New York adventures

I've been a horrible updater, I know. I have a semi-legit excuse though. All my photos are stored on my external harddrive and I'm usually in my bed with my laptop - sans speakers, bluetooth mouse, or external harddrive. Soo whenever I feel like updating, it's either without pictures or it doesn't happen. I just made a point of bringing my laptop back to my desk and plugging it all in so I can show you pictures of my New York weekend!

First of all though, I did go to that Scripps event two weeks ago and it was AWESOME - what I saw of it anyway. I made the mistake of wearing jeans without knowing that it was at a swanky club with a strict dress code so I literally ran back to the metro then to campus to change and then all the way back downtown - all of which took 45 minutes, so I missed half the talk, but the new president is AWESOME. I cannot wait to see her again back on campus.

Okay so last week on Wednesday our class took a bus to New York, stayed in a hotel that night, and spent Thursday trawling the city. We got to see the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, visit the Fed (including the gold vaults, where I got serious claustrophobia), and go on a ferry ride to Staten Island and back.


Wall Street!
NYSE floor - not much action happening.
Lady Liberty herself.

Thursday night I had a subway adventure getting to Bob and Linda's, but I *did* make it. I spent the weekend in bliss, getting a manicure and massage, swimming in the lap pool, having my first sauna experience (the dry one was nice, but the steam room made me super claustrophobic too because I literally could not see one foot in front of me), and generally relaxing. I even baked brownies! Double dark chocolate Ghiradelli, to be specific. Linda naturally sent those back with me and, surprise, they're already gone. I just send the word out to three or four people and if they didn't come immediately, they dibsed one or two right away.

Anyhow, on Sunday we went for a walk in the park (not Central park) because though it was a bit windy, it was sunny and beautiful. View!

Autumn leaves on the East Coast are too gorgeous.The lake
More leaves
The building - we were on the 28th floor
View out one window of the living room
View out the other window of the living room
Dining room
Lincoln's room - where I stayed for the weekend
Linda and Dolley - I ADORE that dog. She is so sweet. She enjoys nuzzling, which looks like she's wiping something from her eye or nose on my pants, but it's adorable. And she loves having her behind scratched, so even though it looks like she's facing away from you or ignoring you, it means she wants you to pet her. Makes me miss my Solo.

Speaking of which, now that I'm more than halfway though, I'm starting to get really seriously homesick. This coming Tuesday I will have been away from my parents and my home longer than I ever have - and I still have another nearly two months til I'll be home again. I'll see the fam again for Thanksgiving, but that's still another month away. I know that in about five weeks I'm gonna start freaking out about how fast this semester has gone and about how much I'm going to miss my German friends and everyone I've met here who I probably won't see for a long time - if at all again. But as for now...I'm homesick. I miss California. I miss my house. I miss CLAREMONT, darnit! And I miss all my friends. And I REALLY miss my family. I would kill to be back at home again on the windowseat with a cup of tea, an almond cookie from the farmer's market, and no plans. But that won't come til almost Christmas.

I know, I know, I need to enjoy and appreciate the time I have here. I am. I'm super grateful for this experience, but I'm allowed to have my mopey moments. Give me that!

It probably doesn't help that I've been sick for the past few days. Sometime in my New York weekend, I started feeling congested. By the time I got home on Sunday night, I was a sneezy wreck. I didn't go to work on Monday or yesterday, and went to the health center. They told me it's NOT pneumonia (thank goodness, because I was afraid it was) and my lungs sound find. It's also not flu (I could have told you that - I have no flu symptoms). It's just a prolonged bad cold. They gave me a stronger decongestant than what I've been using and told me if I'm not better in a few days - not just better, but like 100% better - to come back because then it's more serious. Honestly, I'm feeling much better today, but still not 100%, so I skipped class this afternoon, even though I went in the morning. I had a headache the whole time and just wanted my bed, so that's my next destination, as soon as I finish my laundry.

Hope this was a satisfactory update for everyone! Apologies apologies for not updating more. Again, blame the harddrive and the extreme comfiness that is my bed. It looks like this when it is perfectly made:
You have my permission to be impressed. (Just ignore the mess under and around it.)

Halfway already???

WHAT THE HECK Y'ALL! My midterm is on Thursday. Mom was like "wow, that's early" and I realized that it's not actually - this is a sixteen week program and we're entering week eight. I'll be on a flight to Germany in just over 8 weeks. I can't even start to think that far ahead though. This midterm is killing me slowly, plus I have a draft of my 30-40 page research paper due on the 26th, and oh hey, I haven't started writing. But I do have a pretty detailed outline and I've done pretty much all my research. I'll just hole myself up with my laptop and Mark Knopfler and write that mess out. It's just a first draft, so it doesn't have to be perfect. After that, November will be GLORY. Just two short papers for my seminar (4-5 pages each) and a reflection paper for my internship class.

In other news, the Dalai Lama spoke at AU yesterday but tickets sold out in about two seconds. Plus I was studying all day anyhow. It would have been amazing to see him speak, or even be in the same room, but for now I'll have to settle for same town.

There's a Scripps event soon! I just found out that the new President is touring the country meeting alums and she'll be in DC on Tuesday. Now, that's an internship day for me, but I mapped out the place and it's about 6 blocks from my office. I am SO there.

I was in New York last weekend, which is weird, because that seems like ages ago already. I took one picture. Sorry sorry! I'll be back in two weeks and I promise more pictures then. I'll spend Thursday the 22nd wandering Wall Street with my class - we get to go on the FLOOR of the NYSE (stock exchange) and tour the New York Fed too. That will be an adventure for sure. After we split, I'll take the subway or a cab or something to Bob and Linda's again.

Anyhow, my trip to New York was awesome. I got in pretty late on Friday night (thanks, Baltimore traffic!) but spent Saturday afternoon trawling Macy's for sales. I got a coat for over $100 less than it was priced (sales+coupons+Macy's card = glory), a cute metallic wristlet, and a great black cinching belt for my sweater dress. Linda is the best shopping buddy. I also bought a pair of boots that I fell in love with online. They should be here tomorrow or Tuesday. WANT!

I've fallen into a pretty nice routine here. I'm glad about that, because I was worried about having class at a different time every day. I need routine in order to stay sane. I work Mondays and Tuesdays, I work out Wednesday and Friday mornings, and I have class Wed-Fri. It's a nice set-up and it works for me.

Back to work! I seriously cannot believe I'm basically halfway through my semester here. I haven't done enough exploring yet!