Hurried Updates

Sorry for no recent updates… My days for the past two weeks have more or less been the following:

Wake up
Work
Get dinner
Do fun stuff
Get back home too tired to type
Stay awake for another few hours doing nothing very productive
Get about 5 hours of sleep

I’m really loving this. Working full time feels great, there’s no homework and no procrastination to feel guilty about. Working full time in New York City is what heaven must feel like. I worked in a lab in Athens last summer, a lab that I had worked in for 2 years and enjoyed a lot. I absolutely love Athens, but like Joel says “Athens is great only when you don’t know any better.” Well, I know better now. I almost wish I had done a summer program at another university in an exciting city last summer too. But, I didn’t know any better, so I still liked what I did then. But, I think I’d change it up if I had to do it again.

I do love Athens, but cities like New York fall under an entirely different category. Every evening here is exciting, every weekend a short vacation. Again, like Joel said as we were riding a cab down Broadway, “this street probably has more culture than all of Athens.” Very true. And, I even manage to wake up at 8a.m. every morning and by 8:30 am actually excited about walking to lab. I just feel so good about where I am and what I do, early mornings don’t even dishearten me. Its sickening, I know.

At the beginning of the summer, I was almost frightened by the aspect of being a senior. Only one more year at UGA, only one more year in Athens! I thought I needed more, I thought I wanted more… Not so much anymore. I’d now be okay with just skipping senior year and jumping right into grad school in a big exciting city. And although I still get a funny feeling when I click the prospective graduate student instead of the undergraduate link on university websites, I really feel ready to be a graduate student. I think I’ll enjoy it only if I like where I am as much as I like what I do.

I suppose Senior year will be exciting nonetheless. I am looking forward to my classes, and spending time with friends. They will hopefully keep me from having city withdrawals.

I’ve been diligently checking off things off my to do in New York list. I ate at Tom’s Restaurant (the restaurant from Seinfeld) a couple of weeks ago. It was a cute diner, sort of an upscale, famous version of The Grill. Food was good, I recommend the pineapple juice. I also, almost accidentally, found and had dinner at the Soup Nazi place, another Seinfeld classic. It wasn’t actually the place where the episode was shot, but it’s the first restaurant that opened after the owner decided to make a chain out of it. The original, I believe, is now closed. This was actually just a lucky coincidence. Anne and I had decided to visit the New York Public Library after work one day, but because we both finished at different times, we walked there separately. Well, on her way there, Anne just happened to pass by this place! So on our way back we got soup there. It was yum.

I also visited Columbia. Ah! The campus is beautiful! I am very jealous of all those who get to call it their home. NYU is just sort of scattered around the city, but Columbia actually has a well defined campus, which is surprisingly quiet and secluded despite being in NYC. I fell in love with it in seconds, and decided to add it to my list of prospective grad schools.

We also went to Madison Square Park one night. They have a food stand called the Shake Shak, which, I have to say, has the best shake I have ever consumed! The lines at the place are always long, but the wait it definitely worth the end. We haven’t eaten there yet, hopefully we’ll be doing that sometime soon. Madison Square park has now won its way into my list of favorite places in New York. My absolute favorite in the entire city has to be Central Park. Second favorite is probably the Union Square area, where I live. Madison Sqaure park and the are around Grand Central (on Park avenue, where the public library and Bryant park are) are probably tied for the next best. I am, however, not very fond of Bryant park. They do outdoor movies on Bryant park on Monday evenings. I have been to two of those. It’s a pretty area in the midst of sweet buildings, but I just think its too busy and too small to be called a park. A small grassy patch (about as big as the grassy area in front of Ramsey at UGA) in the middle of a very busy area one block away from Times Square, which I’m also not very fond of, just doesn’t cut it for me. I just don’t think it passes as a park. It surely has nothing on Central park or Madison Square park.

I also visited Coney Island, on the 4^th of July. And boy, that has to be the most disappointing thing I’ve done since I’ve been here. People, will someone please explain the point of an International hot dog eating competition to me please? I just don’t get it. I had never even heard of this shindig that apparently is a big enough deal to be aired, live, on ESPN. I have never been more ashamed of being American than I was there, standing in the midst of people who were excited, out of their pants, about a hot dog eating contest. It did not feel like 4^th of July at all. There was nothing patriotic about the event. If anything it helped confirm my dislike of ESPN. Will someone please explain to me why stuffing 56 hotdogs down your throat in 10 minutes is appealing to anyone. Also, why the hell would anyone do that. Those people were having gag reflexes against every bite they chewed down. What a nightmare. I’m sorry for all the various animals that had to give their lives for such lunacy.

Coney Island in general wasn’t that impressive. Then again, compared to Manhattan, not much is very impressive. We walked around the beach a bit, that was fun. Also, some of the main events in Cloverfield took place in and around Coney, so that’s kindda cool.

So much more has happened, but I really should try to go to sleep. More updates soon, I promise.