"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr

I woke up at a reasonable time today. Eight am to try to get into work at 9am. When I got in, I tried to do my thing, work on my stuff and in general get the job done.

Schnitzel Wednesdays at the Embassy

That is, until a new intern showed up and literally everyone in the office did not know what was going on. Turns out the office that interviewed us and told two of us that we would be the only interns... but hired three. So we got a new intern. We made do with it and I tried to give her as much work as possible.

Other than that, it was a pretty normal day - except! I went over to the German Mission. It was pretty big and imposing, I must say, it was about 23 stories high and half of it was the consulate and the other half was the Mission. As I found out, each diplomat had their own intern so there were (As far as I know) about 20 different interns. That's wild. Some of them have to stay and work on weekends as well so they seem to be also overworked. But the office I was in was pretty cool and there was a lot there!

We headed up to the top floor, the 23rd floor where they had this beautiful restaurant that overlooked much of New York and had some really delicious food. I grabbed some German Schnitzel with salad and potatoes and it was nice. We sat at the unofficial intern table and I got to meet some more of the German interns. Their work is definitely interesting (not that I should or can really talk about it, sorry).

After my nice lunch, I headed over to the card and identification office where they changed the office

The Germans have the best view!

that was on my card (They had originally put OHRM but I work for the EOSG) for me! No hassles or questions, just the way I like it.

Afterwork, my friends and I congregated outside, grabbed some pizza and dinner and walked down to Times Square.  Why? Because we had X-Men pre-screening there! How cool is that? We walked into the theatre and it was HUGE. There were massive amounts of seats and I noticed that the sizes of the drinks here are absolutely massive. I couldn't even believe how big their cups were (yes that is the first thing I noticed when I was there).

Gotta say, the movie was pretty Hollywood, but well done. I enjoyed it a lot and liked that they kept it open for the next few movies. They also had some really clever and funny jokes in it. Worth the watch boys and girls!

Movie screening with some buddies!

Even though I got home "early" I was still exhausted and had to flop into bed to sleep. So tired. But in reflection, it's been amazing being able to experience and do so many things that I haven't done before. It's been amazing just to push myself and do something new and through this become a better person.

"The great thing about new friends is that they bring new energy to your soul" - Shanna Rodriguez

Raining on the square

Today was a stupidly early wake up time. 6:00am. Too early for sleeping and eating late... but I had a good reason! Today at around 7am I was going to be admitted into the NBC studios to get into the studio for Good Morning America to meet and be there for the live filming and interview of X-Men Apocalypse.

Unfortunately, as I was walking down the street towards Times Square, it was raining pretty damn hard. As I approached the square (my first time there actually), I saw that there was a very long line up. It was good that my friend was already there waiting for me in the queue. Unfortunately, she did not bring an umbrella. Her reasoning was that she did not want to bring one because she did not want it to feel like Belgium. Silly reasons from silly friends.

We finally got in about an hour and a half after they told us to arrive (and about an hour after the paper said they'd close the line up to everyone) and were screened by the metal wands at the door.

Ballin'

When we got upstairs, part of the cast of X-men were already there taking selfies with selfie sticks.

James McAvoy was there. So were 4 other cast members.  It was cool. I stood at the side since I wasn't really sure where I should have gone and kind of backed up a bit. People were quite dressed up for it whereas I was wearing a blazer and dress pants (oops).

He plays young Cyclops

It was really cool being in the studio and seeing how much work went into a just 5-minute segment of interviews. There was makeup, hair, camera men, some other guys telling people what to do, people with clipboards...seriously a lot of people. So much goes into a few minutes.

After the very brief filming, I took some photos with some of the actors/actresses and then headed out back to the UN. But before I left, they gave me tickets to go to the pre-screening of X-men the next day! So cool.

I am so lucky that there is so much so close on the island of Manhattan where I can go out and explore!

The cast

Work was interesting, there were meetings and other things to do. I had a meeting with some personnel in UNDP and headed over to the other building (UN has quite a few buildings, not just the Secretariat one) to speak to them. In true UN fashion, no one expected me. I called up and was told that I slipped their mind. Woo. Went back to work. Did my thing.

The Set

Today though, I stayed a bit later so I could hang out with a friend. They had invited me over to their home (very kindly) and I got to enjoy a wonderful night of homemade dinner, great company and

enjoyable television (where they talked about travel and food). I walked home pretty late but content with the improved friendships I made that day.