Weekend Adventures

So this past weekend was my first large chunk of free time to get to explore the city, sleep in, and try some new things. Friday afternoon started out pretty rough. I had to leave early from school to go get fingerprinted, but coming home there was a fire on one of the train tracks so the trains were all delayed. I ended up waiting for my train for close to an hour and there was this insufferable woman standing next to me screaming and cursing at no one just because the trains were late and because she thought the musicians playing in the station "sucked". Because everyone was waiting, the station was packed with people so there was no where for me to move away from her, so I just put in my headphones.

Friday night, I met up with my friend Maddy, who just recently graduated from IU and moved home to NYC, for a night out in Manhattan. Firstly, anyone who knows me well knows that my sense of direction is terrible and this coupled with my being terrified of being lost can end up pretty disastrous act times. Anyways, I'm still trying to get the hang of the subway system so I always allot myself extra time just in case. I was supposed to meet up with Maddy, at her apartment in Manhattan, at 9:30. She told me I could come over early if I wanted so I left my apartment at 8:15 for the 40 minute trip. However, I got on the wrong A train and rode it to the end of the line (in the opposite direction I needed to be going) so my 40 minute trip lasted a little over 2 hours. 100% my fault for not paying attention to the stops, but only comical now that it's over. So I made it to Maddy's apartment where I met some of her friends who were really nice and welcoming and we got ready and pregamed a little bit before heading to this bar called Slate. Now apparently I should have done my research about NYC bar prices and pregamed more (I know you're rolling your eyes Mom & Dad--just trying to be economical!) because it was absolutely outrageous how much drinks were. Granted it was this really Bougie bar that Maddy and her friends wanted to try in downtown Manhattan, but I was absolutely not prepared. That is the last time I go to a ritzy bar like that-- interns don't make that kind of money!

So to balance out my expensive Friday, I had a really relaxing day on Saturday. I left Maddy's about 10AM and just kind of spent the day walking around Manhattan. I made it (without getting lost!) to Central Park, but it is truly enormous so I was lost once I was there, but it was the best kind of lost. It didn't matter because everything was so beautiful and there were so many happy people. I walked around for a while, only covering Central Park South, and my water bottle and I hunkered down with the book I'm currently reading, So Much for That by Lionel Shriver, and we spent the day napping and reading in Central Park. It was perfect. Definitely a place I want to go back to; perhaps a weekend for each corner of the park?

Now that it's Sunday, it's back to the real world and homework. I've been tasked with designing a lesson to help students review multiple-choice strategies for their upcoming Regents exams. The irony of this does not escape me considering I am a terrible test taker. The whole time I'm at the school I just keep thinking, "If I went here, I definitely wouldn't have gotten the grades I did. I had it easy the whole time." Their program is so rigorous for these kids, which is great considering the catch-up a lot of them have to do from the public school system, but still I learn things from them all the time, but then again that's probably the best part of teaching.

Pictures from Central Park: