Week Three

A beautiful start to February

Me and Serena's frozen yogurt date!

After recovering from my cold, I was ready to get back to the normal pace of life! 

On Tuesday night, me and a girl from the House of Barton (King's has a housing system which divides everyone into different houses) went to Brooklyn to teach this community of men and women from Senegal, Africa how to read and write in English. Every house chooses something different for their "Urban Impact" and so this semester our house chose to partner with an organization in reaching and serving this particular community in New York. I got to work with a woman named Lati who was so anxious to learn and had already made a lot of progress since starting the program a few months ago. I'm really excited to be a part of something like this while I'm here and will definitely look forward to Tuesday nights! 

On Wednesday night, I went out to dinner with a guy who goes to MIT but is interning at a hedge fund in the city. We met for dinner before he caught the boat back to his home in Rumsom, NJ. It was a nice time and talking to him really made me want to visit Boston! It sounds like a neat place. Later that night I met up with Mary Katherine Vigness (Tridelt who just graduated from Texas and is now working in NY) and we went to get coffee at Le Bilboquet just down the street. The music was loud and there were tons of people packed into a small room, but it was fun and really nice to see a familiar face! 

On Thursday night, me and Chris Bright (Bill Bright's grandson!) went to dinner and a show. I really wanted to see In the Heights, so we put our names in the lottery, but didn't get picked, so we headed over to the theatre where Billy Elliot was showing and did the "student rush", where we got $40 tickets that would normally cost $125. Chris is a broadway expert, so it was great to have him there to show me how to take advantage of finding cheap broadway tickets for students! I absolutely loved Billy Elliot and will highly recommend it to anyone I talk to. It had lots of ballet and tap dancing and the boy who played the main character was absolutely amazing! 

On Friday night, me and Serena had a date and went to an Italian restaurant for dinner and then I took her to get frozen yogurt at Bloomingdale's, since she had never had it before. Although it was delicious, we were both pretty full from dinner and neither of us could eat all of ours. I have made it one of my goals while being here to find the best cupcake, banana pudding, coffee, and frozen yogurt. So far, I have found that the best cupcake is at Sugar Sweet Sunshine, the best banana pudding is at Magnolia Bakery, the best frozen yogurt is at Bloomingdale's 40 carrots cafe, and the best coffee I've had was my latte at Le Pain Quotidien. All of these could easily change as I continue my quest, but for now these would be my current favorites. 

Yesterday was a lot of fun. First, I went to the Colony Club with Rachel to work out. Then, she took me to get my first facial and to get my hair done. She asked me if I wouldn't mind doing this favor for her, as she needed to get video footage for her art show. Are you kidding me? Getting pampered is NOT a favor. :) The facial felt amazing and getting my hair washed and styled was also a treat. We met up with the rest of the family for lunch at a delicious Italian restaurant and then the rest of the afternoon we did some errands and hung out at the apartment. Last night I met a girl named Tiffany at a coffee shop in Greenwich Village called Esperanto Cafe and we talked and did some reading for our Old Testament class. By the time we got there it was almost 10, and so I ended up not getting back to the apartment until close to 1. I didn't even realize how late it was since the place was packed with people and we were having such a good time! 

This morning I went to a Unitarian church with a girl from King's. We have to attend a church service different from what we are used to for our Foundations class and then write a paper on our experience as well as their basic theology. It was an interesting experience, but I'm glad we have an assignment that gets us out of our comfort zones and allows us to interact with other expressions. Afterwards we went to the Le Pain Quotidien on 77th street for brunch. It was exciting to experience the communal tables with someone this time! Kristin and I had a great time talking and she is definitely someone I see myself getting to know better. After brunch we stopped at this thrift store close by and I found this vintage button down, long sleeve dress for $14! It was a must. Walking back to the apartment was wonderful as the weather is absolutely gorgeous today. It is 50 degrees and sunny! I wish it would stay this way the rest of the week, but I'm afraid it will be back to normal tomorrow....

I'm meeting Mary Katherine at the 6 p.m. Redeemer service tonight and then I think we may go somewhere to watch the super bowl afterwards! I can't believe I've already been here for over 3 weeks! Looking forward to another cold, but exciting week!