NYC!

So as most of you probably know, I am back in the US. It's weird that I've only been back for a little more than two weeks because it feels like so much longer! I have the good fortune of being really happy wherever I am, so even though it was really hard to leave Australia, it is SO good to be home. Plus, I still am doing a whole bunch of traveling, which is why I feel totally justified in still updating this blog. :) First, I went to Duke, which was amazing because I got to see everyone! The first nine days I was home were pretty insane because I was so excited to see everyone again that I don't think I went to bed before 3 am a single night. I have literally become a nocturnal creature - first I thought it was the jet lag, but I just get this surge of energy after midnight. Problem. Well not now, but it might be in the future...haha.

Anyway, last Wednesday, I embarked on my five day whirlwind tour of New York City and Montreal! But I'll post about Montreal later since I think I am too tired to write about both of them in one entry and we I took the bus up to New York in the morning and arrived in the city in the middle of the afternoon, just as Sam was finishing class. It was such a DELIGHT to see him. The biggest difference in these travels to my ones in Australia is that even though I am going to places to see them (like, I was extremely excited to see NYC for the first time since I've gained this new outlook on exploring cities by myself), it was so wonderful to be able to stay with my best friends and see how they live! It makes me so proud and happy to see the different lives my friends have built for themselves and I love being able to see it firsthand by living with them for a couple days. Even though Sam was kind of in the middle of TECH WEEK for his show (which not only was he music director for, but also played TWENTY NINE songs for, all perfectly of course), he was still able to find time for me, which was amazing. First off, his apartment is AMAZING. Even though it is NYU housing, it is basically in the financial district of Manhattan, just a few minutes walk from Ground Zero, the East River, Battery Park, Chinatown, etc. It's an absolutely incredible location; PLUS, he is on the 28th floor and his apartment has the BEST view! The first thing we did after me gaping at the view and the awesomeness of his work area and apartment in general was take a wonderful walk down by the water. I forgot that Manhattan is an island and therefore surrounded by water, which basically makes the city a million times cooler and totally launches it into the same echelon as Sydney. :) We walked down to Battery Park and saw the sun setting over the Statue of Liberty, which was gorgeous. Then he took me to a surprise dinner at...MAX BRENNER CHOCOLATE CAFE. Because in New York, they not only have a chocolate selection that is actually a gazillion times more than the Sydney location, but also a full dinner and brunch menu. INSANE. We had the most amazing hot chocolate that had like little crackly waffle balls in it. Bad description, but it was sooooo delicious.

After that, I got the huge pleasure at getting to sit in on the rehearsal of this show that Sam was music director for, called Wood: The Musical. I'm not really going to go into the details of what the show is about here; let's just say it is kind of like Midsummer Night's Dream but a lot more risque, with HILARIOUS songs and totally out there lines and really bouncy (and difficult) music that of course Sam can play perfectly. It was actually the first costumed run through they were doing, so I really got the full benefit of everything. And for some reason I wasn't expecting it to be so funny (Sam always downplays everything because he is WAY too modest), so I was seriously almost rolling on the floor from hysterical laughter. Good times. Plus, I love seeing how theater people work and with my whole obsessive complex about being backstage and stuff, this was all quite exciting for me. It's even more fun hearing Sam talk with the other directors after the rehearsal is over about all the crazy actors and their drama. :) Ah, the life of a theater person. I am so glad I get to experience this vicariously through Sam!

The next day, Sam had like the craziest day of his life, so I was pretty much on my own, which I found incredibly exciting, of course. (Sam seriously has a CRAZY LIFE. He leaves his apartment at 8 am and gets back past 11 pm pretty much every day. AAHHH.) I obviously got up much later and just decided to walk around the city and explore on my random whims. I visited Ground Zero first, just because I haven't seen it in a while and I wanted to see what was going on...it looks like they are planning a beautiful memorial. Then I went to Chinatown in search of one thing and one thing only: soup dumplings. I remembered eating these my senior year in high school on our orchestra trip and loving them SO MUCH. I forgot how awesome New York's Chinatown is. I even discovered that there are ASIAN BAKERIES just like Sydney, which made me sooooo happy. In all my random wandering among the 230598 restaurants, through some small miracle, I actually managed to find this one place that serves these amazing creations. They are dumplings, but they actually have SOUP in them. Yes, it seems like an impossible feat, but they exist. And you have to eat them by biting a tiny hole in the corner, sucking out the soup as delicately as possible so it doesn't get all over you, and then eating the rest with chopsticks. Yum.

Anyway, once my craving for soup dumplings was satisfied, I decided to head uptown to visit Sam at his work (he works at City Center which is this cool theater that does revivals of old Broadway musicals and such). However, en route to trying to get to Sam, I have to admit I took about 17 detours. First I went to see the Waldorf Astoria hotel (because it is SO pretty), then went down Little Brazil street, then went down Diamond and Jewelery Way (all these people got in my face and were like BUY DIAMONDS! NOW!), then to Radio City Music Hall, then to Rockefeller Center to see the tree and the skating rink...you get the point. I follow whatever whim I have at the time. And New York City is more intensely ALIVE and CRAZY than any other place I have been in my life, hands down. It is just much more IN YOUR FACE than Sydney. There is so much happening all the time and so many streets and so many HUGE stores and so many people and so much traffic and so many flashing lights and billboards...I can only imagine how overwhelming it would be to someone from a small town or country seeing it for the first time. As for me, it was the first time I'd really walked around by myself, and I just loved it. There is no other way to describe New York than it is just intensely New York. And I think I do feel a connection with the city due to the fact that I was born in Manhattan. But could I live there? I am not sure about that yet. Although it would be amazing to be roommates with Sam. :)

Anyway, after getting embarrassingly lost (I seriously accidentally kept going the exact opposite way from where I meant to go on the map - how horribly tourist-y!) and sidetracked into random chocolate shops and Tiffany's (okay, it is SIX FLOOR THERE. WOW), I finally met up with Sam and collapsed for a little while before reviving myself and getting to go through Times Square with him to deliver a package through a random back stage door. (hehe!) And yes, I know that Times Square is about as gaudy as it gets, what with the flashing billboards and lights and people ABSOLUTELY EVERYWHERE, but it remains one of my absolute favorite places in New York just because it is so unabashedly out there and in your face. It is that aspect of New York at its finest, that's for sure. Then Sam had to go to class and I went to check out the OPEN AIR HOLIDAY MARKETS in the middle of Union Square. So cute! Sam knew I would like them and of course he was right. They were adorable and it was wonderful to sip hot chocolate and stroll around them. Then I went to the craziest Whole Foods store ever right across the street (I loooove Union Square, what a cool area) to grab some food (I missed the salad bar at Whole Foods - seriously, there is nothing like that in Australia), and then went to another rehearsal. This one was a little more tedious because they were working specific scenes the whole time, but it was even more hilarious when they were working out technical aspects to certain parts...wow. And it seriously fascinates me to see how a show is put together, because it is absolutely mind boggling how many parts have to come together for it to work seamlessly: acting, props, music, costumes, lighting, lyrics...the list goes on and on. The life of a theater person is not an easy one. Which of course makes me admire Sam all the more. :) After rehearsal, we headed back to Sam's part of town, which was nice because it is a lot quieter than the center of the city. I can definitely see how it is more homey and it just seems like a great place to live. (With the best view EVER, like I said before - I loved the lights of the city at night!)

The next morning, I left to go to Montreal, but Sam and I got to have a lovely breakfast together first in Union Square, where he took me to the farmer's market. It was absolutely fabulous and SO cheap. We got apple cider donuts (they seriously taste just like apple cider, which is totally cool) and hot pear cider (um, YUM), and sat in the park looking at adorable children playing and people walking their dogs. I LOVE NEW YORK CITY. I realized that I have never been there around Christmas time, and being able to see all the beautiful decorations just made me inexplicably happy. I love this time of year so much! And getting to be there with Sam just makes it that much better. It felt hugely different from the last time I was there (also staying with Sam, but it was a year and a half ago) - we've both changed so much and grown up a lot, and I have a totally different outlook on life in a city in general after happily living in one on my own. I now know for sure that I will be living in a city at some point quite soon - maybe straight out of college, and I'm really excited for that, even though I'm not sure exactly what specific city it will be. I just love the atmosphere of a city and how each city I see has its own unique character. I definitely feel that New York is the most distinctive city in the US for so many reasons, and its brash, gaudy character makes it totally lovable in its own way. :) THANK YOU FOR HOSTING ME, SAM!!!! <3

Next up: a full post on Montreal!

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