How Do You Get To Carnegie Hall?

One answer is practice, practice, practice. The other is working for a university that holds it's two graduation ceremonies at the hall. I spent about nine hours in Carnegie yesterday and could have wandered around all day. It's absolutely breathtaking. There are also pieces of memorabilia and compositions in their author's own hand lining the walls from Beethoven to Mahler to John Adams. I was in absolute awe.

Getting there was interesting. we crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and then drove through Manhattan. On the way back, I discovered a Junior's in Brooklyn. If you haven't heard my mom or I rave about this place yet, it's been the best cheesecake we can find in NY. It's nice and creamy and they use a spongecake crust instead of graham cracker. It's AMAZING.

Monday we had a cook-out for the residents. No matter where you go, you can guarantee that food will bring out the masses. It's a res life tradition all over. I met a few more members of the student staff, so that was nice. They all keep telling me they need to take me out to see the city, so I'm excited.

Sunday I didn't do much of anything. I spent a few hours in the big, comfy bed at my parent's hotel room after they left for the airport and then headed back to Brooklyn. That night I went up to Atlantic Ave with Amanda, the other intern, so we could pick up a few things from Target and grab dinner. We found a great little Mediterranean restaurant right near there. Amanda is from South Dakota and has a slight accent. She also says "you know" a lot more than I'm used to. She seems nice though.

Saturday was a trip to New Jersey to visit the extended family. It was nice to finally put faces to all the people my Nana talks about. It's really strange that part of a family that I've never met acts so much like the side I do know. I guess it's a big family thing. They were all really nice and it's really easy to get there and back by the trains. Hopefully I'll be seeing a lot of them while I'm here.

Friday was my first day of work. I basically went through the residence life website and made notes on it. Then we had a birthday lunch that lasted about two hours. Then I was done. Nice and simple. Afterwards, mom and dad and I went to eat at a little Chinese restaurant called Ollie's and then wandered around Time Square. With it being a holiday weekend and the middle of Fleet Week, it was really crowded.

Thursday was shopping day. We went to Atlantic Ave to the Target and then Red Hook to the Ikea. I absolutely love Ikea. I could spend a whole day (and way too much money) there. Then, we just ordered a pizza to be delivered to the apartment and spent a night in.

I was so glad to have my parents with me. It made moving in and getting settled a much easier process than it would have been originally. I don't know what I would have done without them.

By the way... if you want to mail anything to me, here's the address:

811 New York Ave Rm 806

Brooklyn, NY 11203

Peace!