The Blizzard

So it's been an extra busy week in the city.. I had my first "Off-Campus Clinical" on Thursday which was really good but somewhat overwhelming. My group was placed at NYU Langone Hospital and our instructor had us meet there at 6:30am. I was not so stoked about the start time.. I got up at 5:30 and thought I had plenty of time to make the "23 min" commute but being me, I somehow missed the only train that would get me there on time. I ended up running at least 5 blocks in the dark dressed in my scrubs & embarrassingly white shoes. Anyway, an interesting start to a very long day but everything went pretty well. My partner & I had some really great patients to take care of for the day and we survived our first 8-hour shift. This was a nice view on the walk back home:

That night, I met up with some new friends in Hell's Kitchen for a surprise birthday gathering for Sumana. 

Someone in the group ordered a martini and somehow it caught on, they were very very dangerous!

The next day was spent catching up on sleep that I had lost the night before and getting some studying in while watching the first bits of snow fall outside my window :)

Tired of studying alone in my room, I ignored the blizzard warnings and ventured out to veg on a friend's couch. We spent the night eating junk food & watching Hello Dolly!, the campiest musical I had never managed to see before. Barbara Streisand is the real deal! 

We woke up to a winter wonderland.

Snow pups!! I love how everyone's dog has a winter coat.

I eventually made it back to my building to get more studying in (this is the outside mom).

This is the old firehouse building across the street (it now houses a film institute).

That night we went out for ANOTHER birthday celebration, this seems to be a running theme.. All you can eat sushi and sake, this also seems to be a running theme. It was a fun night with tons of new faces, none of which i managed to capture in a photo!

Having New York brunch was the next thing on the agenda. We went to Schiller's which is run by a cute older British gentleman who served me tea in a cute little pot (I was obviously thrilled about the whole experience):

My salmon Eggs Benedict, perfectly runny & delicious.

Welp! Back to studying! Hope you've enjoyed my little update & let me know if you have any burning questions!

Love,

JP

Culture Climbing

One of the main things that drew me to New York was the fact that it's probably the world's greatest cultural hub. I want to make it my mission to explore all of the museums, theatre, dance, art, food, CULTURE I can get my hands on. So I'd been researching online...in between studying of course... & discovered that there are certain days when museums are donation-based for a couple of hours only. This is a huge discount considering typical admission is $25 /person. So I grabbed my friend Kevin Saturday night and we travelled up to the Upper West Side to explore the Guggenheim.

There were no photos allowed but I managed to sneak attack one of my favorites of the night, Degas' Ballerinas.

Kevin had been telling me about the original Halal cart on 53rd & 6th and since we were both freezing and needed sustenance, we headed over to see the men in yellow in action. They open at 7:30 and apparently the line gets pretty outrageous. I opted for the gyro/chicken combo option and ohhhh my goshhhh was it good!!

Basically all you need to know is that the white sauce is heaven and that I like mine with hot sauce.

Basically, I love running errands and going to the grocery store since my walk looks something like this:

On Super Bowl Sunday I met up with my friend Sumana and a group of her friends who have just recently become my "Bachelor" -watching buddies. We checked out a bar in the West Village called Three Sheets. Beyonce made my night but so did the rowdy group of gentleman seated in the background of this picture who never ceased to be entertaining!

Weekend Festivities

Hello again! Fancy meeting you here.. Friday night, I went out with a bunch of my new nursing buddies to cash in on a New Years Party thrown for us Nursing/Dental students. We'd been hearing rumors that the shin-dig was pretty fancy & that in years' past, people showed up in Prom dresses and such. So I had a nice dress all picked out for the occasion and then just hours before, we got an email that said the event would be casual, "people can come in scrubs if they wish". Needless to say, our group showed up pretty underdressed (people did in fact wear Prom dresses) and I'm sad that I didn't take any pictures that adequately depict the funny comparison. 

It was held at the Riverpark restaurant which is owned by Tom Colicchio, a star on the Food Network. There was awesome food, drinks & a view of the sunset.

My buds Kevin & Jose enjoying their free drink tickets!

The place was packed & we all decided we'd be showing up in our fanciest clothing next year.

The crew headed out afterwards to a few bars in the area [with a minor detour to Dunkin Donuts]. Overall a great night with great new peeps!

Night Out

So I went on a little date last night, and if you know me at all, you know that's not really my style. We went and saw the Vaccines play at Terminal 5. Never heard of them? Me neither, but I did recognize this song: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQKjI6395iU

& this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sOq6Rrre7c

Made for a perfect night out in the city! Here are a couple o' pics:

 <3 JP

First Week in the City

Hey Everyone! I've just moved across the country from San Diego to New York City for nursing school, which has literally been a dream come true! I'm not gonna lie and say that I wasn't completely terrified at the idea.. the thought of leaving my family (who are my closest friends and favorite people in the world) had me shivering in my boots. Funny enough, it was 80 degrees when I left San Diego last week. When I arrived at La Guardia on Wednesday, it was an arctic 12 brrrrrr.. I had my entire life packed up into two suitcases, which I managed to lug into a taxi for the first time & venture out into the Big Apple. It was pretty exhilarating to feel completely lost and independent in one of the busiest cities in the world. I can only compare it to my time studying abroad in Paris after my junior year of college. As the cab driver rushed us through tunnels and weaved in and out of traffic, I quizzed him about the city and then squealed a little bit when we were finally able to see the famous skyline. More to come later but let me leave you with some photos of my first week..

I spent my first night at my friend Sumana's, she decorated for me & kindly shared her bed, which was ultimately comfortable!

I spent my first day picking up nursing essentials.. purple scrubs. Not the most flattering of outfits.

I went to a Meet & Greet for all of the nursing students in my program & met a bunch of friendly people.

I went on a huge trek to track down some matzo ball soup I'd had with my mom 7 years ago, got lost on the subway & bumped into Times Square!

Eureka!

Across the street was an amazing gourmet food store that I'd been to before, but this was when I had no idea how to cook & couldn't really appreciate all of the specialty items they kept in stock. Conveniently every item must have cost at least $20 (for a chocolate bar? I don't think so) & so I walked out empty-handed. Although not disappointed. 

Then I went in search of Central Park (since I'm a tourist after all). 

..Which couldn't have been prettier in the freezing temps

Fishing rules for you dad.. better be catching & releasing those mothas!

I moved into my dorm room that weekend, which was an interesting experience to say the least... The place was a total mess, trash on the floor, hair & dirt on every surface, but I managed to spruce it up a tiny bit & am feeling much better now that my stuff is all situated. Thank God I brought a couple of posters so my walls don't feel naked!

Still waiting on my bedspread..

The common space is pretty common.

I ride the subway pretty much everywhere & it's cool to see so many different walks of life

I got to campus way too early on my first day of class so I sat in Washington Square Park to kill some time. I don't know why every place looks so deserted in my pictures because New York is PACKED!

I was listening to my iPod & no joke, "New York State of Mind" came on as it started to snow. I took it as a good sign :)

After lugging my stuff around everywhere for a week, I splurged on a backpack that could fit a tiny person in it.

And I think that's it for now!! I could tell you so much more but I have things to do, places to be, people to see!

Love you with my whole heart!

Jen