I Could Get Used To This

Today was a ridiculously crazy day. We got up at around 2:30 in the morning, traveled 3,000 miles across the country, moved into our hotel, explored the city of New York and went out to dinner. I really don't know where to start, so I'm just going to do this chronologically.

Our plane - sorry for the dots, there was sort of a plastic sheet
over the window.

The six of us, our parents, Mrs. L, Don Gosney, and Mrs. Kronenberg met up at El Cerrito High School at 3:45 in the morning for the weighing of our luggage, a photo, and some quick reminders before we left on our shuttle to the airport. While I do love to fly...let me tell you, I absolutely hate the airline industry. Fee here, fee there, 8 dollars for some fruit, restriction on this, restriction on that, etc. While I was extremely excited about the trip. it was also pretty stressful not knowing whether I'd have to pay an extra $50 because my bag was too heavy (it ended up being 4 pounds under the limit) or whether they would bug me about carrying a suit on board, as it was quite a bit bigger than a purse, laptop case or other personal items. Thankfully, Virgin America gave me no problems at all. I was out like a light as soon as we took off; the seats were very comfortable (for an airplane), the ride was smooth, and there were no crying babies. I'd say I slept a good 3 1/2 to 4 of the 5 hours we were flying.

As soon as we landed, the wheels began turning again; we boarded a shuttle to our hotel a little south of Upper Manhattan at 74th Street. The hotel was very nice and gave us everything we needed; the room was clean and comfortable, the wi-fi works well, and even though the room Lenny and I got is directly across from the elevator, it is very quiet.

View Looking Up Seventh Ave. from 33rd St.

A little over an hour after we arrived at the hotel, we set out to Penn Station to pick up our tickets for tomorrow's train to Philadelphia. I was fascinated by the fact that there is practically another world down under the streets of New York; the complex that made up Penn Station consisted of I don't know how many pizza places, the subway, three other rail lines, and more. After that, we took a leisurely walk up Seventh Avenue to 36th Street, and from there east a few blocks to our restaurant. The restaurant, Keens Steakhouse, is one of the oldest in Manhattan, and the building created a unique atmosphere of history with photos and newspaper articles from its earliest days covering the walls, along with some very old architecture and artwork. For me, though, the best part was the food. I ordered the Aged Prime New York Sirloin (well done), which turned out to be the juiciest, most delicious slab of meat that I have ever tasted. If you look at the picture below, you can see with the reflection of the light just how juicy my steak actually was. 

Juicy

After eating, we all returned to the hotel on very full stomachs. We went over the plan for tomorrow, which involves waking up at 6:30...but I can say that today we only got started! Tomorrow we'll be visiting the University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia before returning to New York for another delicious dinner, this one at a French restaurant. I already see myself steadily gaining weight from these amazing dinners, so I've decided to take the stairs 8 stories every day to maybe burn just a few of those calories. I'm not really complaining, though, the beautiful places, valuable information and amazing food...I could get used to this.

Where to begin?

Even though the concept of getting as much sleep as possible before we left for New York City, I only got three hours of sleep (the 2nd best amount of sleep in the cohort, actually!). I was way too excited for this wonderful journey! After assembling my backpack and making sure I had everything in my luggage, my mom drove my sister and I to El Cerrito High School. The difference between this year and last year is that Don individually gave us our loaner items, so that shaved off some time. After weighing luggage, checking IDs and medical cards, a talk with the cohort and parents, and necessary group pictures, we were off to the airport. Saying goodbye to my mom and sister was hard - even though I did this program last year, it doesn't get any easier! I know they are with me, though, in spirits and hopes. As soon as the parents began to drift away, a limo pulled up - riding in style, like always!

Limo ride to the airport! 

The ride to SFO wasn't too long, and after checking in our luggage and going through security, I got the best excitement of the day...THE WAYANS BROTHERS WERE IN SFO - IN THE SAME SECURITY LINE AS US. For those who do not know who the Wayans Brothers are, they are the two main characters in the absolutely hilarious film "White Chicks", which is one of my favorite films. After jumping up and down with excitement, I tried to calm down but got even more excited as we went into a small cafe to get breakfast and lunch....and the Wayans Brothers were sitting in the same cafe. To sum it up...it was a wonderful morning. A very, very wonderful morning.

After getting food and resisting to ask the Wayans Brothers for an autograph (I respect celebrities' wishes for privacy), we headed to the gate and boarded the plane soon after. I sat next to Tomi and Lenny for the flight. The flight was a bit bumpy at times but I did catch up on some sleep and watched some TV shows. Before we knew it, six hours had gone by and we were in New York City!

New York City is fascinating. As a driver was taking us to the city from the airport, I was in awe of my surroundings. Everything moved so quickly and everything also just seemed so much bigger. The rest of the cohort, Ms. L, the driver, and I made good conversation on the hour long trip to the city. The Columbia cohort will be staying in Hotel Beacon for the rest of the week. Tomi is my roommate, which I'm very happy about.

Front of Hotel Beacon

New York City

Inside of my and Tomi's hotel room 

After doing a quick brief in the lobby and then resting in our hotel rooms, we all dressed up and went downstairs to get going to dinner. Ms. L brought us metro cards, showed us how to use them, and then we were off and using the subway. Even though it was dirty and we saw some rats scurrying around the tracks, it was not as scary as I thought it would be - it was very fast paced, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Since we had over half an hour before our dinner reservation, we acted as tourists and took lots of pictures. New York City is so exciting - everyone is rushing, there are so many yellow taxis and pizza joints on every corner, and it's just a huge bustle...I love it.

Tomi and I

Dressed up and ready to go to dinner

Yellow Taxi Cabs...they're EVERYWHERE! 

New York City - In Action

Dinner was absolutely divine. We went to Keen's Steakhouse and had a fabulous meal. I ordered New York sirloin with a side of mashed potatoes, along with two Shirley Temple's and later a warm cup of herbal camomile tea. It was nice just relaxing with the cohort and having several debates, ranging from our favorite movies to who is our favorite president. It was a wonderful, relaxing evening. I love New York City already. It's all clicking; this is going to be great. Tomorrow we are going to see the University of Pennsylvania, which I did research on. I'm excited for what lays ahead!

Where we had our lovely dinner

Menu

East Coast (found in Maine) and West Coast (found in Seattle) oysters that the table shared

My dinner - before I ate it (mashed potatoes hadn't arrived yet)

Lenny and his lobster bib (-:

My dinner - after I was completely full

Our lovely cohort

A lot of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia was in the restaurant. The original owner loved Lincoln and collected a bunch of articles and pictures of him. This framed playbill is apparently the playbill Lincoln was holding in his hands when he was assassinated in the Ford Theater in 1865!

Off to New York City

It was a dark and stormy night…

Okay—it wasn’t stormy but it sure was dark—and chilly.

After a brutally hot weekend the wind had kicked up making the 54 degree temperature feel even colder.  Add to the mix the typical East Bay summer fog and the moist air made the cold temps a bit uncomfortable.  That warm and toasty bed we all left behind seemed so inviting.

Nonetheless, our Columbia cohort arrived on time (a welcome relief) and went through the ritual of showing their travel documents, weighing their luggage and getting their last minute instructions.

Then came the real reason for being at El Cerrito HS at such a miserable time of the morning—the group photo.  And don’t they look grand?  From the looks on their faces you would never know that they’d all much rather be snuggled in their warm beds.

When the airport shuttle arrived, instead of a van or flat bed truck, our Columbia cohort piled into a shiny white stretch limo.  Nothing but the best for our ILCers.

A Goodbye and a Hello!

I know that that I've said this many times before, but it's still really hard to believe that in just a little over 12 hours I'll be on a plane ride heading towards New York. I'm just so used to spending my summer vacations doing nothing that it's a big surprise that this year I'm actually going to leave my house! 

Between Don, Mr. Ramsey, and Mrs. Kronenberg alone there's been lot of hard work put into making this trip a reality--and for that I'm really grateful and I'm happy that they'll all be there to send us off on Monday. 

I've been spending a lot of time preparing for this trip. I've been keeping myself busy by making sure that everything goes smoothly and between all the shopping, packing, and finalization I've done, I think I'm ready to go. You don't know how often I've thought  "Do I really need that?" or "Maybe I should bring this too." I was ready to just try and pack up my whole room, just to make sure that I didn't forget anything--but since we have a 50 pound weight limit I knew that I would have to cut corners and prioritize. And finally, after countless hours of packing and repacking, I'm finally done! 

There's only one thing that really worries me about this trip, and it's something that I've always hated about travelling. That's right--time zones. Even though I've made sure to get a lot of rest this past week, I'm still afraid of sleeping in. I'm not the best at keeping a constant sleeping schedule, so it's going to be somewhat of a challenge for me to get up in the morning, but I hope to quickly adjust to the time differences in the first week or so. If not, I have 3 different alarm clocks packed in my bag, so I'm sure that I'll get up one way or another. 

I'm honestly not sure of what I'm most excited about. There's just so much to this trip and New York itself that I already feel overwhelmed. We'll be going to dinners, sight-seeing, and, most importantly, attending one of the most prestigious colleges in the country--Columbia University. It's one new experience after another and I really appreacite this once in a lifetime opportunity. but there's one final hurdle before we depart; Mrs. L, Don, Mr. Ramsey, Mrs. Kronenberg, and of course, my fellow cohorts and I are all set to meet one final time before our departure at El Cerrito High School Monday morning at 3:45 AM sharp. While our shuttle is set to leave at around 4:30 AM, there's still a few last minute preparations to be done and farewells to be made. Even though I'm sure that I'm going miss my family and friends, I know that it's time to say goodbye to the Bay Area and hello to New York City! I'm really excited to leave and I can't wait to see everyone at El Cerrito High tomorrow!

T-Minus..

Twenty-six hours, twenty-one minutes, fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight seconds, fifty-seven seconds.. Well you get the idea. In approximately said amount of time, the Columbia cohort for the 2012 summer will be landing in New York. The months of preparation have finally led to us to this moment: our departure for the Big Apple. It’s amazing to know we will be on the other side of the coast in just a few hours.

So I’ll let you all in on a little secret. When I was accepted in to the Ivy League Connection, I started packing. My excitement during the time was so vast that packing seemed like the only thing I could do to relieve myself. And boy did it help. It started out with a few articles of clothing, a dress here and a few T-shirts there. As time passed by, I started building up what would go into my suitcase and now I’m just a few items away from completion.

Other than the usual packing, I have also prepared myself for the work I will be leaving behind here in the Bay Area. I’ve communicated with my fellow co-captain for Parliamentary Debate on the agendas for the two meetings I will be missing. I have filled out the necessary forms for Leadership to have Senior BBQ and Senior Shirts as well as created the donation letters for Homecoming this upcoming year. And of course, I’ve completed about fifty percent of my AP American Government summer assignment.

When we arrive at the Big Apple, I know for sure one thing I will not enjoy: the humid, muggy weather. If I think the weather here in Pinole is brutal- a good 90 degrees or so- then I know shaded areas and air conditioned buildings will be my new best friends on the East Coast.

I won’t lie, this is the first time I’ve ever gone this far away from home and my family, but I couldn’t be any more excited. Although I will probably feel homesick at one point, the challenges ahead of me will keep my preoccupied.

As time winds downs, my eagerness grows tenfold. Ready or not Columbia, here we come.

Ready As I'll Ever Be

As I have already seen Morvarid and Adrianne mention, junior year was, simply put, terrible. I made it into double digits in all-nighters (partially the result of my doing, but mostly of circumstances), which gives you an idea of what I went through. To say that sitting through 6-8 hours of classes on no sleep really sucks is a drastic understatement. June seemed to be lightyears away, and while one of the most exciting summers ever awaited me, it seemed like it would never come. But it did, and I could see the finish line! My teachers began assigning less work (students aren't the only ones ready for summer) and as soon as I had completed finals, I could finally direct all of my attention toward my summer in New York. The excitement in me grew and grew as we got closer and closer to the morning of our takeoff. While it may be 3 in the morning when we meet at El Cerrito HS on Monday morning, I think I'm going to have more energy than I've had in the last 6 months combined.
I've spent the last few days doing all sorts of things to prepare for this trip. I made a huge list of everything I need, went out and bought a few of the things I didn't have, downloaded some new music to have with me, and tested out this laptop which I just received from Don Gosney earlier today. Tomorrow, I'll spend whatever time I need to pack all my clothes, etc. For those of you who are staring at your computer right now re-reading the last sentence to see if you read correctly that I have not started packing, I have my well-planned-out method for packing, which consists of making sure I have every single item I need and spending the day before my trip putting it all into a suitcase. Many people (my mom) don't understand why or how I do this, but I can guarantee that at 3:45 Monday morning, I will be at El Cerrito High School, suitcase in hand, ready to go.
Physically, all I have left to do is pack. Mentally, though, I am set; heck, I've been ready to go for weeks! Monday is the day we've all been waiting for! The day that we worked tirelessly to get to, it's almost here!
This trip, though, does not come without its concerns of course. I am, for the most part worry-free, although one thing concerning me is my trouble waking up in the morning. The expression "sleeping like a log" applies to me in that you could hit a log hundreds of times with a baseball bat and the log would not react or show any emotion. I express this concern because it has been a problem of mine in the past, although I feel I have done everything possible to prevent it in the future. For starters, I am carrying my phone's alarm, a ringing alarm clock, and an alarm clock/radio, and each of these will go off every morning to wake me up. Additionally, I have made huge strides toward improving my time management and making sure I get enough sleep every night, and in the same way an 8.0 earthquake is 10 times greater than a 7.0, waking up after 8 hours of sleep is 10 times easier than after 7 hours.
Concerns for me generally revolve around uncertainty, so I am not so much concerned, but more saddened by the fact that I will be spending 4 weeks without my family. I know that I will be fine, but I love my family, and every minute spent away from them is tough for me. But, after all.....I AM spending four weeks in New York City. So I can't really complain to much.
And I'm ready to go! It's been a grueling 6 months, but I am as ready as I'll ever be to board that plane to New York!

How to spend a summer

We will take off for New York early Monday morning. I've spent the last week getting ready, basing my schedule around when it was most convenient to get  different supplies (new clothes, new luggage, etc.). Tonight, I start packing.

As I'm writing this, it's starting to cool off, but for most of today, we've had a heat wave bordering 100 degrees. That's the one thing that I'm dreading about New York; I can't stand hot weather. I could live my entire life in 70 degrees or less, and be completely comfortable. Besides that though, I'm ecstatic to be going on this trip. After building up to this point for the last few months, I no longer have that nervous energy that I usually get before going some place new, but I know that as soon as I land, it will return.

I plan to really take in the sites back East. We will be attending 8 formal lunches/dinners, each at an excellent restaurant. I want to be prepared for these occasions. The dress clothes that I own are mostly black, which won't do well for hot summer afternoons and evenings, so yesterday, my mom took me shopping for some light colored shirts and ties. Aside from these group events, our resident advisers will offer to take us on daily outings to fun locations around the city. I hope to visit the Guggenheim, as well as other major museums. If it's not too hot, I might spend an afternoon wandering through Central Park.

When I'm not feeling quite so adventurous, I might just find a quiet spot to read. Over this summer, I hope to finish 4 books: Jailbird (Kurt Vonnegut), Catch 22 (Joseph Heller), The Island (Aldous Huxley)  and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Haruki Murakami). All except Catch 22 are by authors I am familiar with. I enjoy Murakami for his ability to invoke emotions, Vonnegut for his irony and sense of humor, and Huxley for his glaring social commentary. Along with these, I must also read two books for my AP Lang class next year: The Elements of Style (William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White) and Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad). I would have probably read these at some point, even if they weren't assigned. If by some miracle I find the time to complete all of these before my vacation is through, than I'll most likely dig into The Radetzky March (Joseph Roth). I don't know why I'm reading so many books by guys named Joseph. I guess my taste in literature focuses on 20th century classics. I find that most writers before then (besides Alexander Dumas) bore me, and although there are plenty of excellent modern authors, I'd rather spend my time reading what has already obtained critical acclaim.

I think between classes, site-seeing, reading and hanging out with friends, I'll be more than occupied this summer. That's all I can really say. I'm sure I'll have much more to blog about after Monday, when I can talk about what I've done, rather than what I think I might do. A few days from now, I'll be in the beginning of the greatest adventure of my life (thus far). Until then, I'll just have to keep packing.