“We’ll meet again, Don’t know where,don’t know when, But I know we’ll meet again, some sunny day.” - Vera Lynn

IT'S FINALLY FRIDAY!

Also ha, Boris
Johnson showed up

Unfortunately - my boss didn't come in so my Friday wasn't the greatest in terms of doing anything substantive or really, anything at all.

So I just sat around and just did some reading about SEA...I was trying to learn more for myself.

At lunch, I headed out to coffee and talked to another girl from Canada and just sat around and talked to her. It was a good break - and a good way to learn from someone else and their experiences.

Afterwards, I met up with another friend and we headed over to a small area where there was a bunch of seating by his work and we sat and talked for a while.

That's the president of the General
Assembly!

I got to see a lot of people today at lunch. But also I realized that the sun not only kind of sucks the energy out of me but it actually gave me a huge headache afterwards - maybe I was just dehydrated?

The weather's too hot outside man.

I sat around work til about 5:30 reading more about SEA and reading some academic papers, but most people in the office had left since our big head honcho boss told us that we could all leave for 3pm because there just wasn't work to do. It was nice.

So I headed downstairs to the main area, outside on the patio beside the UN building where we were going to a farewell party for a UN Security Guard who had been working at the UN since he was 18. EIGHTEEN.

That's insane. He was dedicated to his job.

I could tell that everyone loved him.

We had a bunch of food, drinks and great music to both dance to and enjoy! I danced and had fun with

Farewell, farewell

some friends and made some new security officer friends (this is how you do it right?). One of them even ended up giving me a really awesome security pin!

Afterwards, we headed out to my friend's place in Brooklyn where she was having her farewell party on the rooftop, and then afterwards, we headed out to a bar where I didn't end up getting home until 4am.

All in all, a bumping evening to make up for a boring morning/afternoon.

"The twists and turns of your life can be so unexpected, and that's a good thing to learn. " - Christina Baker Kline

Quite an uneventful morning - although my boss was here so it was quite busy, people were running around, meetings were being had...

During one of our meetings, it got cut off by another meeting and my boss asked us to stay so we could discuss afterwards... so I didn't get to go to lunch.

Oh well.

Bomb scare

But I did run into someone from the Canadian Mission, so I walked with them for a bit, got to talk to them and then as I was leaving, ran into ANOTHER person from the Canadian mission so we stood and talked again for a bit and then as I reached the elevators, I ran into another two people from Canada.

It was a good day for me to meet my people I guess (-we're everywhere-)

I headed back up and worked a bit more on my projects before it hit about 5 and I headed back home to grab a sweater and drop off my stuff.

As I was walking towards the usual intern bar...So many of the roads were completely closed off. Completely.

There were about 4 helicopters in the sky.

Outside for Shakespeare

There were at least 8 cop cars that I could see behind the police tape.

There was a fire truck and a paramedic.

There was bomb squad.

And a fruit stand guy who was stuck behind the police tape (trapped forever haha)

The building where the interns go to drink is actually in the same block as the Israeli Mission and apparently there was an unidentified package in front building so... everything was shut down.

At the same time, there was another bomb scare at Times Square and Colombus circle (but the same guy) and I gotta say, this city is scary with its reactions to threats.

At the bar :D

And they get a lot of threats.

I met up with a friend and we decided to go over to another local bar (that does $3 bottles, it's very divey) and waited until the drama died down.

We headed back over to the other bar afterwards and it was empty because of the scare.

Afterwards, we headed over to the park, where there was Shakespeare in the Park (Unfortunately I don't know "As you Like it" quite well so I ended up leaving a bit early.

"If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much." - Donald Rumsfeld

I woke up feeling much better this morning and headed out on a nice walk.

Unfortunately, I was an idiot and forgot my badge and had to walk back home. Thank god I live a walkable distance and didn't have to depend on the public transport system here.

After my kerfuffle, I got to work and some guy in the line behind me told me "you can just go you know, you don't have to wait for the security officer" and I told him I was fine with waiting (I've also been yelled at before for going without the Security Officer's permission) so he pushed me out of the way and went...

Could tell it was going to be a good day.

I got into the office and did some work that I needed to do for a survey project, met up with someone from another department to discuss it and then headed over to the International Peace Institute.

For those who do not know what it is, it is a really cool kind of like think tank organization that hosts a lot of really great events (such as a question and answer period with potential SGs!).

At the International Peace Insitute, they were having a large event on ensuring that No one is Left Behind: A High-Level Dialogue on Migration and Refugees.

It was my first time in the building and it was quite small, I must admit but it was very very nice. It was packed - filled to the brim with so many people I had to stand with about 30 others outside and the room was overflowing!

They had some great lunch for people, sandwiches, pasta and salad... and oddly enough they had bottles of Voss water for people. If you don't know what Voss water is, it's Norwegian water that is about $4. Yeah. A bit ridiculous but, hey, fancy Scandanavian water.

The event started about 25 minutes late (not a UN event unless it starts late right?) and the first speaker blew my mind away. He was the Minister of Agriculture and Environment of FINLAND AND HE WAS SO GOOD. He had a great speech and he got right to the nitty gritty and started telling it as it is, how countries aren't doing enough and how their sovereignty is more important than people's lives, etc. and it was great. I really enjoyed it.

Afterwards, I ran back to work and tried to do as much as possible before I got off work.

It was a fairly uneventful day. I walked back home and actually read quite a few papers on the issue of sexual exploitation and abuse and women peacekeepers for a paper I want to write (if you have any suggestions of any academic work, please throw it my way).

And I pretty much studied all night. woo!

“I can’t remember all the times I told myself to hold on to these moments as they pass.” - Counting Crows

Today was a day full of work and other stuff. We had meetings and I had lots of editing and other to do.

So buttery

The meeting ran very long and so by the end of it, I just needed a break and went for a nice long walk. Very long walk. I went all the way to Bryant park and saw so many people sitting, enjoying their lunches, listening to piano and I even saw a knitting club.

Seriously, Bryant Park is definitely my favourite park in New York.

I walked back to work and did a little bit of reframing and editing. Seriously, it was a pretty dead day at work. Nothing really important happened.

I headed out for my own personal networking meeting really quick and then ran back to work (crying while I ran because I was wearing heels).

As I was finishing up work at the end of the day, my boss came in and told us we were all leaving the UN to go for drinks...

..So we did.

Empire state <3

We headed over to a French restaurant up the street and it was quite lovely. We had sangria, escargot, Croque-monsieur, salmon and tuna tar tar, foie gras and it was simply delicious. It was to celebrate a co-worker's birthday as well as to have a happy belated 14th of July (Bastille day as we call it).

After the lovely dinner, I headed over to my friend's rooftop where we said goodbye to one of the longest staying interns here. It was beautiful as we talked and enjoyed with the background of the Empire State Building.

“There is no ‘Plan B’ because we do not have a ‘Planet B.’ We have to work and galvanize our action.” - unknown

Someone else's photo of Stevie

I woke up at 7am this morning to head to Penn station and drop my visitor off. It was a hot and arduous walk and actually, it is also the exact opposite way of the UN.

I had to carry my dress shirt and blazer because of how scortchingly hot it was outside... I couldn't deal with the heat.

I headed over to work, worked on a few projects and then tried to slip myself into the conference for the international day of Nelson Mandela... where STEVIE WONDER WAS A GUEST AT, but unfortunately, my work came first so I completely missed it. Oh well.

At around 1, I went down to volunteer for the Partnership Exchange which was supporting the Sustainable Development Goals through Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships - Ensuring that No one is Left Behind.

I did some pretty menial stuff at the start, giving out passes, guiding people through the building, bringing through guests. But all in all, it was a pretty great experience, I got to meet other people,

Yeah!

network and I surprisingly learned a lot about Partnerships, businesses and corporations and all the different ideas and thought they have on changing the way business works.

It's been really amazing to see so many business places really embrace and take into heart the SDGs.

Unfortunately, I was called back up to my office during my volunteering, so I had to head back up and work on my project.

After work wasn't too exciting, I headed out to pick up something from a store and I was meant to go watch the Omen with some friends, but it didn't work out, so I ended up going back home, skyping and relaxing!

“The true New Yorker secretly believes that people living anywhere else have to be, in some sense, kidding.” ― John Updike

Today I actually ended up waking early again but not as early as usual. The weather was still brutal (how can anyone deal with 30+ humidity weather for this long??) outside.

I ate a little bit of breakfast, watched one episode of Scrubs and then headed out.

I went for a walk (as usual) but this time I went north instead of my usual South. I headed up all the way to 78th street and on my way there, I walked through a gigantic streetfair on Broadway and found the theatre where Stephen Colbert films (I need to go back and live there. I need to be near this.)!

It was quite a nice walk - would have been nicer if it was cooler but it was nice nonetheless.

I walked into a few food markets as well, where people were selling organic foods/goods and there were so many people out there buying stuff.

Chess tournament

It was my first time walking around Upper West side and, man, is it nice. It's a very residential looking area, but not like the East, since there were many indie cafes and small restaurants. 

People were out with families and dogs... It would probably be a nice place to raise a family. 

I walked over to the Grand Bazaar, where it was in the playground of a school yard and there were vendors selling antique items both in and outside of the school as well as indie food and drink places. It had a really cool garage sale feel.

Haagen Daaz was actually there, giving out and promoting their brand with free ice cream (I swear all they do when I see them is give out free ice cream).

After my nice visit, I walked back down Broadway to meet up with my visitor and down the street,
there were many more stalls and trucks that went up.

One actually caught my attention quite quickly... and I had to grab it. 

I found the Late Night Show!

It was the Economist and they were also giving out free ice cream (This would be my fourth free ice cream of the last 36 hours) ... and free bugs.

Yes, bugs. On top of the ice cream as toppings! They had crickets, meal worms and other bugs that they topped off with.

I could see that everyone in the line was very apprehensive and kind of disgusted... but I was super excited. 

Whereas I could see other people brushing off their toppings, I asked for some of everything.

Ice cream - Does it bug you?

It was quite cool, the Economist had actually ran a story about the perks of eating bugs and how healthy and high they are in protein and how low they are in carbs. They also emit a lot less CO2 than it takes to make cows. They're probably one of the next best snacks there is - that is, if people can get over themselves and eat it. 

Honestly, it tasted like crunchy corn puffs. There was no flavour and it isn't bad for your body.

I walked down all the way to Hell's kitchen and we headed over to Hell's Kitchen Flea market. It was kind of smaller than I thought it would initially be and I felt really bad for the vendors who had to stand outside in the heat to sell their items. At a few points, I touched the jewellery and metal and they were selling and it was on fire-burning hot. I couldn't imagine sitting there all day, even with the onnings up.

It was indeed a vintage flea market, there were items and things everywhere being sold - from old army medals to jewellery, to African inspired art work.

It was quite nice.

Afterwards, we decided that we needed a bit of a break from sightseeing and we went shopping. Yes. I went shopping. I wasn't huge on it, but because she had seen that there were sales all over the city, she wanted to check it out. We headed over to a few stores where I made some work purchases (stuff for work - and only got 3 things) and surprisingly, I got pretty much almost 80% off some stuff. literally. For sale items were dropped down to a low price and then some stores were doing 30-60% off the lowest sale price.

I asked a sales associate about it because I had not seen stuff be sold for 60% off the lowest price and

I love food.

she told me that around 4th of July, a lot of stuff starts going on sale as they have to get rid of that season's clothes to make room for next season's. They sell stuff for as low as possible around this time and the only other time they bring up the discount that high is around Christmas time!

Good timing for me, damn. 

After a long day of walking around for stuff, we headed over to Baohaus, a Taiwanese place that sold Taiwanese buns and homemade taro fries. 

It was pretty delicious. 

Afterwards, because we were still hungry and because I felt like every person who ever visited New York should eat at Shakeshack.

So we headed over to the one in Madison Square Park, which didn't have too long a line up and sat down. 

I got a normal burger and it was delicious. Their fries were crispy and their burger was soft and good.

Baohaus baos

As we sat down, I was told more information about the area. Such as this: The Flatiron building was one of the first original skyscrapers! It was built in classic art deco style with beautiful carvings on the outside of the building. It was built as a triangle instead of a square so people were really scared that it would blow over. Silly 20th century people.

The building with the clock tower on the east side of the Flatiron building used to be decorated just as beautifully as the Flatiron. But then it went through renovation and they stripped the building of all the carvings and decoration. It was a travesty. The clock was actually built to be based off the church clock towers in Italy. The building used to be offices but now it was a building used as a hotel. On the top floor, where the windows and the roof is, people rent it out (and it's ridiculously expensive).

The building beside it was meant to be about twice the size as it was today. Unfortunately, as they were building it up, halfway through the construction... the stockmarket crashed. And they had to stop building. Whoops.

I also found out a bit more about the Rockefellers! 

So (and I am paraphrasing so bear with me), the original Rockefellers founded what is now known today as standard oil. Around the time that they founded this, they were using this oil for gas lamps... but you know what else was becoming popular? The modern automotive... which ran on? That's right, GAS! 

The Rockefellers made it big. They had a great product and great timing to go along with it. 

JD Rockefeller Junior was even better. He was a huge capitalist but a great philanthropist at the same time. During the building of 30 Rock, the depression hit, and instead of pulling his money out like everyone else did, from what I heard, he single handedly provided almost 75,000 jobs - even though his family estate had lost HALF their wealth. Insane.

He helped fuel the economy again.

Afterwards, we headed home and went straight to bed.

"Ten kilometers away, the lights of New York glowed on the skyline like a dawn frozen in the act of breaking." -Ci Arthur C. Clarke

Today was a good day to sleep in - Right?

Wrong. It was so humid and disgusting out that I was sweating when I woke up.

City of Water day!

I got up and ready for the day and started the day off by watching a documentary on sexual assault on campuses. It was called the Hunting Ground and it was quite depressing to read about Universities and their response to sexual assault and rape.

Probably not the best way to start off a day but quite informative way to start it off.

On the island!

I headed out and walked down past Madison Square Park, walked around in it, past Union Square Market, walked around it, all the way down close to Battery Park where I waited for someone to catch a boat to Governor's Island!

Governor's Island is quite nice, it is a small, very walkable island with a beautiful park, lots of pretty

buildings, a great area for concerts and a field of hammocks.

Yes, a field of hammocks. It is quite cool.

New York Skyline from Gov. Island!

There was even a jail house that was open for everyone to go and explore and learn a bit of the history behind it.

What I went for that day though was an event called "City of Water" where they were doing a bunch crafts and other stuff. We got there pretty late, but still got the gist of everything and just walked around the island.

of water related activities all over the island, including cardboard boat races,

yummy :D

There were events everywhere on every corner and it was cute seeing all the kids run around.

I gotta say, for everyone who says that you should take the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of liberty, they are wrong.

Go to Governor's Island, where there is a perfect and beautiful view of the statue (and you aren't moving), Manhattan and all the area around it. It is gorgeous-even though it did rain a lot.

So good

We hung out there for a while, and then tried to catch the ferry (I say tried because it is so difficult to first try - everyone is trying to get onto the ferry). We couldn't, so we stood in the rain and waited for the next one.

actually get it on

Afterwards, we headed over to a Chinese restaurant, where we ordered some wonton and duck noodle soup and fried noodles.

For my first time trying Chinese food in Chinatown, it was pretty good.

Afterwards, I headed home (it was quite late) and watched another documentary about North Korea (I am actually the coolest person) and some episodes of Scrubs before calling it a day and heading to bed.