Street View

This was the most relaxing day I've had, all week. We didn't wake up early. We didn't tour a campus. We didn't take any long train rides. All we did in the afternoon was take a bus down to the United Nations. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

We ate breakfast at a diner right next door to our hotel. I had a strawberry smoothie and a bowl of frosted flakes cereal. Lucas noticed a sign outside the restaurant stating that a fine would delivered to drivers that honk their horns. Ms. L. explained that those have been placed all over the city in recent years, because there was too much noise in busy intersections. I hadn't realized until then how rare it is to hear a horn in NYC.

We boarded the nearest bus and headed to the UN. On the way, we had to switch lines at Times Square. While waiting, I saw a vintage car, a giant golden hand, and, my favorite, Sponge Bob having a conversation with two Minnie Mouses.

The UN was awesome. We didn't know that they offered tours today, so we just perused the exhibits in the Visitor's Center. There was a Scottish dance troop performing in the lobby the whole time that we were there. I was amazed at how everyone there, even in the Visitors' Center, was speaking a foreign language. I bought my sister a little something while I was there.

A series of missed buses and subway trains made us take a much longer time getting back to the hotel. On the bright side, we saw a whole new area of Manhattan. We passed by a small Colombian street festival, with food and music. The band was great, but the main attraction wasn't the music they played; it was the second drummer: a 5 year-old.

Back at the hotel, we got a head start on packing (we leave tomorrow) and dressed for the dinner with Yale.

Tonight's dinner was Greek. We met with Yale alumni and students at a Milos, near Petrossion. The environment was great. The restaurant had high ceilings, to make room for olive trees, growing right by our tables.I sat next to Max and Tanya, Yale class of '11. Max works in finance, and Tanya is a Harvard law student. They were both a lot of fun to talk with.

I really have no complaints about this week. We were really overworked the first few days, but we got a lot done and rested up yesterday and today. I was really impressed with every school that we toured, and even if I didn't fall in love with them, I enjoyed my time there and learned more about my own tastes. I'll go into greater detail about each school on their individual blog posts, mainly discussing what I liked and disliked. My two favorites were Yale and UPenn.

Tomorrow, we move into our dorms at Columbia.