Let me begin with the fact that this is not the last blog post. This is, however, the last post about my string of adventures. In about a week, school starts again and the rate of adventuring goes down dramatically. I might be getting a job at WalMart so that might be an adventure... fingers crossed right?
Anyways, let me start where I left off, a lot has happened so kick back and get ready to read quite a bit. After my buddy left, I got an opportunity to attend a concert in Long Island thanks to my second job with Altrocklive. The review of the concert will be up in the next few days. So, I won't go over the details of the concert too much, but some of the people in attendance were pretty entertaining. The concert was for The Dirty Heads and Matisyahu, a very reggae feeling. This type of music apparently draws in a very diverse crowd. There were high schoolers and retirees bouncing to the music together. And, unsurprisingly, the interesting people in the crowd were the older people. There was a father who was trying to update his facebook status about the concert but couldn't spell "reggae" and tried multiple times and finally gave up and just said "concert." Another set of older people were watching out for their incredibly drunk friend who was making a bigger fool of himself than a fratboy at a tailgate.
Not much happened for a while after that concert. I was supposed to go to another one, but they didn't let me in since I wasn't 21, so I ended up standing in the rain trying to get ahold of the band's PR guy who finally got in touch with the bouncer to say that he hadn't heard of me, despite the fact that I was on the list. Later that week, my boss and fellow writer from Altrocklive came to a music festival in the city and crashed at my place. After they found my apartment, we walked down the street to get some subway at the 24/7 subway restaurant! (I love NYC). The writer, born and raised in Boston, mentions to the cashier at subway that he was scared to be in the Bronx. If there was a way to ask to be shanked other than saying "please shank me" that would be it. But, I guess someone up there was watching out for this kid, since the cashier sort of chuckled and rolled his eyes. The following night the guy I stayed with in Huntington, WV came to visit NYC with his friend and they crashed at my place. They had some funny stories about their experiences downtown and were clearly worn out from all of the walking.
About a week later, my friend Lisa, from Colorado, came to visit me. She'd never seen NYC before and wanted to do all of the touristy things. So, I re-opened vacation bootcamp. We made a list of everything she wanted to see, we bought the NYC pass that allowed us "free" admission to a wide variety of sites for 3 days. The first day, we do the Statue of Liberty, Battery Park, and Ellis Island. If you've ever waited in line for the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island, you know why it took us a whole day to get it done. Granted, we started at noon, but whatever, the lines were long. Yet, magically, we got to cut the lines. What should have been an hour and a half wait turned into 30 minutes. It was nice. Granted, that thirty minute wait was followed by another thirty minute wait and another fifteen minute wait, but still an hour and fifteen minutes is better than two hours and fifteen minutes. At Ellis Island, we hustled through the sites, to try and stay on schedule, but when we got outside, and saw that the line wrapped half-way around the island (seriously) we realized that whatever our plans were for that afternoon, they just got cancelled. In line, we met a mormon girl who apparently was around 26/27. I started flirting and asking her about her world travel, then suddenly the conversation halts when she drops the "my husband" line. Whoops. Since then, I almost always check for a ring first.
After we got back to the city, we hit up a restaurant that our pass got us a discount at as well as a department store, where I bought THE most comfortable underwear ever (Lucky Brand Boxer Briefs). We also went to Madame Tussaud's wax museum in Times Square. That was potentially one of the best places we went to that entire weekend. It was so much fun getting to take pictures with fake celebrities. Getting to act out scenes we wish would happen (Kissing Angelina Jolie and pushing Brad Pitt out of the picture).
That night, we worked our way up to the top of the empire state building. It is a beautiful sight up there. I love NYC. I was able to tell some Australian women which river was which, and what they were looking at. But, the downside is, the grates around the observation deck make it hard to take pictures, but it's still breath taking, especially at night.
The next day, we got an early start so we could hit a lot of sites. We started at the Intrepid, a retired aircraft carrier turned museum. It was pretty sweet, but made me realize that I would never cut it in the navy, particularly not on a sub (we also got to tour the Growler, a submarine). The World Trade Center monument was absolutely gorgeous. There was a taste of sad beauty to it. The cascading water, the peaceful trees in the bustling city. Knowing that so many lives were lost right there. It was an amazing and touching experience. Next, we hit up the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). We did the bootcamp tour, not stopping for anything. We saw Starry Night and some other pretty famous pieces, and unlike in Italy, you're allowed to take pictures, which was cool. Once we left MoMA, we grabbed lunch in Central Park and walked an obscene distance up through the park to the Museum of Natural History. By the time we got there, we were pretty delirious. All of the information, we either already knew, or didn't care to really learn. So we hustled through, motivated by a sense of obligation to see everything we could possibly see. When we left the natural history museum, I went back to the Bronx to do some work really quickly, and Lisa went to Mass at St. Patrick's (apparently the largest Cathedral in the Western Hemisphere). Quickly, however, turned into not so quickly, because, as it turns out, the train that we were both banking on taking us directly where we needed to go, doesn't run on weekends, or at least not on that weekend. So, Lisa showed up just as communion started, and what should have been an hour and a half turned into three hours.
Anyways, we meet back up in Times Square and head over to the Spy Museum, which is apparently closed. We missed it by 20 minutes. If it weren't for that stupid train! Oh well. We walk back through Times Square to Rockefeller center and go up to The Top of the Rock. It's an observation deck surrounded by Plexi glass, not fencing. It offers spectacular views of the city, including views of The Empire State building, something you can't see from the Empire State Building. Personally, I'd suggest hitting up The Top of the Rock instead of the Empire State Building if you ever visit NYC because the views are better and the lines are shorter. Also, you'll have an opportunity to practice your French. There seemed to be an odd conglomeration of French people at this building, with whom I attempted, and barely succeeded, to communicate with, in French. Anyhow, we left the Top of the Rock and walked back to Times Square to walk through Ripley's Believe it or Not. It was cool, but not that cool. Nothing really amazing, believe it or not.
The last day of vacation bootcamp was supposed to be relaxing. We set aside this day to enjoy all the free cruises around the Island that came with our pass. The first cruise was very informative. The tour guide dropped info about all the sites we were passing, but Lisa was passed out and I was too tired to care. But, when he said the deck was open, I hustled down to get some rays. I also, managed to ask an Italian woman to take a picture of me, in Italian. I was feeling pretty proud about my poor language skills, especially after she asked me where I studied Italian. The second cruise, was technically a water taxi. We sat on the top deck and enjoyed the sun and views. The third, and unfortunately final, cruise was a tall ship. A giant sailboat if you will. We spent the entire time trying to figure out if the left-handed red head on board was Julianne Moore (we are roughly 90 percent positive it was). We finished our tour of the city with a trip back to the spy museum, which was kind of a let down. But, all in all, we had a great time.
The following week was filled with a bunch of interviews with MPH programs at NYU and Columbia and long work hours trying to prepare for the end of my internship. I was leaving the lab between midnight and 4 AM for about a week in a row. But, it all paid off. The lab sent me off with a great ice cream cake and pizza for my birthday and last day at work. My mom had a cake delivered to my apartment for my birthday. And my friend and fraternity brother Scott organized a 36 hour extravaganza to celebrate my entrance into the adult world.
We started the evening of the 15th. At around 11 pm, we roll up to this American food restaurant in Manhattan and order drinks. The waitress acknowledges that I will turn 21 in an hour and says she'll bring my drink anyways. After a short period, she comes back and appologizes saying that she can't serve me until midnight, but then it's on her. I told her it was absolutely fine and that I really felt ok about it mainly because she had a British accent. I asked her about Dorsett county (where some of my family come from) and she said it is absolutely breath-taking (I hear an adventure coming up!). But I digress, the clock strikes midnight, she brings me my drink, and I am officially welcomed into the world of adulthood! The crew strikes out looking for some bars to celebrate at, and we are joined by a pretty girl and her friend from Indiana. She had red lipstick on. Game over! The rest of the night, I was flirting with her (she was actually my age, so it's ok). We ended up going to two more bars and playing pool and then shuffleboard at them. I was having a blast. The girl went home after swapping numbers with me and promising to continue celebrating the next night. I began the long trek back up to the Bronx at about 5 am (it was still dark outside when I got on the subway). When I got off the subway, at 6 am, looking disheveled, I was surprised to see that the sun was out. I must have looked like someone who has been locked in a closet for years who finally gets released only to be blinded by the light of the outside world. Needless to say, when I got home, I crashed, hard. I woke up later, feeling well rested and ready to go. All of the gang bailed except Scott so he and I walked Highline Park (an old elevated railroad track, turned eyesore, turned beautiful public park). We then hit up a bar called The Blarney Stone (because who doesn't want to be Irish)?. When the bartender carded me, she said "Sweetie, today is the 15th. You can't be in here. I need to ask you to leave" I was like "NO! It's my birthday I belong...oh you're joking haha thanks." Then Scott and I headed over to Brooklyn to meet a few girls and go to all the "cool obscure bars." At the first, we played a game trying to guess our bartenders names. Ahh my computer is about to die. I'll publish the rest soon I'm sorry!
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