Had fun at BTSR! Although I had a rough start, running around getting errands done and going through multiple delays thanks to some rain clouds in ATL, but everything else went very smoothly. Poor Melissa had missed her flight but I’m glad she made it in the end. We even saw our own National Board’s Lynda do the hustle! I’m sure that show is going to haunt her for the rest of her life!
Accomplished a lot of things during my trip, but I guess it was more of a Northeast EATING and shopping tour …there are a few highlights
NJ:
~Paid $65 for a taxi from the airport to the hotel at 1:30 am
~Ate a Rutgers sandwich…chicken nuggets, fries, lettuce, tomatoes & mayo stuffed in bread
~Stayed awake during the meetings…thank goodness for those stinging eye drops!
~Trying to put Melissa’s Bluetooth on without looking silly…” what minutes?? It’s the weekend!”
~Saw a girl looking silly trying to use Melissa’s Bluetooth
~Went to White Castle where a bunch of “Kumar’s” worked and ate… I guess we were the “Harold’s”!
~Packed 4 Norcal girls and 3 SE girls in one car
~Danced to Indian music at the Hooka club
~Got ripped off by the cab driver to the train station…was it really $12 for a five minute drive?
~Rode the NJ Transit with Melissa and our MSU roomies towards NYC
NYC:
~Met up with my mom at Pen Station
~Got box seats for Hairspray! Cute show and definitely worth seeing!!
~Got my eyelash perm for $25 in Chinatown…what they say is true, everything is cheaper in Chinatown
~Got the “Asian discount” for my perm since the lady though I was Chinese…”that your daughter? Why she Chinese?”...must have looked Chinese that day
~Ate “authentic” Chinese food…the Asian customers were served tea while the Anglo customers were given water…our table had tea…I guess I was Asian enough to account for my mom!
~Hounded by not-so-discrete solicitors for fake bags around every corner...no way these businesses can profit from selling hair trinkets for $2….it’s a front!
~Convinced my mom to NOT stand outside of the Today and GMA at 7 am
~Got asked for directions a few times….like I really know where I’m going but gave them directions anyways…hope they got where they wanted to go!!
~Was a good Samaritan by helping a Japanese lady trying to buy metro tickets…oddly, I was speaking to her in Japanese and she responds in english…hey, it worked!
~Ate at the café in Rockefeller Center by the statue. I’m totally in a few pictures stuffing my face from people taking pictures from the upper level!
~Stocked up on a few Japanese items…yes that is a Japanese credit card and no, my mom did not steal it from some Japanese dude
~Had cheesecake from that restaurant Diddy made “Da Band” fetch cake from…It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t impressive …
~Was spoken to in Spanish…must have looked Hispanic that day
~Hit 5th Avenue and linger all day only to have the guards lock the doors at Gucci as we are walking up…”the embossed leather…I can almost see it!!”
~Almost fell down the stairs at one of the stores...
~Trying to convince a woman that paying $45 for an “authentic LV” is unrealistic…”please, I think plastic that wraps the straps are at least $75”
~Made a few purchases and added some more on my wish list….
DC:
~Took my first Amtrack ride to DC….wasn’t as scary as I thought, although it doesn’t compare to a Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train).
~Saw papa panda at the zoo…the baby was just born a few weeks ago!
~Almost fainted from heat stroke…..twice!
~Saw the WWII & FDR memorial…I tried to listen in on a Japanese tour to learn more about the memorials but it was too hot for me to concentrate!
~Visited Arlington and Georgetown….to shop!
~Possibly gotten food poisoning from a “posh” restaurant in DC
~Realized that merchandise at H&M differ from NYC and DC….I knew I should have gotten it in NYC!
TPA:
~Sat through my first “rock” concert with EW&F and Chicago…interesting to observe inebriated older individuals trying to balance and dance at the same time
~Had a hard time seeing the purpose of the rock and roll sign…Chicago maybe, but EW&F is totally disco!
~Sympathized with the concessioning people…We all dislike Armark
~Alcohol at venues is not the best idea…you miss out on the concert during multiple drink and bathroom runs
~Caught my mom trying to dance….what I would call the “double door knocking” dance to EW&F
~Never seen so many air drums in my life
~Secretly wanted to cheer for the horn section…”Kiss our brass”
~Saw a number of women reminiscing their youth by dressing the part…heavy eyeliner, cut up old tour shirt with rhinestone studded stretch pants with peak-a-boo circles down the leg, but the spider veins was a bit too much …and that was the lady next to me!
~Temporarily gotten lost…on Orient Ave!
~Ate “authentic” Greek food in Tarpin Springs
~Saw the manatees at Homossasa
~Got back to Gainesville and crashed for two days!
Hope everyone had a fun summer too! Can’t wait to get the semester started!
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