The San Diegan: Update

Alright guys! This one's gonna be a doozy since I haven't posted in a while! It'll be more like a photo dump with random comments peppered in. A lot has happened since I last posted anything. I finished midterms and did a staycation spring break in NYC with my mom and sis, I experienced the St. Patrick's Day parade, I finally made it over to Staten Island and Brooklyn, I went to my first Yankee's game, I worked in the hospital a bit more, I completed countless tests/exams/assignments & whatnot, I went to Boston to visit my good friend Scott Jones (Scotty J), I experienced snow, wind, hail, sun, & torrential rain, spent many more nights out, tried great food, visited museums, saw the Newsies on Broadway, etc. etc. Still lovin New York and excited to see what summer has in store! But first, I'm going to need to: a) finish finals b) visit home and relax a little! c) find a place to live

Some friends at clinical: Rhea and Meg

Rachel, Kourtnie, me (we've definitely bonded over 6:00 am wake-up calls and body fluids)

One night after class my friends Kevin, Megan and I thought it'd be a good time to try some awesome ramen so we waited for 2 hrs in what felt like a freezer box of a front stoop with 20 other people. We were all crammed in and tortured by the happy eaters inside the restaurant.. it was definitely one of those New York moments.

Going insane and numb during our stupidly long wait.

Finally we were let in to defrost and slurp some noodles. It was worth it.

Snowwww

After too much snow I was getting cabin fever at my place so I ventured out to study at the New York City Public Library

Not a bad place to study!

One of my favorite things is to grab food at the original Halal cart when I'm in the area. It's right by Radio City Music hall and it doesn't open until 7:30pm. Once they open there's a constant stream of people, they work that line like a machine, it's kind of impressive.

Kevin was famous for a day in our Professional Nursing class. There are 200 people in that class and he was lifted by these ladies out of a chair using two fingers each, not really sure what the point was, something about teamwork, but it was cool nonetheless.

Sunday brunch with these Indian princesses

Visited the M&M factory with my mom and sis (on separate occasions). Just can't get enough of that chocolatey goodness!

Steph and I got drinks at the Mandarin Oriental hotel which has a gorgeous view of the Southwest end of the park.

Isn't she pretty? I love my Stephipoo.

Union Square park in all of its glory. I love that there are always musicians providing a soundtrack to my afternoons.

Grabbed coffee at the Mud Truck by Astor Place, best chai latte everrrr

Bits of the NYU campus look like Europe

Steph and I walked the Brooklyn Bridge to grab some pizza.. because of course we would! Haha

Tiny view of the Statue of Liberty off to the left, can you see it??

The line at Grimaldi's was down the block but we're slaves for a good slice!

It was as good as it looks, man! looking at these is making me hungry..

On St. Patrick's Day we ventured over to 5th Ave for the St. Patrick's Day parade but first, we stopped into St. Patrick's Cathedral to see what that was all about.

Steph lit a candle

There's some beautiful stained glass and arched buttressed ceilings

The parade was awesome but it snowed the entire time, I was very glad not to be the one having to toot my trumpet up 5th as snow pelted me in the face

Men in skirts, hehe :)

We went to defrost and grab a Guinness at an old irish bar where we met some interesting individuals..

This little old lady was the cutest patron by far. She brought corned beef sandwiches wrapped in tinfoil to hand out to people and seemed to be the life of the party, everyone was sad to see her go!

We stopped into FAO Schwartz where I had to get a glimpse of the BIG piano

We ventured into different stores to get out of the cold. Bergdorf's was by far the coolest. There had to be at least 8 different levels and everyone was eager to let you try their products, I was turned on to a $600 bottle of perfume, better get saving!! (not)

Sadly, I've realized by going through all of these pics that I'm horrible at capturing people in photographs. I think this is the only one I took of my mom and sister.. lame, i know!

Bryant Park at night

Central Park

They're my favorites

Turns out there's a castle in Central Park! Ha, who knew?!

Alice in Wonderland statue

We made it over to the Boathouse in Central Park for a lovely lunch of steak and frites, looks like a heart attack on a plate but boy was it delicious!

Grand Central Station

So one night, Steph and I were pretty pooped and laying in bed at the hotel. Our mom kept prodding us to go outside with her to play in the snow. We weren't really having any of it but the next thing we know, she's outside of our window 8 floors below doing snow angels in the park across the street. Guess you had to be there but we laughed hysterically & then quickly grabbed our snow boots to join her outside. The night ended up in an impromptu midnight adventure to Times Square for some ear plugs (don't ask, haha). We were breaking rules and hopping over Subway partitions and finally ended up at the local bar drinking beers. It was memorable.

My mom and I visited the Met, which I had no clue was so huge! Here are some of my favorite pieces:

Finally the sun was out and we grabbed some tea & scones at Alice's Tea Cup, it was delightful

We stood in line at Time Square for tickets to the Newsies and got some great seats! It was a matinee performance so in the meantime we shopped at Macy's and grabbed my first Shake Shack Burger. WOW

Second best meal I've had since being here:

We sat in the second row and watched all of the sweat and spit fly! haha, I think it was my favorite musical

So in case you hadn't noticed, food is huge for me. It can really make or break an experience! We weren't let down at Lombardi's in Little Italy.

More of New York Public Library.

It wouldn't be New York if there wasn't a commotion.

Rockefeller Center

More St. Patrick's Cathedral

Brooklyn Bridge with mom this time.

We ventured over to Staten Island on the ferry and caught a better glimpse of Her Majesty!

Turns out, there isn't much on Staten Island besides some seedy neighborhoods. We did, however, manage to try Enoteca Maria which is a restaurant we'd heard about on the Food Network that has a different "Nonna" or grandmother cooking the food each day.

This was hands down the best meal I've had since being here. It was just a pick off of the Starters menu but we had mussels in the best buttery wine sauce you've ever touched to your lips. We drank wine and reveled in the goodness.

For dessert it was espressos and a blueberry/apple pastry of some sort. I'd go back anytime with anyone who is willing!

On the sketchy streets of Staten Island

Nice views on the ferry ride home

Our hotel was very comfy with a cool view of the Freedom Tower

No shame in her game haha

So after a really nice break with my mom and sis I went back to schoolwork and exams which had me feeling pretty stressed out. A cartwheel was in order.

At the end of the long week a bunch of us nursing students adventured up to Harlem to check out Yankee Stadium. Kevin and I decided that Yankees fans are scary and we don't want any part in that haha. They were yelling cuss words and picking on people in the stands. They played the Red Sox, it was an experience!

The police were out in full force!

The Yankees played on Thursday and I left Friday to visit Scotty J in Bean Town. Bawston. Clam chowda. I had another interesting adventure on Mega Bus, listened to a girl's entire break up story for 4 hours, it was really sad! And then I had arrived! I went walking around in search of a legit irish bar to grab a bowl of clam chowder.

It was sort of a scene out of a movie. I stepped into a whole new world. The waitress served me up an irish beer in a thick Bawston accent and she nicely charged my phone behind the bar as I chatted up some of the locals.

I waited awhile for this supposedly "Grammy-nominated" irish band to finish their Guinness's and strike up some tunes but they were taking their sweet time so I figured it was best that I locate the subway and make my way to Scotty's.

His place was a breath of fresh air from New York. He served up banana pancakes in the morning and I drank tea on the porch listening to the birds chirp and Bon Iver.

Scott was the ultimate tour guide and showed me around the Boston Library, the Massachusetts State House, Faneuil Hall, Harvard Square, Boston Common, etc.

We went to the top of Prudential Tower to see some great views of Boston and sip some Prosecco. It was very fancy pants. There was a jazz pianist. Come on!

The people of Boston were rallying all over the place that weekend.

Scott showed me Mike's Pastry in Little Italy which was very popular and had every flavor of cannoli: pistachio, Oreo, lemon, strawberry, chocolate chip, etc. No doubt I went Oreo.

Then we had to try some oysters at Neptune's. I don't think Scott was a big fan haha.

Hawwwwwvard

For good luck!

I made him do it

Harvard library

Boston was a really nice break & Scott was so nice for showing me around all weekend. We philosophized and had some nice hang time.

When I got back to New York it was like a whole new world! The sun was finally shining and I had a much less stressful week at school which meant that we could go play in the sunshine. We sat at lunch for hours and laid in the park listening to musicians.