It is an absolutely beautiful day here-- I am awake, alert, and in a really great mood (and I haven't even had my coffee yet).
Not too much to report from the last few days, but I do have pictures, and that's always fun.
MONDAY
Internship day, and then I met up with my long-time family friend, Elizabeth Honeycutt for dinner. She and her boyfriend live right around the corner from where I work, and they introduced me to this wonderful Thai restaurant called Bennie's.
That's it!
TUESDAY
There aren't really enough words to express how it felt to be here in New York on September 11th. I already posted a little something on my Facebook about this, but I will reiterate a bit here as well. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning (sunny, with a little fall-like smell to the air), and I decided to take my coffee down to the promenade to sit and think and stare out across the water at the beauty that is the Manhattan skyline.
I've wandered down there several times, but this morning, I was amazed not only of how many people were on the promenade, but also of how incredibly quiet and still everything seemed. I feel like I haven't sat in silence like that in so long...
This wonderful time allowed me to remind myself of how blessed I am and how although this day marks a tragedy for our nation, it is also a symbol of how people come together even through pain. We are much more amazing than we give ourselves credit for sometimes.
Now, for a little story-time:
After this perfect start to my day, I decided to take the train over to the New York Public Library to see if I could find a book to suit my fancy. When I hopped on the subway, it was extremely quiet... I was starting to think that it was going to be like that all day...
...and then, a man burst through one of the emergency exit doors, talking nonstop about some book that he had just published (and was clearly trying to sell to all of us). The book is called "Don't Beat Your Children, Or They'll Turn Out Like Me". Sounds great, right? And he kept quoting things from it.. like, "I send my kids to school so they learn to steal.. 'cause that's the American way" or "How do you know if you're in a bad neighborhood? There are a lot of churches".
Yeah. I'm pretty sure he was trying to show off some jokes of his, but none of them were really funny, and they all just sort of made us a little bit uncomfortable.
And, about two minutes into his little spiel, another man burst through the other emergency exit door, blowing this little horn and screaming "THE MESSIAH IS COMING! THE MESSIAH IS COMING!"
It was insane. Pure insanity. I felt like my brain was going to explode from overstimulation after coming from such a quiet, peaceful, reflective morning. I really wish I'd taken a video or something.
While all of this is happening, the woman sitting directly to my right made eye contact with me... and I kid you not... at literally the exact same moment, we both smiled, shook our heads, and said "Only in New York".
That's it :). Sorry if that story was incredibly boring. I just didn't want to forget about it, so I figured, what better place to write it down than my blog? Thanks for indulging me.
Tuesday night, I wandered back down to the promenade to look at the skyline again. Every September 11th, they turn on these beautiful lights to symbolize the twin towers. I wish I could have taken a picture to show you how far the lights traveled up into the sky.. it was amazing.
And then, I made my way back to Mona's for some more wonderful, traditional jazz. This time, I brought Josh along with me! I think I've got him hooked as well.
It is so easy to lose track of time in there... we didn't even leave until close to 2 a.m., and I think we could have stayed longer.
Side-note: When we left for Mona's at 11:00p.m., there was a man in the subway playing the guitar... and he was literally just sweeping across the same three notes. Over. And over. And over. Again.
When we came back through the subway TWO HOURS LATER, that man was sitting in the exact same spot. Playing the exact same three notes. Over. And over. And over. Ahhhh it was so insaneeee.
I was impressed by his dedication to those three notes, though.
WEDNESDAY
Internship. (Everyone was in a cranky mood for some reason... I had to literally go buy a huge bag of mini Milky Way bars for the boss, because he apparently "needed chocolate". And "quickly"... I didn't know what that meant, but I decided not to ask. Hahaha.)
Then, I made my way down to Times Square to meet up with my fellow Belmont Easters.
I am not joking when I say that my assignment for class last night was to see "Once", the musical, on Broadway.
And it was so wonderful! After seeing the movie, I wasn't sure as to how it would translate on the stage, but I was definitely impressed. It truly was "all about the music", and the songs were performed flawlessly. Just wonderful. Ahh I love shows.
After sitting in a dark theater, engulfed in lovely music, it was a bit overwhelming to step back out into the chaotic lights and insane amounts of humans gathered in Times Square.
It had been a long day. We said our "goodbyes" to the city and took the train back to Brooklyn to go to sleep.
TODAY
I have a lot of work to do! My lovely mother is coming to visit me tomorrow (yayy), and I'm trying to clean, do laundry, and work on all of my homework so that I don't have to worry about it while she's here.
But first, I'm about to walk down to DUMBO, because Jeni's Ice Cream is HERE. In New York. And I mean THE Jeni. And she is driving a cute, little truck and passing out FREE scoops. Anyone in Nashville- you know why I'm excited.
I hope everyone has a lovely day :). I will update after my mom and I have all of our adventures this weekend.
<3
Nat
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