Concrete Jungle

Hello! It's been awhile since anyone has posted. I was cleaning my room tonight, and I found the list of things I wanted to in NY before classes started back in September. Now, between school surprises, Hurricanes, and other such events, I was only able to mark a few off the list. Looking back on it tonight, I can mark all of them off the list (ignoring the fact, that the longer you are here, the more you want to do). So I thought I might give a round up of my favorite New York-y excursions/activities from my first semester of grad school:

This picture was taken recently from Madison Square Garden, home to one of my favorite (maybe THE favorite) NY restaurants Shake Shack. The problem is, it is very popular with tourists and natives alike, so there is almost always a line. But luckily, my friends and classmates love burgers and fries as much as I do, and are willing to brave the line with me!

(okay...I am having a hard time figuring out the picture alignment, so you just ignore that please and thanks)

Up there at the top, was from my walk across Brooklyn Bridge. I couldn't help but think back to when Daddy had to ride the bike up to the first archway for Accomplice NY. I underestimated the length in a BIG WAY, so Daddy, thanks for getting that clue (and it was uphill the whole way!)

One big thing I love about my program is our access to area museums. The class trip to the Textile center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a standout. I got to inspect hand woven lace from the 18th century! And I DIDN'T SNEEZE ON IT!

The science based part of me really loved the Museum of Natural History (ever seen Night at the Museum? It was based on this museum). Got to see the T-Rex skeleton, and the life sized model of a blue whale, but the coolest has to be their planetarium center. I didn't pay to see the show (25/ticket), but I would go back in a heart beat! They had a room full of meteorites, and while that may be cool only to meeee, it is still very cool.

The Libraries. SIGH. While those were not on my "must see" list, I have been to some VERY cool libraries. Bobst library is NYU's main building, and we have a love hate relationship. The architecture is VERY cool, with a twelve story open atrium, BUT it also means that half the books I needed were in storage, and it took me four days to get them. The NYU Fine Arts library is most refined. So much so that I felt out of place in my study clothes. I feel like it needed a dress code (really.). Good news? Not many people know about it, so while my classmates and I are usually trading books back and forth, they almost always have the books in stock. The New York School of Interior Design's Library is small but has EXCELLENT material. They didn't have much, but what they did have was worth the subway ride to the upper east side.

The New York Public Library is a tease. You head to Bryant Park, the location of the main campus, only to find out, the book you need is in the library across the street (the one that makes the Asheville Library look stellar). Then lastly, what was both a cool and annoying experience, was the visit to the NY public Library for the performing arts. It is located at Lincoln Center where the NY ballet performs the Nutcracker, so approaching the building was amazing! Decorations everywhere! Happy People! Woo-hoo! Then you turn the corner to Juliard land, and everything gets very quiet and creepy (as I told sully, it was "black swan" land). And then I got in a fight with the librarian. She was hungry for a sandwich. A KNUCKLE sandwich.

So in Libraries alone, I have been exposed to some very historic architecture, four different neighborhoods (upper west and upper east side, midtown, and greenwich village), and all in all checked out 60 books.

Some things still left to visit: the Moma, the Guggenheim, Ellis Island Museum, Fraunces Tavern Museum, The Museum of the Moving Image (the Muppet Exhibition!), and several others!