Far Rockaway

Sunday was a gorgeous day and since they had mainly gotten a lot of rain up until I visited my cousin decided we should do something outside. Her friends wanted to go boating in Central Park, so we took the subway there only to discover that it would be an hour and a half wait and she couldn't get in touch with her friends (the subway was still not fixed and it took them 2 hours to use it). She decided we should go to the beach. I was skeptical...a beach in New York-cold water, not fun. We took the long hour or more trip on the subway to Far Rockaway and yes it is far away. My cousin loved the beach despite the fact that it was deserted except for an orthodox Jewish family and a few others and it was cold with broken glass embedded in the sand. We spread out our blanket and laid down only to discover the harsh wind blowing sand in our face. We moved closer the water's edge and tried again. I laid down and wrapped myself up in a towel and dozed off in an attempt to avoid freezing. My cousin stripped down to her bikini and tried to get a tan. After awhile I was glad my cousin wanted to leave this barren beach. We packed up and headed for the subway. We decided to get off at Canal St. and made our way past the street vendors with their suitcases full of knock off purses and arms piled high with fake Rolexs. All of these measures made it easier for them to pack up and move if the police decided to come through. We made our way to Chinatown and ended up eating at a dumpling house. Then we continued to Nolita (Little Italy) and then wandered through some area (I still don't know what part of town) to a subway and went home. We tried to finish the rest of the movie...but it was no good and passed out instead.

In the morning I woke up and got ready for my second meeting, this one was at 1pm. I went downtown on the subway...no way was I walking that far in business clothes and spent most of the morning wandering around looking at different buildings, stores, etc. I got food and ate at a small park and listened to investment bankers from Credit Suisse talk about this wedding they were going to attend. I then made my way to Starbucks and met an alum who happened to be only 26 and helped me realize what I ultimately wanted to do with my life. She was extremely helpful and encouraged me to continue improving my foreign language skills. I then wandered around a bit more and took the subway back uptown and then went shopping.

I met my cousin at dinner and her friend suggested we go to a movie downtown at a small park. We went by Chelsea first in search of some brownie shop, which happened to be closed so we went to s wine store instead. They were filming something at this wine store so it was closed, but the clerk let us in as long as we left very soon. I heard the producer complaining about the customers in the store and how he wanted them out so he could film. We left, hopped on the subway and wandered through downtown looking for some mysterious park among the tall buildings. Well, you couldn't see the park from the street, it was up an escalator from the street and right next to the Hudson. We met this boy my cousin's friend had been on a date with and snuggled against the cold breeze off the Hudson and watched a Marilyn Monroe movie. at the movie's conclusion we left and fell asleep back at my cousin's.

The next morning I woke up and my eyes were red and hurt....wonderful. I had planned on going to the Met, but I didn't feel like going that far away if my eyes were going to hurt all day. I decided to stay nearby and went shopping, which was fine minus the money I spent, until I was on 5th and 52nd and it started raining and I had no umbrella. I ran into H & M, probably the cheapest store on 5th and bought an umbrella. I went outside and it had stopped raining...oh well. I headed back to my cousin's, changed for my final meeting and then headed east in search of the office. This meeting was in a very large building with a lot of security. I had to have my bag scanned through an x-ray machine and tagged, and then go to the receptionist who called the person I was supposed to be meeting, then print me off a badge, so I could have security let me through a turn still to take a particular elevator to her floor, where she had to let me in the glass door. I talked with her for a bit, learned very little and left my new umbrella in her office...waste of time.

After leaving the office I went back to my cousin's and got ready for my last NYC night. We went to this place in Nolita, Il Piccolo Bufalo, which has amazing homemade sangria, except it's 20 dollars a pitcher. We finished the pitcher and were a tad bit drunk afterward. We went to Eileen's dessert cafe for cheesecake and had the cutest little cheesecakes outside. We walked through Soho to the subway and went to Alpha, a Japanese place with amazing drinks near her place. I got an Alphatini and she got a pom martini. Both amazing. We sipped our cocktails, tipped the bartender and proceeded to go back to her place. Watched the "Good Girl"-which is incredibly demented and I could never see how anyone could do that to other people.

The next morning I had breakfast, said good-bye, and went to the New Yorker to get picked up by the shuttle. The ride to the airport was sad, but as I said good-bye to New York I kept thinking-next summer I'll be here again.