Santa sighting, Christmas shopping, and paper writing

It's Christmastime in New York City!

The most wonderful time of the yearrrrr.

The moment it hit December 1st (well, actually, the moment Thanksgiving ended), the trees and lights went up.

You can't walk down the street without running into a "Christmas tree farm" (aka: a whole bunch of trees propped up on the sidewalk).

Our lobby at EHS is festive.

And I even found Santa wandering around Times Square like a little, lost puppy.

It was impossible for me to not get into the Christmas spirit, what with all of the decorations and the fact that the temperature has mostly been below 35 degrees every single day...

Therefore, this past week, I've been doing a lot of Christmas shopping!

They moved the location of the Brooklyn Flea from the water in Williamsburg to this awesome, old bank:

I wandered around this building for probably 2 hours straight. And bought one thing. (For myself. Oops).

Don't worry! I did end up finding things for others, after wandering around all over various areas of New York City.

And I heard some of the most amazing subway musicians this past weekend. I don't know what was going on, but they were all incredible.

Like these guys:

And while in the subway, I also ran across this disturbing scene:

That right there is an entire outfit. I mean, that is a pair of shoes, a pair of slacks, and a black dress shirt. And I believe a wallet somewhere in there, too. An entire outfit. I don't even want to know.

On Saturday, I went to this awesome thing called the Brooklyn Bazaar with a whole slew of Belmont Easters.

I walked around and looked at neat, artsy things created by Brooklynites.

And I sucked down the most delicious raspberry lemonade from Lizzmonade.

(Caught her in the act of makin' my drank).

And we all were serenaded by some fantastic up-and-coming Brooklyn rappers, who taught us that they were "wit it" (with it), and that "drugs are like that". (No idea. Don't ask me).

The rest of the week has been filled with interning, working on Christmas music for a show I have coming up, going to a chili dinner thing put on for all of us here with Belmont East, and a whole lot of this:

SO fun.

I also got a little sickly on Sunday night (thanks to my lovely roommate, Allison, who contracted a little bitty cold). Luckily, I destroyed the cold within twenty four hours thanks to an insane amount of Vitamin C. 

I'm sorry that this was such a whackadoodle post. I didn't even attempt to organize it into anything, so I'll probably look back at this later and realize how confusing it is. Oh well. YOLO.

I'm off to my internship! Then, I believe I will be heading to Mona's tonight to listen to some sweet jazz tunes. 

In exactly one week from tomorrow, I will be packing up and leaving my little room here in Brooklyn forever. I can't even believe it. I really do feel like we all just arrived yesterday. But all is well! I am going to soak up this last week as much as I possibly can. Ah. I just love New York.

<3

Nat

A beautiful day, a Broadway musical, and free ice cream

Happy Thursday from the Big Apple :).

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

And the adventures have begun!

I'M HERE. 

In New York City. 

And this view of the Manhattan skyline is just a mere three blocks from the front steps of my building:

Not even real, right? I keep pinching myself to make sure I'm not dreaming... but unless I have a much higher pain tolerance when I'm asleep than I thought, this whole thing is really happening.

You can't see it in the photo up there, but the Brooklyn Bridge is literally just another two blocks to the right. I'm planning to run across it sometime soon... maybe tomorrow even!

Although, I must say, I have done more walking in these last couple of days than I believe I have in the last couple of months. And when I say walking, I mean more of a light jog. The people in NYC do not simply walk. They always seem to be rushing to get somewhere.. although, I'm pretty sure if I asked some of them where they were going, they wouldn't have anywhere they desperately needed to be. It's just programmed into them to race around. All I have to say is thank goodness I naturally walk semi-quickly, or else I would have been trampled by now.

I'm not complaining whatsoever. I haven't even gone to sign myself up for the free gym membership that we get yet, because I've felt no need to. My feet hate me, but I'm getting a nice, little workout without forcing myself to jog on a treadmill for an hour.

Okay, okay, okay. Let me get back on track! For the whole semester, I'm living in the beautiful neighborhood, Brooklyn Heights... there are so many cute restaurants and shops nearby, and by living in Brooklyn, we avoid a bit of the insane hustle and bustle of Manhattan. It is so incredibly wonderful here.

In particular, I'm living in a student housing facility called St. George. The history of this place is incredible. Built in the late 1800s, it used to be the famous St. George Hotel, which was, at the time, the largest hotel in New York City. It once drew celebrities, athletes, and every presidential hopeful flocking to its many ballrooms, and a part of The Godfather was actually filmed here as well.

The Clark Street Subway is literally ten steps from our front door as well... so that makes it super convenient for when we want to go into Manhattan!

And heerree is my wonderful, little room:

It doesn't look like anything special, but it is so cozy, and it has all of the basic necessities. And it also might not look like I own much of anything, but I literally had to pack my entire life into two suitcases... I have clothes, bedding, and cosmetics. No posters or any of that other fluff. (I guess I'll just have to get some of that while I'm here?).

There are several awesome common areas in the St. George as well, but I really only cared about one thing. The kitchen. And HERE it is:

Ahhh. Look how many stoves and ovens there are! So. many. I could do some cooking damage here. I'll probably have more photos of St. George at other times, but that's all I've got for now.

Since Thursday afternoon, after stumbling out of the taxi with all of my belongings in tow, I have been having the greatest time ever. That afternoon, after settling into my room (which only took 30 minutes), I went exploring around the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood with my fabulous roommate, Allison, and her fabulous boyfriend, Chris. That's when we discovered the awesome view of Manhattan.

Then, we had a meeting with everyone from Belmont East back at the St. George. They just had a little introduction for us, and we were able to meet some Belmont alums who are now working and living in NYC. It was great to hear their stories and ask them questions about the city!

Later in the evening, I ventured out to the East Village with several people. We just explored, barhopped, and people watched for the entire night, and it was a perfect start to my time here. I was lucky enough to even see my very first subway rat... as in, a real rat... rodent... in the subway. Two of them, actually. Perfect. And there have been street musicians and subway musicians galore. And I don't if it's because I've been semi sleep-deprived or what, but surprisingly enough, I haven't heard a bad one yet!

Yesterday, I walked a mile to the Trader Joe's nearby to stock up on some groceries. The walk there was just perfect... the weather has been gorgeous, and it was great to explore the neighborhood some more. However, the walk back was a little bit unpleasant. I only had one bag, but it probably weighed about thirty pounds, which wasn't the greatest thing to try to handle while walking for a mile. I've learned my lesson: walk there, but take the subway back.

I also explored Manhattan yesterday. I took the subway (which I believe I've mostly figured out now) to 5th Avenue, and wandered through all of the shops for about 3 hours or so. Surprisingly, I didn't buy a single thing. It was just fun to be out and about.

And last night, after eating nothing but pizza and bagels thus far, I was craving a nice salad. My friend Josh and I found this great, little organic restaurant a couple blocks from the St. George, called Siggy's Good Food.

Doesn't that look delish? It was.

After that, we had a plan to meet some of the other Belmont students to go see a free, outdoor screening of The Goonies... on the USS Intrepid of course. We made it all the way to Times Square and walked what felt like a million blocks. And it rained. A lot. But that's okay, because we're in New York! Who cares if you have no umbrella and look like a drowned rat? At least, that's my opinion.

But when we got there, the line was superrrr long, so we decided to forgo the whole thing. Instead, we walked a million blocks back to Times Square and decided to feast on some food from the famous restaurant, Shake Shack. I had already eaten my deliciously healthy dinner, but decided to indulge in a shake... I mean, when in Rome...

And it was the most delicious thing I've had in a very long time. Seriously. There were bits of donuts in it, if that tells you anything.

Then, I called it a night. I mean, I've been here two days now, and I feel like I've already been here for a week. Going to bed at 11:30pm on a Friday night in NYC might sound lame, but I wanted to make sure I was able to function, because today I am going to explore the many, many flea markets in NYC.

Sorry for such a long post... I'm pretty sure I could have made this even longer, but I need to go meet some people in Williamsburg at the flea market there. I will update later, though :).

I am already having the time of my life, and I can't believe that this is where I get to spend my days over the next few months. There are many adventures in store for me. Have a superb Saturday!

<3
Nat