Spring Break Thus Far

I am in the middle of my Spring Break and thought it might be a good idea to start chronicling my activities; otherwise I may end up with a ten page blog entry at the end.

My Spring Break started with a bang. I went out with some of my favorite teacher friends after school. We left school and went straight to eat wings, then we went bowling and then saw a movie. It was quite the day! I hadn't even packed despite the fact my flight was leaving early the next morning.

In the morning I left for New Jersey by way of Philadelphia. It had been a long time since I've traveled so it was nice to get on a plane again. I purposely stayed up super late the night before so I could sleep on the plane. I succeeded at sleeping for about 2 and a half hours of the three hour flight. The thirty minute interruption was due to the evil man sitting next to me who had to get up to go to the bathroom. Who goes to the bathroom during a three hour flight? There was a long line and I knew he would have to wake me up again when he came back to his seat. I had to pretend to read the SkyMall catalog until he returned. Ugh. I just wanted to sleep. I tried not to give ole' tiny bladder a dirty look as he sat down.

I arrived in Philadelphia and my friends/hosts, Jocelyn and Jason took me directly to get cheese steaks. When in Philly, right? It was pretty good but soooo greasy! Jocelyn spilled grease pretty much all over her clothes. I only managed to get a large splotch on my jeans. We tried to wash our clothes but those stains were stubborn. I guess I will look at that grease spot in the future and fondly remember my first official cheese steak.

On Sunday, Jocelyn and I headed to New York City. This was my second visit to the big apple. The first time, my best friend, Sarah and I went in college to visit our roommate, Lucy. Lucy grew up in New York and gave us the insider's tour. We really didn't see many of the tourist attractions. It was more like a Lucy reality tour. We saw her school, awesome brownstone townhouse, the Brooklyn bridge, her dad's art show, her friends' places and a few touristy things like the 911 sight and Times Square. We also went to the tapings of several TV shows: The Caroline Rhea Show, Donahue and Ricki Lake. That was so fun!

This time, I knew I was only going to be there for a day so I couldn't do everything. Our friend, Katy lives right by Central Park. She was out of town but she let me and Jocelyn stay at her place. We go to meet up with three of my YWAM friends, Esther, Sue and Sam. We also went to the Natural History Museum and Times Square. Today we had breakfast at the coffee shop the gang always hung out at on the best TV show in history, Seinfeld. Then we went to the Guggenheim museum. It was really cool, though some of the art was a bit hard to understand. We hung out at a coffee shop for a bit and then made the trek home to New Jersey. By the end of the day I was super tired of public transit. We spent about 4 hours plus on public transit during each of the days we were there. We also walked until our legs almost fell off. I've never seen that many types of dogs and babies in my life. Wow! I also heard a ton of languages.

I have a lot of friends who really want to live in New York. Personally I just like to visit New York. It is just such a different lifestyle than I am used to. I can't imagine living there full-time. Public transit is nice but I prefer to be able to drive my own car wherever I want. My car also doesn't have the bizarre mix of smells found on the NYC buses, trains and subways. I find it to be a bit grimy and dreary at times. I think this has something to do with the times of year I've been here.

I think I need to come to New York in the Summer some time. Last time I was here was in the winter and right now it's pretty cold and gray too. I need to see this place green and warm. Given my hatred of cold weather, I am sure I would enjoy it even more in warmer weather. As it stands now with the people I already know living here and all the people I know who aspire to live here, I won't have a problem finding a place to stay next time I come.