Post-NYC

//Logistics//
Pretty much how I imagined a parent-less vacation to be: free, adventurous and fun! New York is a great city (better than Chicago, I must say). There seems to be something always going on, whether random street fairs or simply multitudes of people getting to where they need to be, the city is truly alive.

Friday:
Arrive in NYC at Penn Station, and take the metro tomeet Jenny in Saigon Shack in East Village. I met Jen, Allen, and some older guy with glasses whose name I've forgotten. =/. I spilled a glass of water as I raised my hand for the handshake - what an entrance -_-.

Eat lunch with them (didn't know Vietnamese people made great sandwiches!), went back to Jenny's (Cathy's?) apartment, and we were bored so we played LoL. Esther said she was going downtown to go to a Jazz club with her friend later, so she came to visit. Showed Esther LoL. Jenny's friend Kyung came with ingredients to cook bibambop. Pretty good stuff, and afterwards we were all bored. Discovered mutual connections between Kyung and I, which was pretty cool, then both of us were bored so we said, screw it, let's just roam the streets of NYC!

Started as a joke that we'd reach 53rd for Chicken and Rice, but slowly passing Union Square and seeing the dancers, Madison Square, Empire State Building...we reached Time Square. Esther's childish self was finally revealed at the sight of Toys'R'Us, so we went inside to explore the random things: indoor Ferris wheel (too expensive to go on), BarbieHouse, different lego buildings, cool board games...etc. Went back out, and at this point we realize we're on 42nd st, might as well go all the way. We wait about 40 min in line for Chicken and Rice--by this time we're starving, so it tasted amazing. After that...took the long walk back to 4th st, chilled in the apartment for a little bit, and I headed to Colin's for the first time to crash (while Esther stayed behind to crash at Jenny's). "Friends of theres are friends of mine!" Nicest guy ever...never met the guy before, but he invites me in, and I sleep on his couch.

Saturday:
Wake up, meet Jason, who just moved into Colin's apartment. Really nice guy, freshmen, just started talking a bit before I headed on my way to Jenny's apartment. Soon Carolyn arrives, and the four of us (Caro, Jenny, Esther) all head to some really famous Dim Sum place in Chinatown. Delicious, and it was amusing seeing Caro and Jenny running down waitresses, and coming back with armfuls of cheap Dim Sum, all while witnessing Esther's attempts to speak Chinese to the waitresses. After this, we head up to the Metropolitan Museum, and meet Charlotte, James, Jimmy, and James' roommates--surprising to find so many Delawarean people in NYC, even though it was a planned meet.  Some random couple hands us earphones for the listening guide for free, and we head in. We all end up not paying attention to the art, and talking on benches. A few of us notice there's an Asian history section, so we head there and end up chilling at an indoor Asian park looking thing. Soon enough, we leave the Met, along with the Columbia gang, but Charlotte comes with. We go to K-Town to buy stuff for the dinner (Esther's kimchi chigae).

Head back to the apt, cook it, eat it (run into so electrical problems, but Jenny saves the day with the fusebox). Really good. I force everyone to watch Whose Line, and then we watch The Bucket List. Jia arrives sometime during the movie. Great movie with a good mix of funny and serious. I head back to Colin's for the night, Jason's abnormally friendly, saying we should keep in touch and stuff. Nice guy.

Sunday:

Wake up semi-early for church, head to the apt. Charlotte leaves for Baltimore in the morning. Caro and I's fail. We split up with Jia and Jenny because we wanted to go to Tim Keller's church. Long story short, we spent 40 min too long looking for the right metro station, then we arrived at the wrong location. Anyway, Carolyn buys something at Sephora (so the trip isn't completely wasted), and I'm hungry so I bargain with the Hotdog guys--good times. Carolyn wants to meet with her Dartmouth friend. We head back to the apt first to scout out a place, decide on Boka (Korean place with great wings), Carolyn and I talk a bit about faith as we wait (and throughout the day-ish). Eat with Karima, cool, down to earth gal, but Boka is more expensive than expected and the wings are hotter than expected. Not a bad meal though...we head back to the apartment to find Jia and Jenny. Jenny's headed out to meet with friends, Jia, Caro and I go to the 5pm service of Redeemer and meet Danny. Sermon. Head to Chinatown...I SUCCESSFULLY find Joe's Shanghai only to see that it's 1 hr wait time. Danny (from Brooklyn), brings us to this shady but cheap Chinese place ($4.25) Ming's Kitchen, then a Bubble tea place where I got Milk Tea ($1.25). My kinda food =).

Head up to the apt, stop by urban outfitters, try on a Bro shirt. head back to the apt. Danny heads back, Jenny comes back, we watch 50 first dates. Caro sleeps. I play with google maps. I head to Colins.

Mon:
Wake up, I head to the apt only to catch Jia and Caro heading out for shopping (most of Soho was closed the night before). Jenny and I bum. I think I napped. Jia/Caro come back, we head to RCF picnic. Met new people, headed back to apt to grab bag and leave for AA bus.

//Thoughts//
I don't feel like writing anymore after all this, but I know if I don't write it now, nothing will ever come out.

Let's get this straight--I'm not a social butterfly, not even close and this entire year is proof of it, replete with failed friendships and awkward encounters. The fact that I was able to mingle with Jenny's fellowship (relatively) easily and actually have a good time is a fucking miracle. I suppose it was a great ego booster (wow, okay maybe you're not a permanently socially awkward person), but at the same time it begs the question: why couldn't I do the same with my own fellowship? Frosh-to-frosh, I had a year, but I couldn't do it. Yet here I was, having conversations with freshmen, sophomores, juniors, graduates of RCF....feeling more at home than my own fellowship.

TL;DR? forgot to sign cathy's damn board. guess i'll have to head back sometime in the future.