I'm So Excited

Hi. My last blog post was ridiculously long so I'm going to try and condense this one even though I've ignored my own advice and taken too long in between posts so I've probably forgotten lots of important things to write about, but here goes....
I've finally decided which classes to take: America in the 1970s, American Political Theory, The World at War and American Legislatures. I've already had my first essay to hand in - in American Legislatures we have to do five short essays this semester on one member of Congress. For no particular reason, I chose a Senator called Kay Bailey Hutchison from Texas who seems like a bog standard southern Republican. It was quite easy as we were allowed to include two lists in the essay, something you'd never get away with in England! So far, I've found that the workload is much harder but the work itself is actually easier, if that makes sense?
Last Tuesday, we went on our first night out in Albany and met a few other international students. We started in a place called The Pub but I had to leave because I didn't have ID even though I only wanted a Diet Coke! After that, we went to a bar that we'd heard a lot about called Chubby's. The queue was huge but we waited and got in after about 20 minutes. At the door, they look at your ID and if you're over 21 you get a wristband and if you're under 21, you get a dot on your wrist with a marker - this is supposedly so the bar staff can see which people can be served alcohol, but they just serve everyone anyway!! Inside, it was stupidly hot, as it was the first night out for most people so it was really busy, added to this was the fact that it had been 35 degrees all day and was still at least 25 outside so we didn't stay for long but it was a nice experience anyway.
On the Thursday night, me and Emma spontaneously decided to go to a gig as she'd been handed a flyer but we got the wrong bus and somehow ended up outside Chubby's again! So, we went there and it was a significant improvement on the Tuesday night. It was less busy and we managed to stand by an air conditioning unit. Afterwards, we went for pizza which was probably the nicest I've ever had - in America you buy individual slices which are huge, instead of a whole pizza as you would in England.
On Friday night, we went for our first night out in downtown Albany, as Chubby's is in between downtown and uptown. Firstly, we went to Aimelyne's house then went to a club called Envy. The queue took a long time and it cost $10 each to get in ($20 if you weren't 21, but my ID had arrived) and it turned out to be a salsa night which was certainly an experience but not really worth the money. Afterwards, we had to wait on the street for the best part of an hour for a taxi and when we finally got one the driver took us up the highway and was an arsehole when we questioned why he was going that way - but he got us back safely.
On Saturday, we went to watch Alex play rugby for the university team, but by the time we got there he had injured his knee and couldn't play anymore so we watched but didn't pay much attention. Afterwards, I went to the mall with Josh, Emma and Melissa. We'd decided to go to the cinema at 7 p.m. which is in the mall, so we had a whole afternoon to kill. One highlight was going to the pet shop - you were allowed to choose a puppy to play with, so we chose a 9-week old Cairn terrier. It was really scared at first but eventually it's tail was wagging as he bit our shoelaces, it was adorable! We went to a 1950s-style diner for a meal before the cinema and we all got huge greasy burgers that were very nice. We met a few others and went to see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World at the cinema, the film was really good if a bit odd but everybody really enjoyed it anyway. Afterwards, we went to Jonathan and Sara's for a party (for the third time in a week), we played poker and an American version of ring of fire which was entertaining. Two Italian girls, Paola and Giulia, got really drunk and everybody had to look after them.
Monday was Labor Day which is essentially the American equivalent of the August Bank Holiday in Britain. I wrote my American Legislatures essay in the morning and in the afternoon we went to a pool party. It was a really relaxing way to spend the day - beer, barbecue and pool. We stayed there from about 3 til 9 then went to someone's house closer to the university. The car journey was a bit horrific, as there were 5 of us on the backseat - apparently the police in America don't really care about that sort of thing. We got some pizza from the amazing place we'd been to on Thursday then went to a bar but Emma got kicked out when she went to order chicken wings cos she didn't have ID so we left and went home.
Today, I've came down with a bit of a cold which is probably down to the fact that I've been drinking more or less every night - it's probably like fresher's flu. This evening, me and Emma went to Jonathan and Sara's because Paola, Giulia and Jacopo were making Italian food. It was absolutely lovely but I couldn't eat much cos I'd already eaten earlier on.
Tomorrow, I'm going to New York City! I'm so excited cos it's the one place in the world that I've always wanted to visit. I'm going on the bus which is only $35 return (about £23) and I'll hopefully get there in the early afternoon. Tomorrow night, I'm going to the US Open tennis evening session which should be amazing. I'm watching Caroline Wozniacki (the #1 women's seed and title favourite) vs. Dominika Cibulkova and Roger Federer vs. Robin Soderling, which is a rematch from the French Open where Soderling beat Federer in the quarter finals.
I'm planning to go to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Wall St., Brooklyn Bridge, Ground Zero, Times Square and the Empire State Building on Thursday then Central Park, Fifth Avenue and Bryant Park (cos it's Fashion Week) on Friday before getting the bus back at about 6.30.
I hope I manage to fit everything in! I'll blog when I get back.