It Rolls Right On

I'm not the most devoted blogger and for that I apologize.

Eugene is just as I left it. The food lines are long, the sidewalks are full, and it rains during every hour that I'm awake. It is beyond gloomy. Not to mention that it's the beginning of the term and therefore great sums of payments are due for tuition, housing, and books.

I would hate to be so foolish as to generalize all anthropology professors, but I would like to share my observation that the two I have this term are both terribly awkward. They look awkward, they move their hands in awkward ways, and their intonations can even be awkward. When I say awkward I'm talking about an-almost-middle-part in long, straight, blond hair on a tall man who uses his hands in different gestures while continuously repeating himself. However, despite all awkwardness in regular conversation, they both lecture just fine about interesting topics so I couldn't care less.

I have this funny thing I do where I forget to take the time to write out my thoughts when I'm stressed and anxious, but when I finally make time to write it's because I've calmed myself down and pushed the excess ideas out of mind. So yesterday morning when I woke up at 6:30 am and couldn't fall back asleep, I had a million thoughts about the places I wanted to be going to and the schools I'd rather be taking classes at, the people that I miss terribly everyday, the relationships that are beginning to naturally slip away, the jobs to apply for this summer, the advisers to meet with about "my plan", etc. It's not healthy to run around all day thinking about such things while trying to listen to lectures and prepare for the week ahead. So I sedate myself. I watch Gossip Girl or cut down on coffee or nap until all of those thoughts pass. I just feel so guilty for ignoring myself like that.

Good Morning, Manhattan

After just four days in New York, I'm afraid that in Portland I'll feel as though the world around me shrank. There's something almost comforting about having such tall buildings always standing beside me. I'm a sucker for cities though.

FRIDAYAfter Kalie retrieved me from Grand Central Station and we dropped my bags off at her apartment, we walked around the corner to eat New York pizza in New York. We took the subway to Midtown where we wandered the wide streets, bought desert, and sat at Times Square letting the lights blind us. We went into Bubba Gumps because it makes Kalie happy before making our way to Central Park. We followed the beats of loud techno music till we found the skating rink throwing down a friday night free skate. The music was terrible and we walked home shortly after finding the rink.

SATURDAY
I battled with the dead lock for two hours since Kalie had left for work hours before I even woke up. Once I made my way past the front door, navigation in New York wasn't too terrible. I met Brianne around Union Square, bought myself a blueberry muffin at the market, and just happened to run into On The Rocks. Because apparently in New York, there really are so many people on such a small island that you can run into your own friends. (WHAT? CRAZY!)
Moving on, Brianne and I went to the Brooklyn Flea Market, a well-over-priced establishment of New York 12 weeks of the year. We looked for Betty Bakery to see Olivia's sister which was an epic fail that resulted in a subway ride to SoHo where we walked along Bleecker Street until eventually splitting ways. Kalie met me after work and wandered more, leisurely making our way to the subway. By leisurely, I do mean it literally. We washed our hands in an upscale salon and stopped in boutiques before catching the 6 to Uptown. We ate PinkBerry and went home for a Saturday night with Serendipity.

SUNDAY
Kalie has Sunday and Monday off so we slept in and ate breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien. Have you heard of it? It's this cafe with a rural European feel and organic, delicious food. After breakfast, we stopped at the street vendors on our way to Central Park before finally entering. We found Alice in Wonderland and Strawberry Fields, because I couldn't leave without seeing them.
Then we proceeded to the bottom of Manhattan to ride the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, because I am a tourist. We took pictures and looked up our ancestors like good tourists and then made our way uptown, stopping in Little Italy for dinner.

MONDAY
With a bulk of the tourists stops over, we had Monday to act like New Yorkers. We slept in and both vetoed showering due to our new mouse friend that caught itself in the tub. We got lunch at Alice's Tea Cup, the cutest restaurant with the theme of an Unbirthday tea party in Wonderland right among the static life of the Upper East Side. Two pots of hot tea, six glasses of water, two sandwiches, and too many fries later we walked to Dean and Deluca for good coffee. In the spirit of the day we went to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D. After, in the spirit of tradition, we ate spaghettios, ran errands, and passed out watching Lost.

Which all brings me to TUESDAY
It's late enough in the day that I guess I will shower and start on my walk to the West side through Central Park. I have every intention to take the subway down to the Village to drink coffee near the NYU campus and get a glimpse of college life in this city. Sorry if my synopsis of this adventure was a big of a bore.

New

A new blog.
Free of the confusion and melodramas of middle school, the further confusion and infidelity of high school. Simply college, sweet sweet college.
So here goes.