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!

She's going rogue!!

No pictures today, and I'm "going rogue" because I'm updating from work. Sssh...

Just a few new pieces of info. Numero uno: I'm teaching myself to write with my left hand. My friend Jason could not believe I did not know how to use a lighter (not even a zippo or anything, like your basic BIC) so he tried to teach me and I just could not make it happen. He bought me a lighter so I could practice and after my right thumb got sore, I switched hands and boom. It worked every time. Sometimes I forget I'm left-hand dominant. I was supposed to be left-handed, but my dear sister always took the pen/crayon/whatever out of my left hand and put it in my right when I first started picking them up. But my piano playing was always off because my left hand would naturally be louder than my right, and I still sometimes reach for things with my left hand. So I figured it only makes sense to teach myself left-handed writing. I'm seriously tempted to go buy one of those books for 5 year olds that teach you how to write by tracing letters and stuff, but do it with my left hand. Should I?

Nexttt...I went to an Oktoberfest party with my German friends last Thursday night, but that turned out to be a total bust. The only thing Oktoberfest-y about it was the giant glass mugs. There were no huge tables, no German music, no German decorations, and the beer wasn't even that good. It was more of a networking event for business people. Seriously, people were passing out business cards and shaking hands and whatever.We felt awkward being there as students, so we didn't stay long. But it was fun to just go out with my friends. It's kind of funny that I'm here in DC but studying with a lot of international kids (at least eleven Germans in my class, almost as many French, a Danish girl, a Chinese girl, three kids from South Korea, three girls from Colombia, two girls from Africa, three U.S. kids, and I think I might be forgetting some) but some of my friends from Scripps/home who are studying abroad are there with a bunch of American kids. Who's getting the real international experience? Maybe none of us.

Another fun thing is that I reconnected with the Forans last week (yay!) and I'm going to New York this weekend to spend a few nights with them (YAY!!!) I'm really excited about that, except for the small fact that it's supposed to rain all weekend. Oh well, I can happily experience New York from their apartment, honestly. And Penn Station.

The other night, I had a dream I was eating pumpkin pizza. I think it's time for fall.

I'm getting tired of wearing business casual clothes almost every day. I'm such a jeans, sweatshirt, and flip-flops kind of girl. I should get my black jeans up here, then life would be easier. I'm also kind of sick of all my tops. I didn't bring a whole lot, seeing as I had to ship everything, but my office is dangerously located next door to an Ann Taylor and a Gap. Every time I walk by I want to try on everything in the window. I smell a post-work shopping excursion in my future - but next month, after this month's ridiculous credit card statement has gone through. Daily metro rides and eating out almost every day is killing me...and my bank account.

I've been swimming on Wednesday and Friday mornings. I wake up at 6am and eat a banana or granola bar, then walk ten minutes to main campus (last week it was raining, so that was fun) before the sun even comes up to swim for about an hour. The bus starts running at 7 so I can bus back and shower before class. It's glory. The pool has retarded hours here - 6-8am on Wed/Fri mornings, and then various times in the afternoon/evening the rest of the week. I've heard that it's normally PACKED; one of my friends had to share a lane with five other people once. When I go at 7am, I get a lane to myself. I live for that. I sometimes forget why I ever stop swimming, and I still kick myself for not swimming every day this summer. Next summer, assuming I'm home, I'm gonna try to go daily again. It just changes my whole day, it wakes me up.

On the other hand, I've been taking afternoon naps almost every day I don't work (aka Wed-Sun) Just one short hour in the afternoon does wonders. It doesn't help, though, that I've been sniffly and sneezy because pollen counts are ridiculously high. Stupid allergies.

No other news for now, but I'll probably post something when I'm back from New York. This will be my first time back in almost five years. I cannot wait!