This past week, I hit New York and Boston as I neared the end of the North American segment of my trip. Everyone seems to be kind of disappointed that I'm still in the US, but I'm having plenty of adventures still at home and, besides, this is the general pace of the trip. I'm not leaping over any big areas at once (well, except the North East Atlantic ocean) and taking the slow way around the world. The US is a big place and, seeing as how I've already gone over 2,000 miles in in just three weeks, I'd say I'm still making decent time.
Anyways, like I said, I was in New York and Boston this week. New York was kind of special because it was the first time that I ever visited the city and my brain didn't explode. I have a troubled relationship with New York and, up until this last visit, I really didn't like the place. Too much steel and concrete, too fast and too anonymous. This visit was aided by staying with two friends though - the first time that I actually stayed in people's homes opposed to staying in "cheap" $200 a night hotels.
My buddy Joe from college hooked me up the first night. I returned the favor by helping him write an April Fool's article for the NYU Law School Newspaper about how the Greenwich Village Preservation Society (apparently the nemesis of NYU's expansion plan through the village) won the lottery and so was able to buy NYU. Link to come, on April 1 I guess.
The next two nights, I stayed with Bryn's sister, Melissa, who is a med student at Cornell. I felt a little honored to be staying in student housing at some of the best universities in the country.
In addition to staying with people I actually know and getting to see a little sliver of their life, I also went out swing dancing on Tuesday night at a famous jazz club, Swing 46. Laugh all you want, but swing dancing is a great way to quickly plug into a group of people. I showed up at the club at 830 essentially alone, and by 1130 I was hugging people goodbye. I can do this in most cities around the world, which is very encouraging.
George G and his orchestra at Swing 46
I walked the 2.5 miles back to Melissa's place with a little more optimistic take on New York than before. As soon as I could associate some faces and personalities with this otherwise anonymous city, I felt much more comfortable there. I was less self-conscious about talking to people in lines or asking questions in the subway. Of course, I left two days later, but I think I'm getting better at breaking my way into a city. Next swing dance will be saturday in Boston and then Wednesday in Reykjavik! My flight leaves Monday night for my first international stop of the trip.
PS Sorry there aren't any pictures with this post - I did get some good ones, but I'm posting this from a Mac and it doesn't have a port for my SD card. I'll sneak them in later.
Walking over the rooftops of the lower east side on the Manhattan Bridge
Anyways, like I said, I was in New York and Boston this week. New York was kind of special because it was the first time that I ever visited the city and my brain didn't explode. I have a troubled relationship with New York and, up until this last visit, I really didn't like the place. Too much steel and concrete, too fast and too anonymous. This visit was aided by staying with two friends though - the first time that I actually stayed in people's homes opposed to staying in "cheap" $200 a night hotels.
My buddy Joe from college hooked me up the first night. I returned the favor by helping him write an April Fool's article for the NYU Law School Newspaper about how the Greenwich Village Preservation Society (apparently the nemesis of NYU's expansion plan through the village) won the lottery and so was able to buy NYU. Link to come, on April 1 I guess.
The next two nights, I stayed with Bryn's sister, Melissa, who is a med student at Cornell. I felt a little honored to be staying in student housing at some of the best universities in the country.
In addition to staying with people I actually know and getting to see a little sliver of their life, I also went out swing dancing on Tuesday night at a famous jazz club, Swing 46. Laugh all you want, but swing dancing is a great way to quickly plug into a group of people. I showed up at the club at 830 essentially alone, and by 1130 I was hugging people goodbye. I can do this in most cities around the world, which is very encouraging.
I walked the 2.5 miles back to Melissa's place with a little more optimistic take on New York than before. As soon as I could associate some faces and personalities with this otherwise anonymous city, I felt much more comfortable there. I was less self-conscious about talking to people in lines or asking questions in the subway. Of course, I left two days later, but I think I'm getting better at breaking my way into a city. Next swing dance will be saturday in Boston and then Wednesday in Reykjavik! My flight leaves Monday night for my first international stop of the trip.
PS Sorry there aren't any pictures with this post - I did get some good ones, but I'm posting this from a Mac and it doesn't have a port for my SD card. I'll sneak them in later.
Cool! Europa und Ben kommt! Spannende Reise... Endlich. Das Wetter in Island ist saukalt, nur zu deiner Info und ich kann dir nur raten, ganz schnell Richtung Süden zu reisen, wir haben hier im Schnitt 8-10 Grad mehr!!! Da oben ist es noch Winter, hier beginnt es zu blühen! Ich wünsch dir einen guten Flug, sicher ein wunderschönes Gefühl wieder einmal nach Europa zu fliegen, oder? Und dann eine super Ankunft in Island. Ich war nie da, aber es soll ein wunderschöner Fleck sein. Machs gut und pass auf dich auf! Grüße aus Deutschland! HEIDI
ReplyDeleteWell, I'd hoped we would have had more extensive adventures, but alas, it was good to see you, even if you left me with a bunch of carrots. Great pictures, too!
ReplyDeleteBen's contribution to The Commentator is available two days early:
http://www.law.nyu.edu/ecm_dlv2/groups/public/@nyu_law_website__students__student_organizations__the_commentator/documents/documents/ecm_pro_068373.pdf