It's A New Day, A New Life...And I'm Feeling..Good

The title refers to a wonderful Michael Buble song. That is how I now feel about New York. The reason why it is hard adjusting is, because, let's see-- I lived 18 years in Alabama and 3 and a half years in Texas. So culture shock should be inevitable I suppose...

Anyways I had a great day today. I ate lunch at NBC at 30 Rock. We had the opportunity to meet with an executive who is in charge of all program content and censoring for live shows, including SNL. It was so interesting to meet with him and hear his advice. He said he has a stack of resumes from Yale and Harvard on his desk, but he would rather hire an intern he knows he can count on or someone who knows the business and has a good recommendation. This was good news!

I also learned at work that I may get to go on set for the new movie Focus is shooting in New York called Another Night. It is starring, drum roll please, ROBERT DE NIRO. I don't know how much more I can say, but let's just say I'm excited. Also starring in the movie: Paul Dano, known for Little Miss Sunshine. If I get to go on set, it will be in March when they start shooting.

Also, I just had a visit from my friend Andrea last weekend. We went to Little Italy for dinner at a place called Angelo's which was delicious! I ordered the gnocchi. YUM.

The rest of this blog post will be like a picture book. Enjoy!

On Saturday, we took a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was so wonderful. My favorite was of course, Van Gogh.

We walked by Central Park, which is still a Winter Wonderland.

Then Anthony showed us an adorable, antique bookshop.

Followed by eating some NY Pizza.

On Sunday we saw the matinee performance of CHICAGO! Such an amazing cast and talent! Oh so scandalous. But oh so good. The day after we saw the show I promptly rewatched the movie and sang all of the songs. Because, yes, I am a Broadway show fanatic. Next on the agenda: Phantom, Wicked, and Daniel Radcliffe's show called "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."

NYC: Great for A Month...

I can only explain my absence of writing on the blog as a natural result of my current distaste of New York. What?! Yes. Distaste and readiness to leave. If I could take the wonderful restaurants, museums, Focus Features, and my classmates with me then it would be great. The rest of it-- the cold, the dirty streets, the foul odors in the subways, the general indifference of the people in this city-- can stay. Am I being a bit dramatic? Well, yes...but all of those facts are true. I am the kind of person who embraces living in a different city every six months. I prefer independent travel, being out of my comfort zone and I love learning the culture of a new city.

However, this is the first instance in my life where I feel trapped by a city. I look out the window every morning, see Manhattan, and grimace. The city is a never-ending labyrinth of GO GO GO that is fun for a month, but once you want to settle down and take a breath, it won't let you. I feel as if I live in a hotel. I do, kind of. I can't take the trash out or do laundry in my pajamas because you have to go out into public areas to do these things. You can't walk outside and smell fresh air. You smell smog. You cannot walk to a grocery store where I live. You have to take a subway, which means only buying things you can carry back. This type of lifestyle seems cool, trendy and efficient for about a month but then it really becomes a chore.

The things that are supposed to be simple become chores that require extra preparation. Because of this, I am feeling drained, in much need of a southern city for a week. Is this sad? I am not the type to become "homesick." Interestingly, I am more homesick here than I ever was during my semester in Europe. Europe is a different story. Check out "KA in Europe" to see my never ending appreciation of my experiences there.

YES, I know this is an opportunity of a lifetime. YES I am appreciative and I am loving "parts" of living here. But all in all, come May 4 I will be ready to say goodbye to the Big Apple. And come April 16 I will be ready for a break with my sister in France for a week for Easter.

Okay, so now you get it. I am not a NEW YORKA okay?? I think I'm going to like LA and the surrounding beaches MUCH better. We shall see.

Next on my blogging agenda, the weekend visit of my friend Andrea. Stay tuned.

Catching Up From Last Week

I'm posting what happened last weekend so I can catch up to the present. Here is what I wrote last week:

Hi!

On Saturday we had a field trip to the Museum of the Moving Image. This basically means we went to a movie museum and it was AWESOME. They have so many artifacts of film equipment-- some even dating back to the 1800s.

They have cameras, early sound recording devices, film, lighting instruments, and televisions.

They had a Zoetrope, which is a simple spinning device that gives the illusion of a moving picture.

They also had Kinetoscopes, which are large boxes that one can look into and watch a small film in. In order to watch the film, one has to crank a wheel on the side of the box.

I got to dub my voice on a clip of The Wizard of Oz and watch the movie with Judy Garland using my voice. It was pretty cool. However, I'll leave the acting to her. My voice is definitely not as pleasant as hers! After the museum, we went to lunch with our teacher, Joe. We went to a really great, low key Greek place. The chicken souvlaki and tzaziki sauce was out of this world. (Almost as good as it was in Athens but not quite).

On Sunday I went to the Russian Tea Room for lunch to take advantage of Restaurant Week. Restaurant Week happens once a year in NYC for the purpose of letting normal people get to try food at crazy expensive restaurants. For instance, at this place a cup of coffee costs $8. On their restaurant week menu, one could order three courses for $24. So we took advantage of the fixed menu! For an appetizer I had a blinchki, which is like a crepe, filled with goat cheese and mushrooms with a balsamic reduction. For the main course I had baked salmon in a fluffy pastry with cream sauce.

Lastly, for dessert, I ordered the chocolate mousse which had a raspberry sauce in the center. It was definitely a gourmet meal! And for a great price.

Okay, I have a confession to make. I intended on going to this church called Redeemer on Sunday that people from Baylor recommended. They had a night service at 5:45. We got done with lunch around 2:30. I had time to kill in Manhattan and everyone else went back home so I went by myself to wander around Times Square. I am entranced by anything to do with Broadway so I thought, why not.

I walked up and down 7th Avenue and saw the Box Office for The Lion King, Memphis, Phantom, etc. and then I chanced upon the box office for American Idiot, the musical that has all of Green Day's music.

I am not particularly a huge Green Day fan but my friend Mallory told me that it was a pretty cool show and that I would like it. So I wandered in and asked if they had any student rush tickets for later that night. The guy said, well we have some for right now. I was like, oh okay sure! So I literally wandered in the box office, bought a cheap ticket, and was seated in the 4th row. The music was phenomenal. I'm not a huge Green Day fan, but the show was fantastic. It was a rock show but with highly stylized musical numbers. Pretty Awesome.

Best part was that the lead singer of Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong, was in it. He was absolutely amazing live. I was star srtuck.