"We live in the age of the refugee, the age of the exile." - Ariel Dorfman

Beautiful made in
Guatamala

Today I got to work and it was quite quiet, something different than normal. 

I bought flowers in the morning for a co-worker and that was about the busiest I was all day. I worked on some menial stuff, tried to make myself my own work and then headed out for lunch with a friend to the UNICEF centre. Halfway through walking with her, I pulled out an ice cream cone and she literally burst into laughter because she could not believe I had just pulled out an ice cream stick out of my bag. #WendysBag

We noticed that UNICEF was having a 75% off sale so we dropped in, but it was almost empty. I talked to the guy at the register and he told me that the store was just simply not making enough

The platform for it

profit and they were going to close by Friday at lunch. 

It's kind of sad to hear that, but apparently their website will still be up and running and they'll do shipping rather than having a physical store. 

I bought some change purses that were made in Guatemala and then headed back over to work where I did a little bit of stuff and then we took a break and wished our co-worker a happy birthday! We sat and talked for a bit, took some photos and then went back to work.

The man fighting
for rights

I stayed back at work for a bit since there was a reception coming up later that day that I wanted to attend for World Refugee day. It was downstairs in the m
ain Visitor's lobby (I assume so that everyone, even visitors could see it). And I waited there with my colleague to try to get a photo with one of the guests: Ban Ki Moon.

The speeches were quite wonderful and I really enjoyed the unveiling of the Refugee exhibit that they were there for. They had pictures and photos in the main hall for visitors to take in as well as a gigantic container where you can go inside and actually talk to a refugee somewhere in the world. It was pretty amazing.

Food made by refugees!

We had a few more speeches from other refugee groups as well as a USG for DPI. It was a truly great event.

After the ceremony, I went to find my friends and talk to them about the exhibit. It was pretty cool.

Of course, at the end of every reception opening... there was an open bar and food.

My photo with him :D

The food this time around was quite interesting! All the food that we had was made from Refugees!
There was a lot of Middle Eastern and Nepalese food there. It was delicious and so well made. I really appreciate the reception providing us with it.

My friend and I headed over to Bryant Park where there was this really cool event called "Movies in the Park" and they were playing the movie Ferris Bueller's Day off. 

We managed to find two seats in the crowd, grabbed some drinks and chairs and sat down and enjoyed the movie.

Movies in the park! :)

I gotta say, it is amazing being a part of something that is so much bigger than myself. When the music in the movie started playing, people actually got up and started
DANCING during scenes where there was music! It was so fun to watch! And people danced hard.

It was a bit difficult to hear, however, they had subtitles under the movie screen (which was also hard to see) for all to hear and enjoy. 

After the movie, I took my short walk home and crashed into bed.

"Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures." Cesar Chavez

Chairs for everyone to use all! :D 

Today was a lazy day. I woke up much later than I thought I would... I ended up waking up around 10:50am, which is probably the latest I've ever slept in here in New York. Seriously. I could not believe how late I woke up but it was good. It meant that it was going to be a good lazy day. I called my dad to wish him a happy fathers day, kind of putt-ted around the apartment for a bit and then headed out.

Today I was going to go to an event called Egg creams and Egg tarts which was supposed to be an event where there was a huge amalgamation of Chinese, Jewish and Puerto Rican culture. I was really excited to see what it was like - especially because it is like a melding of all these different cultures, identities and foods to be put together.

A place to borrow board games/games

Since it was a lazy day, I decided to walk all the way down to Chinatown (which is by the Manhattan bridge) from where I live (which is by Grand Central Station). It was a pretty good idea.

I went out and on my way, I tried to hit as many stops as possible, so I started off by walking through Bryant Park.

Bryant park always makes me feel so happy because it is just such a good and positive park. There's so much to do, there's so much going on and I've never ever once seen it not full. As I walked by, I saw that there was an area to go and actually trade your ID card or library card for a board game! So at 11 in the morning, I saw people sitting by tables under umbrellas playing monopoly, Settlers of Catan and so many other games! I really do love it, not only do they

Found Chuck Shumer,
the New York
Senator

have a place for people to borrow and play games (which my friends who pay to play games would kill for) but they also have a place to borrow books on the other side (same day return).

The park itself is so amazing and there's just so much to do (they do movie nights, Shakespeare, dancing, settlers of Catan, and so many more events) and so much behind it. It is my favourite park in the city. Keeps you busy.

And you know what they say, keeping busy keeps you out of trouble!

I kept walking down the street to head to downtown and passed by this group of people who were crowding around this man who was talking on the camera.

I had no idea who he was, but there was a body guard beside him and a camera facing him with media reporters taking down notes.

Found another market.
These markets are how
I feed myself.

I wandered over to take a look and since everyone was taking a photo with him, I thought "why not?"Shumer, a democrat and one of two the Senators of New York State.'

and grabbed a photo with him. Welp. Photo with a random person, not the first time this has happened. I sent it over to a friend who is American and lo and behold, apparently I had taken a photo with Chuck

Well then. I met a very powerful and well-respected man today.

I kept walking on my way and ended up walking down to Madison Square Park, which is another favourite of mine, where they have music and a playground so that kids can play. It is quite a beautiful park.

I headed down to Union Square park afterwards (I am such a sucker for parks so this was the perfect city for me). Unfortunately, I was quite sad to see that the Market that is usually there was not there this morning, but I was happy to see that there was a different market there instead, where they were roasting foods and goods and giving out free samples

Beautiful place to sit and relax

(again).

I kept walking down, enjoying my views and turning any which way I kind of pleased to get down to Chinatown and the event.

When I finally got there, it was PACKED. Wow. There were so many people even though it was so hot out! People were out lining up to try the plates of dumplings, empanadas and other stuff, kids were at tents learning to make Puerto Rican fans, decorating kippahs and just having fun in general.

Manhattan Bridge.

It was amazing. it was just this beautiful amalgamation of all these different cultures and identities that may seem very different from all over the world coming together as one. It was a great way to expose children to these differences and instead of having it divide them, to unite them and familiarize them. It was just such an amazing event to promote acceptance and understanding rather than tolerance and ignorance. I loved it a lot. I really wish there were more events like this that combined all these different groups, cultures and ideologies. Especially with so many tents that are specifically for kids to learn and understand about other cultures, it really promotes this wonderful buzz of difference. I hope Canada or at the very least Toronto (or Ottawa), will start doing events like this to show the differences but all the similarities as well!

Little Italy is usually
closed on the weekends
so that people can walk
and eat on the streets

After the event, I went into a Synagogue for the first time and was able to really explore and see what it was like. It was a great learning experience - just to see how the building was built outside and what it looked like was eye opening.

Afterwards, I walked around for a little bit more, but I was so hot and sweaty from the weather outside as well as walking for over an hour! I passed by the Manhattan Bridge for the first time (it is quite nice, very imposing.

I headed over to this place called "Fried Dumplings" to pick up a pack of 30 dumplings for $6. Which, yes is a lot, but it is handmade and I get to support a local business (even if they yell at me and make me cry in Mandarin).

I started my long walk back home, taking in the sights, trying to pass by as many things as possible and seeing how beautiful the buildings were.

Making empanadas and dumplings.

When I finally got home, I grabbed my dirty laundry and washed it all up and hung it around my area to dry (since it was such a hot day, I figured, why not? It's better for the environment and I could spend that money on two slices of pizza).

I briefly met up with my roommate before she took the puppy dog out for dinner and then worked the rest of the night on the blog!

Honestly, I am so behind on this thing, I'm trying to say yes and live life to the fullest and oh my god is this blog is kind of taking the brunt of it... woops. At least I have fun stories to tell!

"Everybody says 'Good Morning' in Harlem because it's true! And that's lovely."- Marcia Gay Harden

The emptiest I've ever
seen Grand Central 

Today was a day where I woke up very early, it was my first time doing a walking tour in quite a while! (I feel like I haven't done very many in the last little while) and I started by day off by eating, playing a bit with the puppy dog and then I headed out.

I looked at google maps and it told me to take the shuttle from Grand Central to Times Square but because it was one of those places where I'd have to swipe my card, I didn't want to pay twice to take the metro (considering it is about a 5 minute walk) and I walked out and walked over there myself.

Unfortunately, I took the wrong train...(Well the right one kind of) because the train I was actually looking for was the express, but I took the local, which stopped everywhere at like every stop. Thank god, I was able to get off the
train and get on another one which was express up the Harlem. 

When I got off the train, I actually ran into the exact person I needed, who was taking the tour with me! Talk about good timing. 

The mural outside the hospital 

We started off the tour in front of the Harlem public library across the street from the hospital. 

We walked around just a few blocks, but in those few blocks, we learned a lot. 

The first thing was saw was the gigantic mural on the hospital, it was one of Sammy David Jr. He was born in Harlem and one of the first ever Black men to perform solo. 

We kept walking and stopped by a beautiful church where we learned about
the differences between Negro Spiritual and Gospel music. 

New York had a campaign
to plant 1 million trees

Gospel music is music that is sung in churches to spread the word of the Lord, whereas Negro Spiritual music was a sneaky underground way to warn runaway slaves. It was all part of the underground railroad. 

Now back during this time, it was illegal for two slaves to speak without white Illegal to congregate or worship without a white person around - the white slave owners were afraid of an uprising or death. All the lyrics in the music would be laced with meaning. The songs could mean anything from a meeting tonight or as soon as full moon.The song "Wade in the water" was a warning. The song meant that the other slaves knew of someone's arrival in the underground
railroad and that there were dogs chasing their scent. So to get rid of the scent, they had to "wade" in the water by the river bank. 

One of the beautiful
churches in Harlem,

We reached a corner where there used to be the renaissance ball room, which used to be a really cool ball room, but was torn down a few years ago and is now being built as "affordable housing." 

Where is affordable housing you may ask?

It is two people making "$84,000" and above. Yes. $84G. How ridiculous is that? They take the medium income of what people in New York State makes. 

Yeah,

"Affordable Housing"
and what used
to be a ballroom.

New York has a lot of poor and homeless people, but they have a heck of a lot of rich people too. 

Don't worry though - 10% of the building will be for the poor - those making $45 grand or less a year. People wonder why there are so many homeless people.

Harlem wasn't always like this though, a scary, shady, dark area. Back in the 1700s, Hamilton actually lived in Harlem, and it was a place for the rich! That's why the sidewalks were so wide! Franklin Roosevelt even purchased everything north and East of Central park. The wealthy would go to Harlem like it was their Hamptons, there were sunny summer homes with huge sidewalks. Stanford White, the person who designed the arch in Washington were no cars or electricity). However, because Harlem was actually too expensive for a while, many homes were vacant for quite a while.

One of Historically
black schools

Square Park, loved beaux art and French Renaissance, so he designed many of the buildings in Harlem to look just as beautiful and big. People would actually ride uptown in a horse and buggy about three hours to get to Harlem (since there

In 1892, Ellis Island opened up as a federal immigration system and thus started the clash of East and West immigrants. The wealthy would go downtown for an opera or a ballet and the poor would be there, asking for money. 

So the wealthy went uptown. 

Of course, running away, this will solve all the problems and the poor will disappear right?

Anyway. 

Graffiti to bring
awareness to breast
cancer

To ensure the abolition of slavery in all of the U.S., Lincoln pushed for passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. Congress passed it by the necessary two-thirds vote on January 31, 1865, and it was ratified by the states on December 6, 1865. Now, every baby could learn to read and white, including black babies. When they came of age, they'd go to a Historically Black Colleges and University and went on to become doctors, lawyers or engineers. Now that they had money, they started moving up to Harlem and buying up the real estate. Unfortunately, the mortgage doubled...but these black groups paid it in cash. 

One of the streets, "Strives Road" was meant to teach the importance of recycling the black dollar. When you needed a dentist, you went to a black dentist. When you needed an Obgyn, you went to a black Obgyn. The money stayed in the community, it never went out and they thrived. One of the best examples of this was "Black Wall Street" during the early 20
th century. That is until the Tulsa race riot of 1921, in which white residents massacred black residents and, in just a few hours, razed the neighbourhood. You can look at Www.beforetheydied.com to learn about some of the people killed.

Great indie book store

We took a bit of a break at a coffee shop and I went into my bag and found a bag of jerky (yes, welcome to Wendy) and talked to the lady for a little bit. It's interesting, I found out from her that if I ever want to be a tour guide, I have to be able to pass a state exam and be licensed. Something I've never heard of before, but I think it's a good idea so that a bunch of weird random people do not come about and try to lead tourists astray. It makes me feel better.

We passed by these apartment buildings and we learned the story of Robert Smalls.

Now, back in the day, black people were not allowed to fight in wars - let alone black slaves. 

So Smalls was one of eight slaves on a portion of a steamer's crew. During a stopover along the South Carolina coast, the three white crewmen failed to follow the procedure to remain on board at all times and decided to leave the slaves on the boat and dock on land. 

Our tour guide outside
Bille Holiday's bar

Smalls took his wife, some slaves and the boat. He piloted it past five confederate ships, Smalls flew all the correct flags requesting safe passage through Confederate waters. Entering Union territory, Smalls surrendered Planter to the Union’s USS Onward. Smalls also gave Union forces Confederate signal codes and maps showing underwater mine placement. The value of the ship and its cargo was $30,000. Later, Smalls met with Pres. Abraham Lincoln. The pilot told Lincoln that black soldiers “will be better fighters than whites” because the blacks will be “fighting for their freedom.

He became the Union navy’s first black ship captain in 1863, ultimately fighting in 17 battles. Smalls returned to Beaufort after the war and entered politics, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives for four years and, later, the South Carolina state senate.

Apartments for the Black soldiers

It was interesting as these houses held the 269 regiment. They built these houses because they did not want the black soldiers living with the white soldiers. 

Unfortunately, the black soldiers were also very badly trained. Because they were not trusted with
guns, they trained with broomsticks and mop handles. However, they were so successful that they actually did not lose when they fought the Germans. They were called "hell fighters." 

These veterans were not invited to the veterans parade so they ended up doing their own parade. 

We even got to go
through a really cool
fire station

The YMCA in the area is also super cool. During the Spring break, because of the issue of children drowning, the YMCA will teach kids how to swim. The line is insane. It is also Bill Clinton's designated gym! 

We also passed by a small jazz bar (a real jazz bar) where Billie Holiday. After auditioning as a dancer, without even looking up, they said "next" and then she asked if she could sing. She did and at the end of the tune she got 150$ in tips for a job that paid $18 a week. This was in Swing Street, during the Harlem renaissance. 

The hotel

There were restaurants and bars here where you could find a lot of music. But they had to be careful because they were scared of cops, so at one of the clubs, people were to knock three times and then cough a specific way. The cough changed every night so they had to know if they wanted to get in. 

We walked by a food place called "Sylvia's" which is known as the best comfort place in New York to grab food. Comfort food is not from the West indies, Africa, or anywhere else. It is from America. It is slavery food. And as a slave, you took home only the undesirable foods, so the gizzards, the thighs, grits, whatever. 

We walked by some more places, and we stopped in a Square where we saw the Waldorf Astoria of Harlem, which was called Ebb place, it was the place for parties and everything. It was, as the young people say, lit up. 

Apollo Theatre

We ended the tour by going to the Apollo theatre which was originally a burlesque house but is now a theatre, where Ella Fitzgerald got her start and first started skiddled daddled."
doing the "

After the tour, my friend and I went over to Sylvia's where we grabbed some real comfort food. I ordered the chicken and waffles with a nice homemade beer while she grabbed some catfish and grits. 

Both were delicious. Oh my god, they were done beautifully and well. Fried to a golden crisp without the soggy-ness and the waffles were delicious. Crunchy, soft, fluffy and they let me douse it in syrup *heaven,*

We started walking back over to the metro and visited a sexual education fair

The best place. 

where people were trying to promote safe sex. They were handing out a lot of condoms and other stuff... It was interesting to see. I was actually really happy that they even had an event like that there, it meant that the community knew and recognized that there was this issue going on and was trying to promote the prevention of both teen pregnancy and the spread of STIs. 

Afterwards, we headed over to this really cute bookstore that is run by volunteers and donations. This is one of the very few small independent stores that are truly independent because of what they believe in rather than it being the most trendy or popular thing there. I really respected them for that. I donated some money for a sticker and then was on my way.

SO GOOD, FRIED CHICKEN AND
WAFFLES

We headed into the metro where we entered into the train to go down to Williamsburg. Here we were just walking down the street when all of a sudden, we were given these free cookie/baguette sticks which were AMAZING. They were from the same company that gave me the box of cookies before. Before anyone says anything about how I always get free food all the time (I'm not denying this at all) I have to say, this company is promoting hard, spreading cheer and giving stuff out to people so that they can enjoy it. Michel et Augustin really believe in the idea of word of mouth and spreading the joy through people just simply enjoying and telling their friends.

Beautiful market

This is a company I can get behind. They have an open house on the first Thursday of every month so
I'm going to try my best to go and check it out and give them my support! 

We headed over to the Williamburg Bridge, where there was an Artists' market and a place where they were show casing all the art and differently foods that people in Brooklyn made and it was super cool! A lot of the artwork was beautiful and I really enjoyed
sampling all the foods around there!

HOW CUTE
ARE THESE
BOXES?!

When we finished up, we walked over to the grocery store where we grabbed some drinks and some food to hang out with later that evening. We headed back to her place in Williamsburg which has an amazing and beautiful view! 

We headed up to her rooftop to relax (I got to chill in the hammock and then again on the chairs by the edge) and read a book. When another friend came by to hang out, we all sat around and enjoyed the atmosphere and the fun! 

We were joined by another person and then we decided to grab some Chinese food take out, which was DELICIOUS and came in these tiny and cute little boxes and ate on the rooftop, talked and enjoyed each other's company.

All in all a good, enjoyable night.

"Once you get to that point when you can just be yourself and relax, I just think that you're so much happier in general." Jacqueline Emerson

First time I've ever seen
anyone pain a light

Friday is the chill day for me (sometimes). I started off by going into work and doing some stuff for my project and kind of just walking around.

My floor is a conference floor, and because of that, there is usually food around (Don't worry guys, I don't take it unless it's offered to me). The air smelled good and I was definitely sadder than I should have been. I ended up putting stuff together for the meetings and the conferences that the USG had to use for the day. After she left, I kind of tried to find my own work to do. 

At lunch, I ate some leftover pizza and just kind of hung out for a bit whilst getting all my information together. 

It was a bit of a casual day at work, which was nice and relaxing, but it also
made it kind of boring to try to do anything. 

Lots of people grabbing
ice cream!

At lunch (good thing I ate my pizza early) I headed over to a UN Women event called "Brownbag" where I listened to a woman speak about the issue of violence and child marriage against young girls (Wrote a paper on this recently) and I gotta say, it was pretty interesting to attend - even though I was a little late.

As I left the event, the first floor of the building (the News Building) was having an event that was sponsored by a real estate company so when I went
over, they offered me lots of ice cream and lemonade, which was great to really cool me down in this weather... Then headed back to work and shared some of my ice cream with a co-worker. It was the first time I was able to educate her on Magnum bars. 

After work, I decided for the first time that I did not want to go to the Delegate's
Lounge, I wanted a nice chill night. So I invited my friend over from the Canadian Mission to have a night of movies, dinner and chill - especially from the hectic night we had before.

They gave me so much...

Made it myself!

I left to walk around the city for a bit and take a look at all the stuff around, passing by Bryant park and bam! I was given free ice cream. Lots of it. They gave me a bunch of haagen-dazs samples, vanilla, chocolate and ... pina colada? I mean, hey, as an intern no complaints.

I headed back home and cooked up a storm! Made some orange chicken with pasta and had some chips + dip and then watched some good cheesy movies, like the Prince and Me and Legally Blonde. 

And then a PUPPY SHOWED UP and hung out with my friend and I for a bit. 

All in all, a good chill night.

"Never miss a chance to dance" - Unknown

The beautiful
Canadian Mission

This morning there was a big meeting going on (one that happens bi-weekly) and I got to sit there and listen to all the work my office has done in the past few weeks and sit there with pride. After the meeting, I went back to working on my toolkit project until lunch time. At lunch time, I headed over to UNDP and had a meeting with two very lovely people who told me more about their situation with UNDP, how they got their start, why they got their start and they even provided me with all these documents to go and check out how to start my own career! It was so sweet and wonderful of them.

When I said, in my last blog post, that people are very willing to help out and offer their knowledge, I meant it. People are always very willing to help out, sometimes all you really have to do is ask. 

THIS WAS LITERALLY OUT ON
THE BALCONY OF
THE DINING ROOM

The rest of the day went by pretty smoothly without any bumps. I headed home quickly to get changed and grab a smaller back and then headed back over to the UN. But first off, I went over to the Canadian Mission to the UN, which is in the Dag Hammerskjold building and got to visit the office there.

Wow. There are a lot of photos of Trudeau everywhere. Seriously - everwhere. And of course, also a photo of the Queen and the Governor-General.

It is actually quite a lovely mission with a lot to see, but it was nowhere near as spacious as the

Some German Mission Friends

German Mission (seriously a whole building damn).

We grabbed some pizza and then headed over to the UN where my friends got in through the fast way but I had to go in through the visitor's entrance.

..Again -_-

Speaking to the crowd about his
organization

We headed upstairs to the Delegate's Dining room (not the Delegate's Lounge) to go to this amazing event hosted by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was called "Sensation Orange" and it showcased sports and music as a universal language to achieve peace and development, featuring DJ Hardwell.

It was a pretty cool event. To say the least. 

Sweet invite!

I started off with grabbing something from the (again) open bar and going outside to the terrace where they had a beautiful view of the East River. On it was also this huge make shift soccer field where several of the ambassadors were playing football with kids! It was actually quite fun to see people dress down, enjoy themselves and do something that is fun and relaxing. Guess they really did use sports as a universal language for sports.

Met the UK ambassador!
He was super sweaty
though...tried to stalk
out the American one but
she was just too popular
 (she had scored a goal
earlier too)

We then headed back inside and enjoyed the musical set that DJ Hardwell played as he was promoting his own organization that helps development with children in India. 

It was an amazing thing to attend, and even though there has been much
criticism on how these "suits" don't appreciate Hardwell, they have to realize that he was there promoting his own organization, which is what the UN and those who went were supporting. 

Before the crowd

I was there for both! I danced and enjoyed the music with my friends and enjoyed the hor d'oeuvres. At the end of the night, most people (some missed out) took home a gift bag with stroopwafels, candy, a soccerball and a bracelet band to support Hardwell's organization. It was quite sweet.

Gotta say, tonight was probably one of the best and most fun nights I've had so far. Being able to just let go, dance with friends for a good cause, support and just enjoy - it was amazing. 

Afterwards, my friends and I headed over to the intern bar and danced the night away... but it wasn't as good, let's be honest. 

I walked home with some friends from the different mission and then headed home.

"It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. the question is what are we busy about?" - Henry David Thoreau

Straight view of the East river

I learned my lesson from yesterday and I now wake up and leave earlier from work. When I got there, there was just a small line up in comparison to the really long line up yesterday. I ran into a friend and we talked and enjoyed each others' company as we walked through the UN. I started off as the first intern in and did a little bit of work my project, on and off.

Italian Mission was
giving out free
espresso and I just had
to try it!

One of my friends, who is with the French Mission, messaged me because she wanted to show me the UN and take me on a tour (she can take me into areas that I personally cannot get into), unfortunately, because she is a Mission intern, she just had so much to do all the time always. Her meeting, which was supposed to end at 12:30 - 1ish, ended up finishing up at 2. Poor girl. I ended up going to lunch with a few friends in the UN Rose garden, which is, right now, under construction. 

The whole garden outside of the UN is actually under construction now. This is because the UN was undergoing renovations in the last few years to update the secretariat building and others, so not only were people scattered around the city working, but they also built a building in the garden to temporary house people like the Security Council and the Secretary-General and his staff. So

Yes, those are delegates watching football.

now that the secretariat is "all good" again (asbestos free I hope), the build was torn down and the garden is being reconstructed. 

Drinks with a friend !

After lunch, I headed back upstairs and worked a bit more on stuff, but then my French friend messaged me and asked me if I wanted to go on the tour since she was finished with her meeting, so we walked around and made our first stop at the Delegate's Lounge. We had previously tried to go into the Council rooms, but they were all locked or had something going on. 

In the Delegate's Lounge, we ended up stumbling upon another event that the Italian Mission was hosting and got some free espresso (as it turns out I am not a big fan of the bitterness). We sat and talked for a bit and then both headed back to work.

This was "close"

I stayed at work for a while before I headed out with a friend and went to the Irish Pint, a rooftop patio near by. It was busy as all hell, but we managed to steal a few seats and sit down. I gotta say, it was a pretty cool bar. The table we were sitting on had tap handles on it as decoration and even in the washroom, the sink handles were beer handles. We sat there for a bit and another friend saw me, grabbed me and pulled me over to his group of friends and I ended up meeting someone FROM CARLETON!! He had just graduated a few weeks ago. 

So nice! Sponsored
concert of course

The scale of how small this world is keeps shrinking and blowing my mind away.

Everyone was actually starting to leave so I headed out with them and then walked very uptown to
Central Park (I know, eventful day). I met up with a friend and we headed over to the Great Lawn together, sat down on the blanket she had so cleverly brought and we sat with a crowd of at least a hundred thousand and listened to the New York Philharmonic play. They play free every summer quite often.

They were beautiful. 

The view at night is unreal.

Actually, New York plays concerts in the park all the time (for free too!)

I headed home on the subway (which isn't scary at night, at least for me) and headed to bed!