Weekend in Buffalo

Now I'm going to post something real, rather than a stupid survey. My apologies for that earlier, I was really bored in class (it's tax week...ugh).

Anyway, after receiving permission from my project team I took off last Thursday to fly to Buffalo to visit Leigh and Juneau and spend some time with Buffalo friends. The flight down was very smooth without delays and I even checked a suitcase of dirty laundry to save myself the trouble of a Spanish Harlem laundry day when I returned. 

Buffalo was pretty great. On Thursday evening I met Bianca for Vietnamese food and to catch up. She's always great for conversation and surly comments. I may have even convinced her to come visit me before the semester ends. On Friday Leigh treated me to a Buffalo Sabres v. Toronto Maple Leafs hockey game- AWESOME! The game was very exciting, the seats had a good view of the ice, and Buffalo won 5-3. Fan-freakin'-tastic! On Saturday we chilled out, ran some errands and Leigh cooked me dinner. I bought Juneau a furminator, which she loves, and a yoga mat sling for myself. Then we went to Traci and Chris' new house to have a couples evening for a few drinks and to visit with their puppy Jazz. 

On Sunday the weather in NYC turned to complete shit so my flight was cancelled, so I rescheduled for 6am on Monday (today). That was the only way I could get back to NYC in time for class this morning, which was very important considering I missed last Monday due to illness and Thursday due to this trip. The flight was fine but a little late getting in, then I splurged and took a taxi from JFK to Spanish Harlem to drop off my HUGE suitcase rather than taking it through the subway during rush hour. I made it to class in time, a little dazed but present, then came home and passed out for a few hours. 

The moral of the story is that it's nice to visit your friends and kitty cat, but my attempt to save myself a little money and trouble by taking my laundry home ended up costing me $50 in taxi fares. 

Now I'm back in NYC and I really need to buckle down. I have about 4 weeks to finish my major project, which I've really only just begun this past week. I blame this procrastination on a lack of direction from the powers that be, but that's neither here nor there, I still gotta get it done. 

Emily-ology

Just for fun....

Let others know a little more about yourself, re-post this as your name
followed by "ology".

***********FOODOLOGY***************
What is your salad dressing of choice? honey mustard or oil and vinegar

What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? I don't really have one, but I always enjoy finding hole-in-the-wall places that provide fun experiences

What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? curry, seriously, this is my go-to food for questions like this

What are your pizza toppings of choice? pepperoni or goat cheese

What do you like to put on your toast? peanut butter or just butter

***********TECHNOLOGY***************
How many televisions are in your house? one, but it's my roommates and I never watch it

What color cell phone do you have? blue

***************BIOLOGY******************

Are you right-handed or left-handed? Right handed

Have you ever had anything removed from your body? three babyteeth (on different occasions) and a substantial amount of breast tissue

What is the last heavy item you lifted? my suitcase (48 lbs)

Have you ever been knocked unconscious? I don't think so

************BULLCRAPOLOGY**************

If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? yes, it would help me get through my "to do" list before the time comes

If you could change your name, what would you change it to? I wouldn't change my name

Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? sadly, yes

************DUMBOLOGY******************

How many pairs of flip flops do you own? maybe two

Last time you had a run-in with the cops? a speeding warning two years ago

Last person you talked to? my classmates during a break about 30 mins ago

Last person you hugged? either Leigh or Juneau

**************FAVORITOLOGY****************

Season? summer or fall

Holiday? I'm not really big on holidays, but I'll say Christmas because it's the biggest break in the middle of the school year

Day of the week? one where I get to sleep in

Month? I don't have one

***********CURRENTOLOGY*****************

Missing someone? not really, I keep in touch with everyone I might miss so I don't really have to miss them

Mood? so, so tired

What are you listening to? a corporate tax lecture

Watching? a corporate tax lecture (can you watch a lecture?)

Worrying about? my class projects, fitting my errands in this week, running out of groceries and money this month

***************RANDOMOLOGY*****************

First place you went this morning? shower

What's the last movie you saw? the first 45 mins of the new Indiana Jones movie- it sucked, before that I watched The Duchess

Do you smile often? yes, I'm downright cheesy

Sleeping Alone Tonight? yes

***************OTHER-OLOGY*****************

1)Do you always answer your phone? no

2) Its four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it? probably Leigh, or an old message that didn't show up earlier

3) If you could change your eye color what would it be? a brighter shade of green

4) What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? no Sonic in New York

5)Do you own a digital camera? yes

6)Have you ever had a pet fish? Yes, I had two, they died.

7) Favorite Christmas song(s): I hate all Christmas music except for hymns

8) What's on your wish list for your birthday? usually something I need but cannot afford myself, or a trip somewhere fun

9) Can you do push ups? a few at a time

10) Can you do chin ups? NO

11) Does the future make you more nervous or excited? mostly excited

12) Do you have any saved text? Huh?

13) Ever been in a car wreck? A few, actually

14) Do you have an accent? I have a mutilated combination of southwest Virginian and western New York/Canadian

15) What is the last song to make you cry? Breathe Me by Sia

16) Plans tonight? lots and lots of homework

17)Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? um, yes. Enough said.

18) Name 3 things you bought yesterday. I didn't buy three things yesterday, but today I bought a $50 taxi ride, a coffee and a shawarma sandwich

19) Have you ever been given roses? yes, Leigh got me roses when we first met. That was 7 years ago and that was the last time I got roses.

20) Current worry? getting my homework done for tomorrow

21) Current hate right now? no hates, I rarely feel hatred anyway

22) Met someone who changed your life? so many times

23) How will you bring in the New Year? wow, this questionnaire is really old....

24) What song represents you? Depends on where I am in my life and which band I'm really into, but I can always relate to a song

25) Name three people who might complete this: I don't expect anyone to.

26) Would you go back in time if you were given the chance? Mayyybbeee... there are a few times in my own life I'd like to have a do-over, but I'm not sure I"m willing to redo the work too. Maybe it's best to stick with my own time and place and try to do it right.

27) Have you ever dated someone for longer than a year? yeah, two relationships have lasted that long.

28) Do you have any tattoos/piercings? pierced ears (5 holes total) and two tattoos

29) Will you be in a relationship 4 months from now? probably not

30) Does anyone love you? a few people that I know of

31) Would you be a pirate? no

32) What songs do you sing in the shower? I don't sing in the shower. I have a roommate, and my dignity, to consider

33) Ever had someone sing to you? just at birthdays and there was this one time at a hair show with my mom when I was 11 and one of the male models sang me a song. It was really embarrassing.

34) When did you last cry? it's been a little while, I don't remember

36) Do you like to cuddle? most of the time, I am a girl you know.

37)Have you held hands with anyone today? No

38) Who was the last person you took a picture of? I don't remember, probably someone in the hostel in Costa Rica.

39)What kind of music did you listen to in elementary school? whatever my brother was into plus the Jackson Five.

40) Do you believe in staying close with your ex's/prospects? sure, unless it's really painful or they bring out the worst in you.

41) Are most of the friends in your life new or old? sort of new, my old friends are usually far away

42)Do you like pulpy orange juice? yes

43)What is something your friends make fun of you for? being short and nerdy

A lawyer, a doctor and school teacher

The last few days have been kind of rough, mostly in a physical sense. I made plans to go out with some new friends in Brooklyn on Saturday night. Through a series of events the plan changed and we found ourselves at Henrietta Hudson in Greenwich Village. As one of my new friends described it, this is the ultimate lesbian hookup bar. It's the "take me home and bite me" bar- whatever that means. 

Cutting to the chase, nobody took me home or bit me. I actually found the crowd there to be full of miscreants and party girls. The music was good and it was a better time than I've had at most bars, but I just wasn't feeling it. At one point in the night one of my new friends, who teaches English in Long Island and her friend is a pediatric neurologist, was aggressively stared down by a rather scary woman. Later we were joking about what would have happened if there had been a fight. The school teacher said, "well we have a lawyer, a doctor and a school teacher here and she's probably recently released from prison. I think the cops would give us the benefit of the doubt!"

I had 4 or 5 drinks over the course of 2 or 3 hours then went home on the subway. I woke up the next morning feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. What I thought was a very odd hangover (because I've never been truly hung over unless I had nearly drank my weight in alcohol the night before) turned out to be the beginnings of a relapse of the 2 week illness I had just prior to leaving for Costa Rica.

Anyway, I had made plans to do some work for my cousin on Sunday, so I struggled through that trying to stay awake and not cough on everything. I'm pretty sure after about 3 hours in his house he was ready for me to take my germs back to Harlem. I gave myself about 12 hours to sleep it off hoping to attend classes today, but when I woke up this morning that just wasn't going to happen. I slept until about noon and then started forcing my sore muscles to move, my eyes to focus, etc.

I blame living in NYC, riding subways, having people's germs all over me all the time, breathing nasty air, etc for these illnesses. Everyone in my class is or has been very ill since we've moved here and it's only been about 6 weeks! This only underlines my point that NYC is not a place for me to live long term. Even if I did want to share a small living space with 8 million other people, I wouldn't want to be sick all the time. 

So it's been a rough couple of days, hopefully the worst of it is over because I have a busy week. Tomorrow I have an important meeting for school and then a party to go to late at night (Bloc Party After Party!!!). Then Thursday morning I'm flying to Buffalo for a weekend with Leigh and Juneau and quick visits with B'lo friends. I have been promised a home cooked meal (yay!) and a Sabres game (double yay!) in addition to sleeping in a real bed and hugging my kitty cat. So I'm pretty excited about this upcoming visit.

Back in the saddle

It took me almost this entire week to come down from my traveling high and get back into the swing of things with school and life. For example, I got home late Friday night and did not do my really disgusting (i.e. smelly) laundry until Sunday afternoon. It took me more than 24 hours to mentally prepare myself for a laundry day in Spanish Harlem after having been completely relaxed and happy for a full 7 days. 

Alas, I am back in the real world but I think the break was really, really good for me and very much needed. Before I went away I was eating terribly, not exercising and not really enjoying my time here or even trying to. Since I've unwound, cleaned my room and prepped myself for the rest of the semester I have already been cooking more (meaning the food is quite a bit healthier), started attending yoga regularly, and have forced myself to get out of the house and attempt to be social on a few occasions. Plus my schoolwork is finally starting to go somewhere and I've just realized today that I am, in fact, graduating from law school in a matter of weeks!

St. Patrick's Day is supposed to be really fun in NYC. There's a parade, tons of Irish ex-pats and "Irish" (meaning they think they're Irish but they're actually Americans) people alike to celebrate. Being a fan of the color green, foreign accents and good parties, I was pretty excited about the holiday. I missed the parade due to having a class at that time, but did a mini pub crawl on my own starting around 3:30pm. I went to two Irish bars in Murray Hill, both of which were disappointing, then hit a standard bar near NYU that was a little better but still not worth staying long. 

One bar in Murray Hill, Failte, is supposed to be the best Irish/Whiskey bar in Manhattan. If that's the best then I can't imagine the worst bar! I've been to Failte twice now and feel that I can safely say that the beer is mediocre and over-priced, the patrons and bar tenders lack personality or a real sense of a good time, and the bar itself rests far too heavily on being an "Irish bar" to have personality- thus it has no personality!  The place doesn't even have proper seating to hang out with friends or meet new people, so everyone just sort of stands around not talking to one another looking uncomfortable. In the end a room with whiskey on the shelves playing Flogging Molly over the sound system does not an Irish bar make. Needless  to say I won't be returning to that bar but my classmates have told me that a nice chill place to check out for a good beer selection is a place called Perfect Pint. 

Once I got to Bleecker St Bar near NYU I was at least able to get a $4 beer and watch some soccer. That was at least entertaining. I was headed home by 6:30pm, a little tipsy and generally disappointed. I've decided that St. P's in Roanoke, VA is more fun than here and that's REALLY saying something. I'm learning that, as my classmate put it, NYC is a very co-dependent city. You really can't just head out for an evening on your own and expect to meet friends or even have a good time. This is a city where you make plans with a group and entertain one another throughout the night and generally fail to mingle with others or meet new people. 

This begs the question, how to New Yorkers get laid? If the social scene discourages co-mingling of groups of friends or just being outgoing to others at bars then I guess those New Yorkers who do manage to date are meeting their dates through friends or online services??? This realization is giving a whole new meaning to the saying "the loneliest place on Earth." It goes without saying at this point that I'm finding that NYC is just not for me. I need a city where people are comfortable talking to strangers and becoming friends, where random acts of socialization are encouraged, where newcomers are helped to feel like part of the community rather to find their niche if they dare. 

So I guess I'll be moving to Alaska.....

Just for fun...

A few more Costa Rica pics:

These were taken at the lookout above town. 

Playa Jaco Bay and Nicoya Penninsula in the background

Playa Jaco Bay at sunset

Costa Rica's slogan is "Pura Vida" but this one works just as well, at least at Las Camas Hostel anyway...

the Backyard Bar in Playa Hermosa has a great ladies' night on Wednesdays. They have a few really sexy Costa Rican girls dancing to keep things going while the sunburnt gringos get trashed and dance to slightly outdated American music. It's a lot of fun though... If I'm not mistaken I shared a cab home with the guy in the hat and the new love of his life (they met that night I believe). They made out in the cab the whole 10 minute ride back to Jaco. As Claude said, "the seemed to be very close..." haha!

I went ahead and uploaded about 30 pics to my gallery so feel free to peruse those as well...

OK, enough about Costa Rica. Time to get back into the real world. Maybe I'll have something to share from NYC in the next few days. 

Costa Rica 2009

I flew from JFK to San Jose, Costa Rica on Friday March 6 REALLY early in the morning. I landed in San Jose around noon, took a shuttle to Costa Rica Backpackers hostel and started making plans for my week in country. I paid for my shuttle and three nights at the hostel up front in cash because I was told if I didn't I would lose my reservation for the other nights. Moments later the tourism guy at the hostel has explained a kick-ass way to backpack through the cloud forest, see a volcano and wind up at Playa Jaco in time for my reservations at another hostel. The only problem is I've already paid for three nights in San Jose andthe hostel doesn't allow refunds or for you to transfer your money for other services like food at the cafe or shuttles. They gave me credit toward my final night in Costa Rica for Thursday the 12th, so that was good, but I was out the $12 for the third night I'd paid for. Basically CR Backpackers is a hostel factory- a huge company owns the hostel which is good because the grounds are really nice but bad because they're not very flexible.

That evening I shared a room with two women about  my age from Montreal named Lisa and Adrielle. They wound up booking the same type of plans as I had, so we basically spent the weekend together. The next morning we left at 6:30am for a rafting trip on the Rio Pacuare, which was awesome (for any serious paddlers who may be reading this, please don't judge me. I simply don't have the technical skills to kayak in CR yet and just wanted to get out on the water.). 

Lisa and Adrielle on the boat.

After a long day of rafting we took a shuttle to La Fortuna, home of the volcano Arenal and several amazing hot springs. I was so excited to hike a volcano and then chill out in some hot springs but Mother Nature simply wouldnt' have it. The rain started before we got to our hostel in La Fortuna, so we just relaxed for the rest of the evening. I decided that, regardless of Adrielle and Lisa's plans, if the weather was nice the next day I would stay in La Fortuna for the volcano and hot springs. The next morning we awoke to thundering rain, so we decided to use it as a travel day instead. We booked a Jeep-Boat-Jeep transfer to Monteverde for 8:30am and made our way into the cloud forest.

A very full boat. 

Some scenery from the boat, it was rainy then too.

While in the second "jeep" (it was actually a taxi style van with 4WD to handle the undeveloped roads) the driver made a 20 minute stop at a little shop with a cafe so we could grab food, hit the ladies' room, etc. While there Lisa and Adrielle recognized some younger girls also from Montreal who they knew through a friend. Next thing we know our group of three is a group of 6, which was even more fun. The 6 of us found Hostel Tranquilo, which is run by the cutest young family in Monteverde and had an available dorm to take over. The hostel owners booked zip line canopy tours for the Canadiennes and a hike in a nature reserve for me (I don't do zip lining). 

I met a very nice group of four older English folks who were on an all-inclusive style vacation. They hiked behind me rather slowly, but at one point they caught up to me and offered to take pictures of me in the forest. The hike had a series of hanging bridges to view the canopy from, which was amazing. It was a little bit wet, but no more so than some hikes I went on in Juneau last summer, so I was fairly content.

The canopy is really beautiful and the cloud forest is full of the most intensely green plant life. I really enjoyed this hike and, after two days of sitting in rafts or vans it was great to really stretch my legs. 

(Trisha, Lisa, and Ashley)

That evening the six of us went the Tree House restaurant in Monteverde, which was a cool place that had a massive tree growing through the middle of it. It was pretty pricey at about 10,000 colones per person, but it was our last night as a group so we decided to make it into a party. 

Alicia, Adrielle, and me

The next morning the six of us were all heading to the Pacific Coast, but I was going to Jaco and everyone else was going to Santa Teresa on the Nicoya Penninsula. We all had to make our way to Puntarenes though, where they would catch a ferry and I would catch a bus down the coast. We split a taxi for the 2 hour drive at about $20 per person, which is a lot more expensive than a public bus but also more comfortable and safer, so it was worth it in the end. The views on the way were spectacular and our driver was kind enough to pull over on occasion to show us iguanas and particularly impressive views. 

 Once we got to Puntarenes and said our goodbyes I bought a ticket for Jaco for 1,800 colones (about $2.50). Puntarenes is pretty much a ghost town anymore and there's nothing to see but the water and the sun, but that was lovely after 4 days of rainy mountains. You can actually see the Nicoya Penninsula in this picture past the pier.

Jaco is fantastic and really hot all times of the year. I arrived in the town via bus by 1pm and made my way to Las Camas Hostel, a new place opened by some Hungarian ex-pats about a year ago. They're a really nice young couple and they run the place with pretty much no rules. The decor is wild and there are tons of hang out areas, including the roof with a barbeque. First order of business when I dropped my bag on my bed was to ask the hostel owners for a surfing lesson. They set me up for 1pm the next day with a small company they know of. The lesson went surprisingly well, considering my lack of athletic ability particularly when trying to stand up on a moving object. I rode three waves from crest to shore without falling by the end of the 2 1/2 hour lesson. The next day I rented a board and went surfing during high tide and again at mid tide around sunset. It was amazing. I hope to continue surfing when I have the chance.

Everyone who stays at Las Camas is usually really cool and it's easy to make friends. Within a few hours of getting settled I had met a bunch of undergrads from various schools and a few "older" travelers like myself (meaning not undergrads, so it's a pretty broad category) just looking to chill out at the beach. I shared a room with three surfer types from Florida State who were really fun to hang out with and met others throughout the week. 

Erin, Stephen and Juan from Florida State. Really nice kids. We shared my rented surf board after there's broke in half at Playa Hermosa. I was really thrilled when they said I surfed extremely well for someone who had just learned the day before. Plus Stephen and Juan were kind enough to grill some Mahi Mahi I'd bought at the Pescadoria because I don't know how to use a charcoal grill. 

One night the hostel owners took the lot of us up to the lookout where you can see over the whole town and across the bay to the Nicoya Penninsula. The lookout is an old structure that's really beautiful, it was either a restaurant or a mansion at one point. Either way it's now a great place to sit and drink beers with new friends. After the lookout we took over a local restaurant in town and had casados. It was a really fun night. Later some folks hit up some of the bars and gawk at hookers and the like, but I was pretty beat from my surfing lesson so I hit the hay. 

My last night in town we ate fish off the grill on the roof of the hostel and then piled into taxis to go to Playa Hermosa for a party at a beach front bar called Backyard. It was a really cool place with pretty good gringo music, really sexy dancers keeping things going and free admission and drinks for women. The line to the women's bar was really long so I didn't drink much, but it was still really cool because the back of the bar opened onto the beach and there was a bon fire going. Things got a little out of hand at a few points, but in all it was just a good time. 

Claude from Lille, France managed to get a really drunk Costa Rican guy to take our picture. Later these kids from Virginia swarmed us and made him speak French then found out I was from Virginia and thought that was SOOO COOOl (they were really, really drunk). At one point we got stuck babysitting one of the guys while he threw up on the beach, not fun, but luckily he was OK and eventually walked out on his own. 

Our group stayed until the bar closed around 2:00am and then we cabbed it back to the hostel. I must say it was a great way to spend my last night in Jaco, which was probably the highlight of my trip. The beach was fantastic, I tried a new sport and met a lot of new friends. I was very sad to be leaving, especially with such beautiful weather and knowing I have so much school work waiting for me. By the time I left Costa Rica I had invitations to visit Montreal, the South of France (I met a girl who is moving there in June on my way to the airport and we hit it off very quickly), to meet up with my new friends from Florida and a lawyer I met from Boston. Plus I now know I have to return to Central America to see Panama, volcanos, and more natural wonders that I just coudn't fit into a week long trip.

Pura Vida

First, my apologies for not posting at all this week regarding my trip to Costa Rica. I'm pretty sure the posts would have been more detailed had I been able to write every few days rather than posting one or two general posts at the end of the trip. My excuses for my delinquency are as follows:
1- the internet here isn't great, mostly because i'm using free services at hostels
2- spanish language keyboards are a pain in the ass.
3- i was too busy playing outside to write much. this is definitely a place of being in the moment and enjoying the people around you rather than reflecting on the days' events. there's little time for reflection when there is always something to see or do or someone new to meet.

that said, i'll save my actual stories for when i get back to the states and back to my own computer. i'm in san jose right now waiting for an airport shuttle and will be in new york city around midnight.

here is a rundown of my trip in short (this is mostly as a reminder to myself for when i write this up properly):

places visited:
1- san jose, just for flying in and out purposes and getting settled. there's not much here for visitors.
2- la fortuna, originally to see volcan arenal, but the weather was total shit so i just used it as a transfer point and a place to sleep. cute town though...
3- monteverde, in the cloud forest. went for a nature hike and spent time with some new friends.
4- playa jaco, easily one of the most satisfying places i've ever visited. lots of fun in the sun including swimming and surfing. lots of really cool people that i'm very pleased to now call my friends.

accomplishments/injuries:
accomplishments: rafted the pacuare, hiked in the cloud forest, learned to surf, spent very little on souvenirs, made lots of new friends and traveled with them, successfully backpacked through a foreign country on my own without speaking the language or spending too much, avoided being scammed/robbed throughout the trip (this was a real concern as it has happened to me on other trips- so gullible!)
injuries: sunburn, a cut on the bottom of my foot from hiking/rafting, really red sunburns on the backs of my hands and a rub/bruise thing i can only assume is a typical surfing injury from gripping the rails too hard

details (and pictures!) on all of this later. for now i'm just going to chill out and enjoy my last few hours of central american weather and sunshine. back to the busy, dirty city tonight!

*AHEM*

The 10 day forecast for San Jose, Costa Rica lists high temperatures in the low 80s, low temperatures in the mid 60s, and a mixture of sunny days and sunny days with a few clouds. No rain is projected because it is currently the "dry season" aka summer time in Central America. Luckily it's a small country so I can only assume that my days at the beach will also be sunny and warm.

Have I mentioned that I am so freaking excited???

I technically leave at 5:45 am on Friday, but because it's an international flight and I'm taking public transit to get there I'm going to leave my apartment at 2:30 am. I'm debating between staying up all night or going to bed really early to get about 4 hours of sleep. I get into San Jose at noon and it would be awesome to do a little walking around, swimming, and book my guided activities instead of losing the whole day to travel and sleeping. So I'm leaning toward a mid-evening snooze on Thursday and then trying to sleep on the plane throughout the morning.

Before I can let myself get too excited I need to finish up some school and personal stuff here to maximize my relaxation while I'm away...*sigh*

OK, bed time so I can be semi-productive tomorrow.  

Attendance

Taking a moment to bitch a little bit:

Attendance for my program is not great right now. A lot of us have been sick off and on for the past four weeks, which is completely understandable. Also, in law school it's normal to skip classes on occasion for other appointments or to go out of town for the weekend. That's all fine.

However, some people in this program simply are not interested in attending classes and are regularly absent for no good reason. This is pretty frustrating considering that we have a few students who come in all the way from New Jersey every day while others would rather stay out late and sleep in the next morning with no apology. 

We all had to jump through hoops to get here and we were chosen over other students. In fact, less than half of those who applied for this program were accepted into it. This information does not seem to phase certain people though and it has made no impact on these students to take the program seriously and make the most of it. It makes us all look bad and causes the work load to be much greater for those of us who actually attend classes. 

Bottom line: Without looming consequences a rule has no true strength to equalize behavior. I feel that if a student's attendance is poor without good reason (illness, family, appointments, etc) that student should fail classes and possibly be kicked out of the program. They'd lose their tuition and have to repeat the credits by taking courses on campus in Buffalo. It seems that anything short of such a threat falls on deaf ears. 

Temping, Ukrainian and Snow

Classes were cancelled today due to snow. 

Let me clarify- we got about 6 inches of snow in NYC last night and it got crazy cold very suddenly. After the streets were shoveled and plowed there was some slushy iciness on the sidewalks, but it was still perfectly possible to get out and run errands. 

Considering that nobody in my class drives to school anymore, it was kinda silly to cancel classes. However, our class schedule is linked with that of SUNY Stonybrook where our courses are housed, so we close when they close. The moral of the story is that downstaters are whimps when it comes to snow. They should have to deal with a Buffalo winter. Nothing short of city-wide power outages and death by hypothermia or carbon dioxide poisoning keeps us from classes and work.

Not to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything... I took advantage of my stolen day. I slept late, did some research on my taxes (which are proving difficult to e-file because I don't have a record of my 2007 AGI), made a hair appointment for Wednesday afternoon and then headed out for my 2pm appointment at a temp agency. 

This is one serious temp agency. I had a full on interview and about 3 hours of computer testing. I don't think I did too well on the computer testing because I started getting frustrated and tired. You're not supposed to do them all in one sitting but I just couldn't justify taking another afternoon this week to come back and finish them later. I'm sure I did better than a lot of people do because my typing skills are great and my skills with Microsoft Office are at least average, but it still bothers me that I wasn't closer to perfect. Oh well, hopefully I'll get at least a few temp positions out of this and make a little money.

After my testing I was really hungry, so I went to the East Village for some Eastern European cuisine. Initially I wanted to go to a place called Little Poland that is known for cheap perogies, but I didn't see a Visa sticker on their door and couldn't find an ATM that wouldn't charge me a $3 transaction fee. So instead I went a few doors down for Ukrainian food. It was fine food (roast chicken, potatoes, and steamed veggies) but nothing to write home about. They did serve a really yummy semi-sweet bread I'd never had before, so that was probably the highlight of the meal. I doubt I'll seek out Eastern European food again unless I have a strong craving for perogies and cabbage.

Back to classes tomorrow. My class received a discouraging email from a professor that we're a bunch of slackers and need to step it up. I guess I should try to get a notable amount of work done in the next two days so I can enjoy my vacation guilt-free.

One Month In...

Today is March 1, so I have been living in New York City for exactly one month. So far things are going pretty well. I've become extremely familiar with the entire east side, minus the financial district (ironic, eh?) and am pretty comfortable with my surroundings in Harlem. Tonight I felt like walking so I walked from my apartment on 118th to 86 street where there is a Tasty D Lite. It was yummy and I felt good knowing I'd walked all the way there and then bought a "healthy" dessert to satisfy my sweet tooth. 

On Friday night I went out with some classmates to see a comedy show at the Comedy Cellar near Greenwich Village (I think it's technically the lower west side, but not entirely sure). The comedy was very entertaining and a little bit raunchy. I was pretty irritated by the Comedy Cellar itself though. It's possibly the most over-regulated establishment I have ever been to. 

The House Rules:

1. You have to make a reservation to be put on a list, then stand in line and fight for a table even though you reserved ahead of time. 
   
2. If your party exceeds 8 people you cannot get a reservation. 
   
3. If you split your party into two smaller reservations or if the bouncer thinks you might be acquainted with another party in the line they will refuse your reservation. 
   
4. There is a two drink minimum and a three drink maximum, so basically you pay an $18 cover charge for the comedy and then you may have one or two drinks. 
   
5. You may not talk during the performance. 
   
6. You may not leave the building without a stamped receipt that you paid your bill and tipped your waiter. 

In the end it wasn't really worth it, but I enjoyed hanging out with my classmates.

After the comedy show I asked my friends if they wanted to go to Lips, the drag bar in Greenwich Village. They were tipsy enough to agree to this idea, so we walked over the the Village and found Lips (miraculously since I didn't really remember where it was). The moment we walked in the door and I heard a drag queen singing a song about wishing she had a vagina, I became a little concerned that this was not the type of evening my friends had in mind. After getting settled and ordering drinks everyone just started taking it all in and seemed to enjoy themselves. 

Britten and I

There was a drag queen selling balloon "animals" in naughty shapes. I bought one for Laura (because she was pretty hammered) and then Britten talked me into getting one for myself.

Classes are going pretty well, though I'm becoming concerned about our group projects. Without a constant professor supervising us nobody is really sure what stage we should be at in our work. So my group just keeps reading articles and batting around ideas. Hopefully we'll have a break through this week so we can start putting together an outline/timeline for our work.

Spring Break starts on Friday (because we don't have class on Friday) and I fly for San Jose, Costa Rica on Friday morning around 5:45 am! I've finally finished my provisional shopping (towel, bathing suit, first aid supplies, a purse that can't be pick-pocketed quite as easily) and am mostly packed. My backpack is a bit heavier than I would like so I might try to downsize, but it's already pretty minimalist. I'll have internet access at my hostels so hopefully I can post a few updates while I'm away, but the pictures will have to wait until I return.

Well, that's all for now. I should probably get some reading done for tomorrow.