Educational Housing Services

Thursday: On Thursday I hung out with Lauren and Tom, didn't do my laundry, and we ended up downstairs in the beautiful Clark lounge at midnight beginning to watch the chick flick Practical Magic on my laptop. The movie and setting are only important in so far as they illustrate what a miracle it was that we made this new friends.

About an hour into the movie a guy named Chris, who had walked across the Brooklyn Bridge with LT and me on the EHS trip the day, before wandered into the room to check his email on one of the computers in the back of the lounge. We ended up inviting him to come watch it with us. Somehow rather than giving him the synopsis of what had happened so far, the four of us started talking about who we were and what we were doing in the city.

In the end the four of us wrapped up our "movie watching" around 3 A.M. to the sounds of the credits playing and Tom grumbling about how he would be too tired to go to the gym before he went to work the next day. We all exchanged phone numbers, and Lauren and I offered that the boys come with us the next day as we visited the Statue of Liberty. Tom had to decline, as he was going to be heading back to Jersey after work. However, awesomely enough, Chris's flexible hours let him agree that he would take Lauren and me up on our offer that he joins us the next day as we went to tourist it up.

Friday: The Statue of Liberty

A picture of Me Chris and Lauren at the statue of Liberty

The next day Lauren, Chris, and I assembled at the crack of noon back at the Clark lounge. We realized that none of us knew how to get to the Statue of Liberty, so we shelved the actual getting there until we'd had some basic human necessities, like breakfast. Caffeine was the first item on our agenda, so the three of us walked the two blocks down to Uncommon Grounds, the trendy artistically-disheveled coffee shop, on Henry Street.

Along the walk to the coffee shop, Chris revealed that he had a bad habit of continuing to walk even if he didn't know what direction to go in. I suppose it's the city-guy's equivalent of not pulling over to ask for directions. Although he was willing to ask the metro-ticket-selling-people for the best way to get there, (the 2/3 to Fulton, and then a hike down to Battery Park) Chris did have a tendency to just walk. A solid part of our adventuring was Lauren and I following a few steps behind Chris trying to judge if he was walking with any sense of direction of where we wanted to be going, and if he wasn't, if his blind walking was going to get us near where we wanted to head.

A photo of Lauren and I on the wharf

But any uncertainty of our walk was totally worth it. On our way to Battery Park we discovered more about an area than I knew could be packed into a very un-planned afternoon excursion. We found a street fair, South Street Historic District, a beautiful view over the river for lunch at the restaurant Sequoia (which was after a civil war ship -- we asked!), a pier devoted to New York's Waterfront helicopter traffic, a zillion historical plaques, and some truly awesome break dancers.

This is us standing right near the Sequoia where we ate lunch. Check out the totally cool tug boat behind us!

Once we got to Battery Park, we were forced to consider the time constraints put on us by the oddly truncated ferry schedule to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Despite my love of Ellis Island, left over from an elementary school sponsored fifth grade trip to NYC, all of our walking sucked up the time we might have used to visit both Ellis Island and the great green lady. A picture of Lauren and I standing on each side of the Statue of Liberty, looking as tall as it does!

Also, and I know this happens in New York City all the time, but this was my first time - we saw a movie being filmed. The Eddie Murphy film "Meet Dave" is due to be released in 2008. We got to see the whole where alien-Eddie lands, and the giant yacht where human-Eddie "rests" between shoots. There was also a giant crowd on the end of a dock that supposedly contained Eddie and co-stars, but all we could see were blurry people.

Saturday: Coney Island Trip

Despite the late night Lauren, Alison, and I had had the night before, we opted to get up early out of bed with hopes that enough people would not do the same. We were signed up on the wait-list for the $5 Coney Island Trip. So we all got up, dragged ourselves out of bed, into some sort of clothing (I want to go on record as saying that I still hadn't done my laundry yet!), and down to the lounge. And as has happened on every EHS trip I've taken so far, the wait-list has not done me wrong. The three of us all got on, and spent the day at the amusement park.

Picture of Kyle, Joel, Alison, Lauren, Erin and I after riding the Water Flume:

It was a great group. About fifteen EHS-ers went, both students and staffers, and ten of us spent the day together -- as together as a group stays at an amusement park / boardwalk / beach which you all have free access to. I was ride-buddies with the staffer Erin and she got me on the famous Cyclone at Astroland twice in a row!

We also did nine million other fun rides and split most of the carnival costs (defraying the price and doubling our experience). Erin was not only a fearless ride...rider....but she also was the only one brave enough to go swimming - despite her lack of bathing suit!!

I think the most fun was either getting soaked riding in the front of the aqua flume (pictured from top to bottom and left to right: R.A. Kyle, Students Joel, Alison, Lauren, R.A. Erin and me). Also particularly notable were the two whole ten-EHSer stints in the bumper cars. But my very favorite ride at Astroland, hands down, is Break Dancer. Somehow I couldn't keep my eyes open for the roller coaster, but spin me around nine million different ways and I will grin so widely that people might mistake my smile for a seceding colony!

A photo of Erin and me at Coney Island after riding the rides.

Instead of coming right back to St.George after the afternoon, I navigated my way up to Lincoln Center (at 66th and Broadway via the 2). There I bought tickets for the ballet that I am going to on Thursday with Meagan B., her friend Rachel, and Antonia. Meag and crew are heading out here (slash convening here) for the weekend and I am looking forward to the excuse to get a heaping helping of culture via the ballet, museums, and routes other than semi-aimlessly walking around the city!

This evening I spent with Lauren. I did my laundry, and we got dinner. Later in the evening we went out for a walk on the Brooklyn Promenade just a few blocks from the St. George, with fellow EHS-ers Laura and Roberta. Then the four of us threw together an impromptu ice cream social down at the nearby ice cream parlor, The Blue Pig.

Finally, and admittedly this fact is mostly in here for my parents' peace of mind, I saw a sign up for part-time help wanted in the Brooklyn Heights Cinema at the corner of Henry and Pineapple. So I rushed right down, got an application, confirmed my references, and dropped off my application in the space of ten minutes. I have my fingers crossed that I can get this job. Clearly, my evenings are mostly (ish) open, and even though she could only start me around $7 an hour, the convenience of working a block away is unbeatable. And I'd get fun and reliable experience - places always have cinemas (the way they always have bookstores). So y'all keep your fingers crossed for me!

Tomorrow Lauren, Ali, and I are taking the Chinatown tour that Erin is leading. I am sure you will all hear from me soon. But in case things are a bit crazy, I miss you guys a horrible amount. And of course, "Happy Fathers' Day" to everyone who deserves it!