The calm before the storm

I had a rather lazy day today, relaxing a bit before beginning my internship on Monday.  This morning Grace and I went to Dunkin' Donuts for brunch (classy, huh?).  Apparently Dunkin' Donuts is the only place open on the weekend where we can use our meal plan.  And apparently everyone on campus knows this as it was packed earlier today.  And the employees were yelling at us.  Yes, I now understand what people are talking about when they say New Yorkers are rude.  It seems that all of the employees here are completely uninterested in the customer.  This does not inspire much confidence when it comes to exploring new places around the city.

But I digress...  Grace and I took our mediocre, so-not-worth-the-amount-of-money-we-paid brunch and to Union Square to chat and people watch.  We were there long enough that it came time for lunch so we headed up to Pret A Manger for a tasty sandwich.  So, I kinda love Pret.  They are all over London and when I found out that I got this internship, one of my first thoughts was that I would be able to go to Pret again - they are only in big cities.  It's just a sandwich shop, but I love it.  Maybe it's that I can just go up, grab a tasty sandwich, and get out without feeling judged or pressured to get something fancy.  Who knows?  All I know is that it is delicious.  After that, we strolled through the Union Square Greenmarket and then sat to ponder the facade of a building just south of Union Square:

 

Upon further investigation, I found that it is an art piece called Metronome.  Now you know.

For dinner, Genevieve and I opted to wander around St. Mark's for a tasty looking place.  While stopping to check out the menu for this one Thai restaurant, a guy on the street came up from behind to inform us that their Thai food was terrible.  We said that we kinda wanted Indian, did he know of a good place?  "Well, all the Indian restaurants are on 6th, as you know, being from around here" and proceeded to give me a look which turned into a bit of a mini staring contest of wills.  Yes, sir, clearly I am not a New Yorker with my boot-cut (read: not skinny) jeans, t-shirt, cardigan, and sneakers, you do not need to be a jerk about pointing out this fact.  Again, a reinforcement of the rude New Yorker stereotype.  But, as much as I hate to admit it, he did in fact recommend a good Indian restaurant, Spice Cove.  My dish was tasty but too spicy for my liking - however, I was very proud of myself that I was able to eat almost the whole thing.

Today's mileage: 2.27 mi

stillspotting (brooklyn) nyc

So I may not be getting paid for this internship but that doesn't mean it is without its benefits.  For example, we get to go to exhibitions and such put on by the museum for free.  Today we went to the stillspotting nyc exhibition in Brooklyn.  Honestly, I didn't really know what to expect nor did I really understand the whole thing.  It is certainly not an art exhibition in the classic sense of the term.  It was more interactive - any by "more" I mean completely.  Basically, we all went through and did a couple of activities and kind of meditated at the end.  Yeah, I'm still coming around to this new-fangled idea of the modern art exhibition.  And I'm not a big activity person.  But, as I said, it was free and worth seeing/doing.

Celebrity sighting: Sam Waterston sat at the table next to us at B Bar and Grill.

Today's mileage: 2.47 mi

Guggenheim orientation

I went to the Guggenheim today!  Well, sort of.  We had orientation but I didn't really see the museum.  I met a lot of the interns and everyone seems really nice.  We all got copies of Guggenheim Museum Collection A to Z (we actually got the 2009 paperback edition) which is pretty awesome.  And we were informed that our Guggenheim IDs will get us free admission to any museum in the city as well as others nationwide.  And I can get people into the Guggenheim for free as well.  So should anyone be visiting the city this summer and like to go to the Guggenheim, just let me know - I've got the hook-up.  Also, they are having us do this mock materials request form to familiarize us with it and as incentive, we get a free poster from the gift shop - I'm thinking of choosing this one.

I will be starting my internship in the Library & Archives department on Monday.

Today's mileage: 3.74 mi

Day 2

I had lunch with Elana today!  As you may or may not know, I met Elana last summer when I studied abroad in London.  She taught me to use the underground which has made me far less terrified of the NYC subway.  Anyway, we met at Madison Square Park and had lunch at Pax Wholesome Foods.  We also stopped in at Strand Bookstore, apparently a rather famous shop.  Also, I may have passed Chris Baio, the bassist for my favorite band of the moment, Vampire Weekend when I was walking through Union Square.

Oh and check this out: I was hanging out in my dorm and heard the familiar chanting of Hare Krishnas from the street below.  It reminded me of home :)

I've decided to begin logging my daily walking distance - today's distance: 3.83 miles. (Thanks to MapMyRUN)

I have arrived!

I made it!  I'm in New York City.  Whoa.  My flight was so short!  Only two and a half hours - all of the flights that I remember taking have been to Europe and thus much longer.  And I survived the taxi, yay!  I got to my dorm as well.  Not much to say about it - it's a dorm.  I've been walking around the city a bit with my roommate Genevieve and we made a point to swing by Kmart for a fan as our dorm is not air-conditioned.  It is helping immensely.  And as we were walking around, we passed Zach Braff and Nick Zinner, the guitarist for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (ok, I only know this because Genevieve said so after we passed him).  Not a bad start, huh?

Packing, packing, packing

I think that I have now managed to fit an entire summer's worth of stuff into one large rolling suitcase, one duffel bag, and one only half-full carry-on.  I was able to whittle my shoes collection down the a necessary 7 pairs, no small feat, mind you.  Perhaps the most challenging thing about packing was that all of my stuff was already packed up from when I moved home a couple of weeks ago. 

But alas, soon I will be in New York City and packing will be nothing more than a faded memory.  My flight is tomorrow (Tuesday, May 31st) at 1pm, out of the Jacksonville airport.  I will land at 3:30pm and my adventure will begin - if you know me, you know that I use the term "adventure" slightly euphemistically as I am in fact quite nervous about the whole ordeal.  Now if I can just make it to my dorm tomorrow, all will be well....

Last day at ALF

Today was my last day at my job at UF's Auxiliary Library Facility (ALF).  I have really had a great time working there and love all of my co-workers.  I do so very much hope to come back to my job with Team Dedup after my internship.  I don't think that I ever once in the 4 and a half months that I have worked there not wanted to go in to work and that's got to say something.  After some bad job experiences, I have most definitely learned to appreciate a good one and this has been one of them.  I learned a ton, made new friends, and felt like I belonged there.  (For more photos of my last day fun, go here.)

But alas, I mustn't dwell on what I will miss but on what lies ahead.  And what lies ahead is the Guggenheim and New York City.  Whoa.