New York City!

Sorry it has been awhile, but it has been crazy! I went to New York for Memorial day weekend and did an incredible amount of stuff, so writing about it has taken more time than usual. This may be quite a long post...but bear with me- it was an intense weekend:

I had an amazing and busy Memorial Day weekend. On Friday, a bunch of us from the Barlow Center (where I live) took a bus at about 3pm to New York. Traffic was backed up, so it took a while to get there, but we arrived in New York City at about 9pm. We walked to Times Square, and it was a sight to behold! You would not know that it was dark outside; there were so many lights. It was definitely the most crowded street that I have ever been on. Everywhere you look there were just more people. The lights and buildings were awesome to see, though. We checked out the Toys R Us there, as well as the M&Ms and Hershey’s store. They were all pretty cool, but I think the M&Ms was my favorite. There were so many colors and flavors, and they had a lot of M&M collector items as well. It was really tempting to get lots of chocolate!

After Times Square, we took the subway up to Upper West Manhatten where our hostel was. That’s right- we stayed in a hostel and it was so fun! There were six girls, so we had our own room and it was like a sleepover every night. The hostel was pretty nice too (well, at least clean). It was nice to be staying in a real New York neighborhood, as opposed to a hotel right by a tourist attraction. I do live big cities, just not when there are people everywhere.

On Saturday we got up early and went to Battery Park, where the Ferry picks you up to take you to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I was so glad that we went there early; it was a beautiful morning on the water. Most people got off at the first stop at the Statue of Liberty, but we went on to Ellis Island. It was really interesting to go around the museum and see just how many people came through there, what they experienced, and the requirements that they were held to to be able to enter the US.

After taking the ferry back, we went to Chinatown and Little Italy. It was really interesting to see the stalls in Chinatown that sold all types of dried herbs, vegetables, and fish. I even saw dried octopus- it looked a little (more than a little) gross. On most corners in Chinatown, there are people that have a paper with lots of pictures of purses. They ask you if you want a purse, and if you do they have you follow them a ways to look at purses. One person we followed had three people that we were handed off to. Eventually we came to a store, and upon going inside, they led us to this ‘secret’ room that had tons of knock-off purses. I wasn’t interested in getting a purse, but it was an experience to follow street peddlers through kinda sketchy buildings to look at fake purses!

After eating lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown (which was delicious- and I ate a full meal with Chopsticks for the first time!) we went to broadway for a matinee showing. We had gotten tickets to Phantom of the Opera half off at TKTS, and the show was AMAZING! Phantom isn’t my favorite plot-line ever, but the music is really good and seeing it live on Broadway was awesome. The phantom had an amazing voice, the stage-work was amazing, and it was so cool to hear the music live! It was definitely a great experience.

After the musical, we went over to Brooklyn to eat at Grimaldi’s, a pizza place under the Brooklyn Bridge that I had been told was amazing. You often hear that you can tell how good a restaurant is by the line, and if that’s true, Grimaldi’s is amazing. There was quite a long line that we waited in for two hours before getting into the restaurant. But, it was a fun wait and the pizza was really good once we got it. They have a coal-brick oven, and so the pizza tasted yumm-my. We got done just in time to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan as the sun was setting. It was a beautiful walk and so cool to see all the buildings light up as it got dark.

Once we got back to Manhattan, we took the subway back to the Upper West to go to Serendipity, a cool little restaurant that has amazing, huge desserts and a really trendy, just cool environment.

On the way, we stopped at Grand Central Station, just to see it and look around. It was a really interesting place with great architecture. We got some good, posed pictures in as well. After that we actually made it to Serendipity. It was really fun, and the dessert was awesome. I got a brownie, ice cream, fudge dessert that I couldn’t even eat half of. It was really fun, though.

So, after all that we decided we should probably head back to the hostel and get some rest. Can you believe we did all that in one day? It was an intensely busy vacation, but so good. The night before we left we had made an itinerary that had our plans by the hour, so we would be able to fit everything in, and we were actually able to follow it and do everything we wanted to!

On Sunday, on the way to church we stopped and looked at a Cathedral, then walked through Central Park. It is amazing how there is such as huge, beautiful park in the middle of a big city. It was so nice to see green again! Church was at the Temple downtown, which was cool. We had sacrament meeting on the 3rd floor of the church.

After church we had a picnic in Central Park on a huge lawn. The weather was perfect, and it was so nice and relaxing.

On Monday, in the morning we again walked through Central Park on the way to the Metropolitan Art Museum. The walk was (again) beautiful, and there were so many people there walking their dogs! Probably the most I’ve ever seen.

We got to the Museum before it opened and so were one of the first people in. We spent three hours there, and didn’t even scratch the surface. We saw the Egypt exhibit, Oceania, Ancient America, Renaissance painting, the America wing and more, but there is sooo much there. It was really fascinating there. I really enjoyed looking at the art-work; the America exhibit was interesting too- just rooms set up in different time periods, but it was really neat.

After grabbing lunch at a local Italian café, we went to FAO Schwartz, a toy store that has a giant piano that you step on to play notes. Although everyone else there was under the age of five, it was still really fun and cool! (I did feel a little old though!)

Next, we tried to go see the U.N., but it was closed to visitors due to an emergency meeting they were holding because of North Korea’s bombing demonstrations. Then we raced over to Rockefeller Plaza, where we went to “Top of the Rock” 70 stories up. It was an incredible view- the city stretches out forever, just building after building. Central Park stands out very visibly as well from the top- it stretched out much longer than I had realized. That was a pretty incredible experience.

We then raced home to grab our bags from the Hostel and make it to the bus pick-up point.

We decided that we wanted to get “I heart NY” shirts, but as typical, when we decided we wanted them, we couldn’t find any vendors that were selling them! So with half an hour before the bus came, we were running around and probably went over a mile trying to find shirts. Finally we found a shop that sold lots of shirts, and bought some despite a contentious exchange with the store owner who was offended when one of us said that the shirts were too expensive. But, we got our shirts with no one getting harmed, and made it to the bus on time, so it all worked out. The bus ride went quickly, and we got home around midnight, with just enough time to catch some sleep before starting the work week!

It was rather a wild, crazy busy weekend, but so much fun and so worth it. New York is a fascinating place to visit, and I would love to go there again!

Red Oaks Ranch

It has been a crazy week, it seems like there is never enough time in the day! Last week flew by. After we get home from work everyday, we have a dinner group, and then there is almost always an activity (FHE or Institute) that keeps us occupied. I have also been taking full advantage of the GW gym…I think I went every night that week! My racquetball skills will definitely improve this summer.

On Thursday night, Judge Griffith, a DC District Appeals Court Judge, came and talked to us. He has previously served as the general counsel at BYU before his lifetime appointment as a judge by President George W. Bush. I really enjoyed his briefing- I was surprised but grateful for his focus on the role of a judge being to apply the law to a dispute and know what is the law that has been put into action by the people, rather than a larger role of figuring out what is right and wrong according to their individual moral code.

On Friday after another briefing, we went to the National Gallery of Art. I am grateful that I am becoming more able to appreciate the finer tourist attractions here, such as art. It is amazing to think how much history is housed here. There was a lady who was there painting an imitation of a piece, and she was doing a pretty good job. The second picture is of Ms. Juliana Willoughby. I liked it just because of the name!

Friday night a handful of us went to a friends friend’s farm, called Red Oaks Ranch near Culpepper, Virginia. The ranch is on 1,100 acres, and it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I need to steal some pics to show you, so I’ll try to do that next time.

It was a super fun trip, though. We finally got there at about 11pm Friday night, and we had dinner and played games. We finally went to bed around 3:30am, and then a few of us got up at 6am to go on a walk to see the sun rise. It was too cloudy to see the sun rise, but it was still a gorgeous walk. Everywhere you look, there is only grass and tress. During our walk, we had to cross a creek; we tried to make a pathway using chopped up wood, but due my extraordinarily bad balance, I ended up pretty much just walking though it! I ended up pretty dirty, with mud all the way up me back. But it was worth it. On the way back, we finally found what we were looking for. There was a small patch of trees, inside of which were several graves dating back to the civil war era. There used to be mounds around the outside where slaves were buried, but they have worn down over time. It was amazing to be in a place so old and isolated from the world.

Later that day we went on a hike along the river to a pond where there was a dock and rope swing. On the hike, one of my friends got bitten by something, but it didn’t seem like a big deal. Swimming was really fun and the weather was perfect. As we were leaving the pond, my friend realized that her ankle had started swelling where the bite was. That was a little worrying, but we thought it would be okay once we got home. Well, she ended up going to the hospital, and they figured out that she had probably been bitten by a Copperhead snake. That is not good. So she was in the hospital Saturday and Sunday night. It was definitely an adventure!

On Sunday, we went to an Organ performance at the National Cathedral. I had never been to the Cathedral before; it was so awe-striking! It was a beautiful building, and it had great acoustics. The concert was really good. It is amazing how there is a never ending supply of amazing things to do and see here. It just keeps getting better and better!

Philadelphia

This weekend we went to Philadelphia. It was a really fun trip and amazing to see the places of the beginning of our country. On Friday we visited Valley Forge. I didn’t know why it was famous; I just knew that I had heard the name before. So it was neat to learn the history of the encampments there, and what the army went though. The trees and open fields were so beautiful!
They had re-creations of the cabins that the soldiers built for themselves- 12 men per cabin is hard to imagine.

In Valley Forge, we also saw Washington Memorial Chapel, which was quite beautiful. We didn’t have much time to see it though, because there was a wedding there 15 minutes after we left!

On Saturday we went into Philadelphia, seeing Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the Constitution center etc. It was beautiful and fascinating to see all those places from history. In the Constitution center, we saw a production talking about the forming of the country, the importance of the constitution, and some of the history of the US. It was amazing to reconsider and remember everything that has happened in our history that has led us to where we are today. What seems so natural in the way we live today truly was revolutionary at its conception.

At the constitution center, they also had a room with statues of all those who signed the constitution. I got a photo op with George Washington, and my roommate Meghan and I posed with Alexander Hamilton as well.

(the tally of the number of people who have told us that we look related is up to 10. What do you guys think?)

Independence hall was pretty fascinating when considering what occurred there. Perhaps it is a sad sign of the times that most of the time I was referencing areas in Philadelphia as they appear in the movie “National Treasure”! Naturally, we watched that on the bus on the way back to DC!

Another crucial experience in Philly is of course having a Philly Cheese-Steak sandwich. This was an occurrence that I had yet to experience. We went to “Pat’s King of Steaks”, which is supposedly the birthplace of the Philly Cheese-Steak. There was a huge line for lunch, which is always a good indication of quality. Apparently, there is a distinct way in which to order a cheese-steak: say the type of cheese desired (cheese whiz is the most common) and then “with” or “without” to indicate whether you want onions. So the correct way to order one would be to say “Whiz with”. They were kind of rude, barking at you if you were too slow in ordering, but at least it was an authentic experience!

Sightseeing

This week has been one of the most tiring of my life, I think! Every day we've gone out to see stuff, which has been really fun.

On Friday I didn't have to work since we had our Seminar class. We had someone come in and talk about communication, particularly getting your message across with the media. By the time we were done with that and going over the class syllabus, it was 3 pm. We decided to go to the National History Museum. I had never been there before (at least that I remember), and it was so cool!! We had about 2 hours there, and I didn't even get through a third of the museum. I really liked the animals from around the world, and the insect zoo was cooler than I would have thought it was (Leah would have loved it!). The first animal I saw was the Walrus, which was huge! I would not want to meet one in real life.

They also had a bone section, where they talked about how they can tell how old a person is by the development of their bones, and how they id people and such through their bones. They also showed bones and told you what trauma they experienced during the persons life- there was one that was shattered in three pieces; that would have been painful!

After the museum we went to Chinatowna and had dinner. Chinatown was as big as I thought it was going to be, but we got a good deal at the place we had dinner, so I still liked it!

Yesterday, there was an event called "Passport to DC" where lots of embassies let the public come tour them and provide information, entertainment, and some had food. We saw a LOT of them and were walking for six hours! But they were really cool, and where else in the world could you do that?!

The Indonesia Embassy was really cool- the architecture, furniture, and just everything in it was so unique and really cool. Here is a video of the band that they had playing in the embassy:

Another embassy that we went to was Haiti. Funny story- we were waiting in line and they were handing out drinks to us. We asked what it was, and they said that it was Gin and Coconut water. I don't know why, but for some reason when they said gin, I though of ginger, not the alchoholic beverage. Soo, we took some and drank some. Then it dawned on us that GIN is ACHOHOL...just a little too late. So for the first time ( and hopefully the last) I accidentally drank achohol! Stupid moment of the day.

One of my favorite embassies was Sri Lanka- they had people there who were helping visitors try on sarees. So we got to try them on, and it was really cool! Here is a picture with a friend and the woman who tied our sarees.

It's been crazy busy but really fun here. It's hard to believe it's only been a week!