING here in Kalamazoo and raining - compared to it being in the 80's in NYC.
Well I'm exhausted now so I'm gonna get some caffeine. I have a whole night of practicing left ahead of me and it'll be very tiring...