NYC baby

what can i say about new york except that its so money! everything about it is awesome (at least when you visit for the first time and the weather happens to resemble an LA spring). kelly, jared (the guy we stayed with), and I had the best time together. jared and i hit it off pretty well. did the touristy stuff of course, but also found some awesome local spots that made the trip so much more meaningful...

stuffed my face with nyc's best pizza (grimaldi's under the brooklyn bridge). ate delicious burgers in little holes in the wall. drank local beers in the oldest bars in new york--like so old that G Dub (George Washington, that is) and Abe Lincoln used to kick it there--and by kick it i mean give important speeches to the colonies and write amendments..that sort of stuff :)

walked the brooklyn bridge. stared at the statue of liberty for a while. napped in central park while some guy nearly stepped on my face every five minute while trying catch a frisbee. challenged kelly to a ridiculous new york pizza eating contest--3 massive slices of pizza from Koronet Pizza @ Columbia University (i tend to get involved in this constantly). Saw dinos (T-Rexes of course) and van goghs @ the MET and the Natural History Museum. met interesting people that were actually nice (contradictory to my previous belief--from others--that all new yorkers are supposed to be mean for some reason). saw a comedy show with colin quinn (from weekend update on SNL) in the basement of an old building in the West Village. Kick it in Brooklyn like a gangsta (not at all, actually). Saw Shrek the Musical on Broadway (kelly and i laughed so hard we cried...the animals in the show were hillarious...but it doesn't take much for me to think animals are funny). contemplated a lot of serious matters while watching construction at the WTC site. took a ferry to staten island only to find out that staten island sucks in almost every way--except for the view it provides of the entire city of new york. did the times square walk, which included borrowing some guy's "free hugs" sign and used it to get some great hugs for myself. received multiple, memorable hugs from random people. bought stuffed animals at the craziest toys-R-us ever (there's a ferris wheel inside of it..not a toy one, a real life size one!). went to the top of the rochefeller center. saw the city in its entirety at sunset (very romantic for kelly and I...had no choice but to cuddle a little). crazy thing--saw a friend from ucla up there--freaking small world for sure. what are the odds, really? randomly got a chinese back massage at a 24 hr hole in the wall massage place--but it was actually supposed to be a foot massage, so that was kinda wierd. creeped a University of Penn student out at 5 am in the subway, prob cause she was all alone in a subway at 5 am listen to two guys that wouldn't stop talking about stupid things (that's us).

saw the restaurant in seinfeld. made some meaningful friendships w/people there. probably gained about 10 pounds in 3 days. sat next to spiderman on a subway train...yeah that's right--spiderman. kicked it on wall street (and yes, touched the bull's balls @ merril lynch or however to say it). walked thru columbia university and nyu..columbia is much better :) ate too many street vendor hot dogs...but you gotta, right? watched live blues music. ate at an indian place at 5 am that served me a half tuna melt and side salad w/carrot dressing. wierd. slept on a a fluffy animal skin rug from 5 am to 10 am every day (exhausting to the max). ate quite possibly the best pastrami sandwich that has ever been built (also gave me the worst heartburn that a cheesy sandwich can give). saw obama's train of blacked out suv's speeding away from a hotel in times square (he was there for the UN meeting or something). watched a variety of bums pee on various subway walls. by the way, new york goes underground like 6 stores---everywhere! its crazy.

REALIZED THAT DOING ALL THIS IN THREE DAYS MAKES YOU INCREDIBLY EXHAUSTED. CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THREE MONTHS. by the time i get to vienna i will have to sleep for three days to recoup. ALSO REALIZED ONCE AGAIN THAT ALL THIS DOESN'T COMPLETELY SATISFY ME. yeah, its fun stuff. but its not necessary. hmmm too serious a statement for now.

so stoked to sleep on the plane to amsterdam, which is boarding now. officially leaving the country now..