3/30/12

The Best Day of My Life.

Michelle and I decided to make the most of our last full day in NYC. And the most of everything it was! At


740am
we woke up to stand in line for rush tickets for the musical Sister Act. Apparently if you go to the theater when it opens at 10am, they have a limited amount of front row seats you can buy for really cheap! However, people start lining up outside before the theater opens to ensure that they get seats, so we had to be exceptionally early birds to get our award-winning worm. By

8am
we were heading down to Times Square, unshowered, unawake, and unprepared for the cold. We were a seriously pretty sight. There was mist everywhere which only made us look groggier and more disgusting. We were finally in line by

830am,
a full hour and a half before the theater opened, and we were fifth in line! Now, the general rule for lining up for tickets is that if you're not there, waiting in line, you don't get a ticket. This means no saving spots for people who haven't shown up yet. There we were, shivering in our misery, and three girls and a dude join one of the girls in front of us, making us NINTH in line. They got the most awful death glares from everyone. Also a few loud "If I don't get tickets because of them"'s. It was intense.

10am
and we finally get our tickets! Honestly, it was just a relief to be let into the building, it was so cold. But we did! We got tickets!! They were in the front row. For $26.50, and therefore, extraordinary. We arrived back at the apartment, skipping with glee, by

11am
and were dead tired. Michelle decided to take a nap while I explored facebook for a while. And lo and behold! Our dear friend Jessica was online!


We skyped and chatted quietly for a while (everyone else was still asleep) before it was time to get ready. Gradually, the rest of the apartment mates woke up and said hi and got ready for the rest of the day. At

2pm,
we head out to do some real touristy stuff while Matille spent some time with her friends from home.

Neither of us had ever seen the Brooklyn Bridge, so we went there first. It's HUGE! And PRETTY! I can't believe people get to run/bike across that for exercise.

We also went to see the Statue of Liberty but we didn't take the ferry there.


While we were too cheap for historical monuments, we weren't too cheap to get caricatures of ourselves...



ones with beautifully big boobs, too. We were pretty exhausted by the time we got back to the apartment at

530pm,
but we couldn't slow down yet! We had to get ready for Sister Act later that night! We got dressed in our cute outing clothes and were heading to the subway by

6pm
with the intent of eating dinner in Times Square. Halfway to the subway, Michelle asks, "Do you have the tickets?" A sallow face was my only response, and we started trudging our way back to the apartment. Luckily, she volunteered to climb the six flights of stairs to get them (Thanks Miche!!) Soon after that, we decided to just eat some place on our street. We went to this great falafel place across the street, and damn, was it great. Also, I had the best baklava of my life. As we left, stomachs achingly full, we saw the best thing in the world: the Waffles & Dinges truck.If you do not know what this is, I will fill you in. It is the source of all the sunshine and starlight in the galaxy.


It is a truck that serves the best waffles in the world that relocates itself everyday. You have to go online to find out where it will be, and sometimes, if you say the secret word for the day, you get a free topping! We had been seeing it driving around and swearing that before we left, we would necessarily need to get one. We figured it was our last night there - when else would we be able to fulfill this promise?? By this time it was

7pm
and we needed to be hurrying to the theater if we wanted to get there with some time to spare. We grabbed our waffles, slathered with nutella and their homemade secret spread, and speed-walked and ate simultaneously...BAD. HORRIBLY. AWFUL IDEA. Chocolate and sugar started dripping down our hands, and soon after, my face. A woman passed us muttering, "Ew.." to which Michelle replied, "You don't know what you're missin, lady." And she was right.


At the end of the block, I had somehow managed to smear chocolate all over my hands, face, and scarf. Michelle was somehow pristine. Our giggles progressed into hysterics as I tried to clean up with the two napkins I found in my purse. I'm pretty sure people may have thought we were crack-whores, but we didn't care. Our bellies were full of chocolatey warmth and sunshine :)

745pm
We get to the theater, and we're escorted to the front row, where we see the orchestra pit, a rather young and handsome director, and of course, a high, high stage. The lights dim and fabulous blaring sounds of the 70's spring from the pit and the stage. I knew I could get some amazing pictures if I wanted to, but in those first few minutes of the performance, I promised myself I wouldn't. I was going to enjoy the show that was in front of me for the live experience and keep the memory forever engrained in my mind. And forever it shall be! The show was so powerful and affective! Maybe it was the fact that we were sitting in the front row and could literally feel the music and see the actors' spit, maybe it was the fact that Sister Act was one of my favorite movies growing up, maybe it was the catchy beat of the songs, maybe it was the fabulous day I'd been having so far. Whatever it was, I was so affected by this show that I cried almost consistently throughout the second act. It was funny, hopeful, inspiring, sad, sassy; it was phenomenal. After the show, at

1030pm,
"Sister Mary Robert"
Michelle and I laughed about how we just wanted to see the performers so that we could just hug them all. No need for pictures and autographs! We went to the stage door where the actors came out, and we told them all how wonderful they were and thanked them for an amazing night. We got most of their autographs and a couple pictures.The last lady we met played the character Sister Mary Lazarus, an old, raspy rapping nun, and it turned out she went to a college literally 10 minutes form our that has been closed down. Most people now think it's haunted and I've always wanted to go there, but still! She 

"Deloris VanCartier"
graduated in the 70's. She liked us so much that she asked us to wait while she took a quick phone call just so that she could hug us each goodbye. I think we were a little star-struck after this, because all we wanted to do was
goggle and walk around Times Square! For half an hour, all we did was wander around some stores and soak in this last night together, "high on life," as we called it. At one point when we were talking about how awesome our day had been, I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, threw out my arms, and yelled, "Michelle, HUG ME!" It was such a special day, and I don't think I could have shared it with anyone else! At

11pm 
we realized we should probably be getting back. When we got back to the apartment, though, there was a party going on. It was fun for a little while, but kind of crowded, so we decided to go down to the street where we seriously contemplated getting tattoos. We eventually decided to go back to Times Square; we just didn't want the day to end. There wasn't much open at this time, but we managed to find a little cafe at around

1am
and just sat and talked about life and love and happiness :) This trip really gave us a chance to bond, which I'm so grateful for. Even though the majority of my friends this year are seniors and will be graduating in a month or so, it's days like these that make my meeting them so worthwhile; each of them, Michelle especially on this occasion, have made a significant impact on my life, and I'm a better, happier person for knowing every one of them. It's a select group of people who you can be around for over 20 hours (we didn't get back until around

3am)
and enjoy every moment of it!

3/16/12

Break Adventures!

Sitting on a bus back to New York from Boston. It's been a fabulous trip this far!

 Since we left Friday night, we've travelled a total of 28 hours long distance



lived in a stranger's small (but awesome) apartment, 
almost become friends with the mouse (Lucy) that lives there, 





climbed a total of 825 stairs in this apartment building alone, 
managed in an extremely bipolar shower, 


seen three celebrities, 


(Diane Kruger from National Treasure!)

seen an off-brodway show,

 learned how to navigate the city, 


discovered cute hole in the wall shops and markets, 
shopped ALOT, 


napped and picnicked in Central Park, 


been incredibly thrifty and healthy, 

and toured around Boston. 



I've been enjoying every second of it!
...well, maybe not every second.


Monday night, we went out to Chinese food. I thought I'd try something new; I figured I like fried rice, and I like curry, so curry fried rice sounded beyond delicious. And it was. Then, we went to this incredible dessert place called Serendipity. It's famous for their frozen hot chocolate, holding the Guiness world record for largest sundae (must be ordered two whole days in advance and costs a thousand dollars), and for being in the movie Serendipity.


By the time we got back to the apartment, I was STUFFED. I got up at a decent hour the next morning, took a shower, did my hair, got all dressed and ready to go. I made a sandwich for lunch and sat there staring at it. I didn't want to eat it...it was like my stomach was still full from the night before. And it was hurting. I laid back down on the bed in all kinds of positions thinking it was just gas or some other weird thing. It was getting to be time to go, so I tried going to the bathroom, but I couldn't! I ended up forcing myself to throw up a little, telling myself I'd feel better after. But I didn't; I felt worse! I spent about fifteen minutes vacillating about whether or not to go out with my friends, but eventually I decided I should just stay at the apartment and see what was wrong with me. As they were leaving, I rushed past them to the bathroom and started puking my guts out.

Oooooh that's what it is. Food poisoning. This was not going to be a good day.

I laid down on the bed and tried to get some rest. I was starting to feel a little better a couple hours later when my friend Michelle came back to check on me. I was feeling considerably better, so I got dressed, ate my sandwich (I was so hungry!), and we head out for a thrift store we'd searched for the night before. A twelve minute walk; simple enough, right? WRONG. We get to the thrift store which looked really awesome, and one of our other friends told us we needed to walk back. The thought of walking all that way again made me feel queasy. More than queasy, sick...I started pacing back and forward in front of the store, bending over, salivating. Something was going to happen and it wasn't going to be good. I finally bent over and threw up in the middle of the street. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET. Let me tell you, the moment excrements come out of your body in the middle of a street in NYC is the moment when all your dignity gets thrown out the window. "Congratulations, Michelle. You have now seen me at my absolute worst," is what I said when I was done. We couldn't help but crack up, it was embarrassingly hilarious. We walked by a UPS guy who watched the whole thing while waiting to get buzzed into a building and he said, "Feel better?" Ohhh, the shame. I threw up once more before we got back to the apartment (in a restaurant bathroom this time, don't worry.)

Climbing the six flights of stairs back at our apartment was no walk in the park either. It's always shitty, but I honestly don't know how I didn't throw up after making it all the way to the top. I still felt like absolute crap, so I went back to sleep for a couple hours until my friend woke me up for... ba ba da ba ba baaaaaa! Our show!! I had been looking forward to it for the whole week, and I was not going to let this stop me from going. If I had to run to the bathroom every half hour, I was going. Luckily, I did not have to do this, haha. I was pretty much emptied out by then and decided not to eat anything else for the rest of the day. I was so glad of this because I was able to thoroughly enjoy the show!f

Last week, I told my directing professor that I was taking a trip to New York with friends for spring break, and I had completely forgotten that he'd just finished directing a play there during the first half of the semester! When he heard I was going to New York, he asked if I wanted to see his show and offered to get me tickets to see it! The show is called Rutherford & Son; it's playing at the Mint Theater off-Broadway, and it was truly great. I was actually surprised how invested in it I was since the time period, the costumes, and the problems were pretty plain, but that's how you can tell it's been directed well: if it still keeps your attention.

I basically idolize this man, Rick Corley. His depth and knowledge of theater literally astounds me; my goal in life is to BE him, haha. Honestly, though, he is extremely talented, and very worth meeting, taking a class with, or seeing a show directed by. He directed a show at our school last year that was, in my opinion...a little too ahead of the college student's maturity level. Not that it was raunchy or whatever (come to think of it, that would be the perfect level of maturity for a college student), it was just very adult, sophisticated, and complex. But that's Rick, though - adult, sophisticated, complex, and ambitious.


Hope everyone's spring breaks are going well! 
Happy spring!


3/12/12

There'll Be Some Changes.


There's a change in the weather,
A change in the sea.
From now on there'll be a change in me.
My walk will be diff'rent, my talk, and my name.
Nothing about me is gonna be the same.
I'm gonna change my way of livin' - if that ain't enough,
I'll change the way that I strut my stuff.
Nobody wants you when you're old and gray.
There'll be some changes made today.



I have the best conversations with my friend, Artie.
We're both sophomores - in the midst of some serious changes in our lives.
Two years out of high school, and two years away from adulthood.

We're both planning on living, studying, and interning next semester in Chicago. And for the semester after that, we've applied to study abroad in London and Florence. If our applications are accepted, we'll be spending an entire year off campus...in the "real world." I don't know how I feel about this, exactly. I wish there was a word that meant completely and utterly stoked out of my mind and at the same time scared shitless.

When I think about how different I was just two years ago (a know-it-all smug teenager, ready to move out and conquer the world, one huge leap away from home at a time; a totally inexperienced speck, content with floating in an illusionist abyss) it scares me to think about where I'll be in two years.

I love who I am now, and I love who I am becoming. I feel like improvement and experience are inevitable and always on the horizon. But it took some effort to get where I am now. I had to be wrong, ashamed, embarrassed, criticized, independent, dependent, hurt, hurtful, uncomfortable, decisive, accepting, and many other things, I'm sure.

Who will I be after two more whole years of experiences like these? Will I be a better person? Will I be worse? Will I be closer to my dreams? Will I be living on the streets? Will I be celebrating life? Will I be attending a funeral? Will I have overcome fears? Will I have developed new ones?

In times like these, it's extremely important to me to have something that keeps me grounded. Something that keeps me sane and happy, regardless of everything else that's going on. For me, that thing used to be faith, specifically, Catholicism. For whatever reason, I've pulled myself away from that faith, and honestly, it's been difficult; I've been struggling. I miss the comfort I felt knowing things were in somebody else's hands. I miss praying. I miss thanking somebody for everything  have to be grateful for. I miss being a part of the community I grew up in.

But there are so many things I believe in today that are so against some of the things I once believed that I can't find it in myself to go back without feeling like a liar or a hypocrite. What a selfish reason for going back: because I liked how it "felt."

Now, I guess, I find god in nature, most prominently in the wind.
There's something about the way it rushes past you or hits you at full force. Whether it brushes your cheek or whips you sideways, it's there. It's present, powerful, wonderful, and invisible. You don't know where it came from and you don't know where it's going, but it touches you on it's path and makes you fight to move forward. It challenges you to push back, sometimes forcefully, and sometimes like a playful wakeup call.

It'd been pretty chilly lately, but after that night that Artie and I had a soul-bearing session, 50 plus degree winds blew for a good half a week or so. I think nature was trying to tell me to embrace this transition period, which was just what I needed. It was the perfect indicator that where I am now is where I'm supposed to be. Change, though scary, is good, and at this point, exciting.


And what a perfect time to be enjoying change! This week, I'm in New York with two of my best friends from school! More updates on this trip later, though. Gotta be up early for a picnic in Central Park tomorrow :)