I'm finally 21! It's such a nice feeling being able to get into places legitimately now, and not having to worry about being one of the few people who can't get in but, to be honest, I never really had any problems so it isn't as much of a big deal as I expected it to be.
Anyway, I'll continue from where I left off last time as it hasn't been too long since I last posted. Last Thursday I went to a speech by Maureen Dowd, who's a columnist for the New York Times. Since I've been taking my journalism class I've been becoming more sure that it's what I'd like to do after I graduate and I thought that hearing such an esteemed journalist talk about her career would be helpful. She was very funny and it was interesting to hear her take on journalism.
On Friday, me and Natalie went to the cinema to see Red Riding Hood. From the trailer I thought it looked quite entertaining but in reality it took itself far too seriously and had some of the worst acting I've seen in a long time. It was fun for a laugh but nothing more than that really. In the afternoon my friend Henry from my course in Nottingham arrived for a visit after spending most of the week in New York. That night we went to a bar called the Lionheart that I hadn't been to before but it was really good. It had most of the basics like pool tables and a jukebox, but one added bonus was a free popcorn machine which was very good quality! We didn't get back home til about 5.30 and had to get up at 9.30 to get the bus back down to NYC, which certainly wasn't fun.
That Saturday was Kegs 'n' Eggs in Albany which is the student celebration of St. Patrick's Day. The name signifies the fact that people get up at 3 in the morning to start drinking (kegs) and then all eat breakfast while drunk (eggs). Anyway, we obviously couldn't go because we had to get back to New York and we were actually probably quite lucky to miss it. A huge group of students went crazy in a residential area and caused loads of damage - smashing up cars and throwing household appliances from toasters to fridges from balconies on to the street. Six students were arrested for rioting and assaulting police officers, one person was stabbed and the neighbourhood was left in a terrible mess. The police have been analysing videos that people have put on Youtube so they can arrest more people for vandalism and other crimes. The reputation of the university has been degraded and one of my friends said she was worried that her degree would be seen as less worthy - so all in all, not a great day for the University at Albany!
Anyway, we missed all this and went to NYC on Saturday morning. We left Henry at Penn Station so he could go to Newark to catch his flight back to South Carolina and headed to the Indian that we'd been to the week before for a cheap lunch which was once again very nice. We spent most of the afternoon on Fifth Avenue, and Natalie decided to buy a necklace from Tiffany's. We decided to stay in a hotel next to JFK Airport because Natalie's flight was at 9 on Sunday morning and the journey from Manhattan would have taken too long. We arrived there around 8pm and had to order Domino's pizza because the hotel was on a major road, and it was impossible to walk anywhere for food. We had to get up at 6 in the morning to catch the shuttle bus to the airport at 7. I left Natalie as she was about to check in and caught the train back to Manhattan and got the bus back to Albany at 8.30.
The days before my birthday were quite uneventful as I had an exam to revise for and some other work to do, so it was nice to be able enjoy my birthday with most of my work done. I didn't do much during the day but one bonus was that the sun was out and it was 17°c which was the hottest it had been since October from what I can remember. I went to WT's with Emma and Ellen at 7ish to get food - we had to wait for a while because it was busy due to it being an Irish pub on St. Patrick's Day but we eventually got a table and the food was very nice. Emma and Ellen surprised me by getting the waitress to bring out a slice of Bailey's cheesecake with a candle after we'd finished which was a delicious treat! On the downside, I went to get my free bottle of champagne which they give people for their 21st but the bartender refused because I'd been in so many times before - this saddened me! Everyone else joined us afterwards and we stayed until about 11.30 then we went downtown to Bomber's, where they give you a free giant margharita. It was ridiculously sweet but I managed to drink about half of it before having to give it to everyone else to finish.
On Friday afternoon, me Emma and Ellen drove to Boston. We were staying with Ellen's friend Mallory who we'd stayed with last time. When we arrived, Mallory hadn't finished work yet so we went down to the city centre to go shopping and get something to eat. We found a Wagamama, which I didn't realise existed in America and decided to eat there. Afterwards we walked around trying to find a liquor store and ended up having to ask a group of police officers where one was - information they would only give us after Ellen declared that as a New Yorker she had no allegiance to the New York Yankees or New York Giants! After we'd bought some alcohol we went back to Mallory's and got ready to go out. We went to a bar called Lansdowne which was next to Fenway Park where the Boston Red Sox play. They had a live band who looked like a bunch of career criminals who had reached middle age ungracefully but they were actually really good. They did a nice variety of songs including Laid by James, Dynamite by Taio Cruz and, to end with, Enter Sandman by Metallica. We did a lot of dancing and then took a taxi home, in which you could see the map of the route on a screen in the back, and I could clearly see that the driver was going a long way round to get more money....
On Saturday morning we went for breakfast at The Breakfast Club, an 80's themed diner that we went to last time we were in Boston and it was as delicious as before. Afterwards, we went on the train to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Museum and Library which was out of the city centre. The museum was really good but was quite sad when it got to JFK's assassination and then the assassination of Robert Kennedy. The views at the end were amazing as the museum was situated on Boston Harbor and you get an amazing view of the Boston skyline as well as some of the islands surrounding Boston. We went back to the city centre and went to a frozen yoghurt shop called Pinkberry which was very nice but very busy and expensive. Afterwards, we headed back to Mallory's apartment, said our goodbyes and went for food before heading back to Albany.
I don't have much to do this week besides work but I'm hoping of booking a trip somewhere for the week after. We haven't decided where to go yet but it's gonna be between Charleston, South Carolina and Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee. On a sour note, we found out today that the university is cancelling Fountain Day which is a huge party in April when the huge fountain gets switched back on. This was one of the major reasons I wanted to come to Albany and something that everyone was really looking forward to. The president of the university says that he doesn't want anything to damage the reputation of the university even further but I think it's completely unfair to punish so many students who had nothing to do with what happened last week. I don't know what's going to happen but everyone is really unhappy and people are planning to celebrate at the fountain even if the fountain isn't turned back on. It really isn't fair and I'm so angry!!! Anyway, that's all for now...
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Thursday, 10 March 2011
The Passenger
Hello, I'm sorry I haven't written for so long but I've been very busy!
I'll pick up from last time, on Friday 18th February we set off on our road trip. We had 2 cars because there was 7 of us, I was in a Chevrolet Impala which was a pretty big car. The first day we drove to Buffalo which is about 4 hours west of Albany. The temperature reached 15°c while we were on the way there which was lovely surprise. Some of my friends went to see a NHL (ice hockey) game but I wasn't really interested and it cost over $60. The rest of us went to a small restaurant to eat and it was really nice, afterwards we met up with everyone else in a bar and played a few games of table hockey, which was like table football but only with hockey!
Early on Saturday morning we left to head to Niagara Falls, which was only 25 minutes away, but as we got there, the weather turned and there was awful fog and heavy snow. The border crossing was really easy and only took about two minutes then we drove down into the town. We got out of the car but the view was really bad, you could barely make out the waterfalls even though they were only about 100 metres away. We decided that we would come back on either Sunday or Monday in the hope that we would have a better chance of seeing the waterfalls. We then drove 90 minutes north to Toronto, around the western side of Lake Ontario. We checked in but had a problem as we'd accidentally only booked two single beds in the room when there was four of us, so we had to pay extra to get a camp bed in our room. Later that afternoon, the weather was really nice so we decided to head to the CN Tower, Toronto's most famous landmark and one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. The views were amazing and at one point we were 1400 feet in the air. We went to a bar for dinner then went to bed because we were really tired.
The next morning we decided to head back to Niagara Falls because the weather forecast was a lot better. When we finally got there, the sun was out and the sky was blue which meant that the views were absolutely incredible. There was a mist in the air which was the spray from the waterfalls so you got absolutely soaked and my friend's hair actually froze! We took lots of photos and went for lunch then drove back to Toronto. We'd aimed to go shopping when we got back but it was late Sunday afternoon and all the shops were closing so we just went for dinner then to a bar. On Monday morning we set off and got back to Albany around 8 hours later.
For the next few days, a group of us went to stay at my friend Jonathan's house in Saratoga Springs, which is about 40 minutes north of Albany. Some people went skiing everyday but I just stayed at the house with a couple of others because I've never skied before so we just had some lazy days. We got back home on Thursday night then on Friday we went to the cinema to see Unknown with Liam Neeson which was a pretty average popcorn movie but entertaining nonetheless. We went to New York on Saturday for Emma's 21st birthday. We went to a club called Home Sweet Home which was really good and more like the clubs that I'm used to from home. It was a really good night and I wasn't as sick as last time I went out in New York.
Last Wednesday, I went to see a speech that Bill Clinton gave at our university. He talked about lots of different things but mainly about how we need to use our initiative to make the world a better place. Apparently he was paid $200,000 by the university to speak which he donated to his charitable foundation. His speech was inspirational but I'm not sure if it was worth that much money but I suppose if it inspires people to do better, it was worth it.
On Thursday I headed back down to New York as my friend Natalie from Nottingham was coming to visit me for 10 nights. My plan was to meet her at the airport at about 8.30pm but when I was on the bus I checked the internet and saw that her flight had been cancelled! We couldn't really contact with each other because she couldn't receive texts or calls from me so the only way was for her to use payphones whenever she came across them or to text me, but as I said I couldn't reply. Eventually she arrived at JFK at 11.30 the next morning and I was there to meet her. We went back to the hotel then had lunch and went to Central Park, Fifth Avenue and to the top of the Rockefeller Center. We decided that we would go to see a show on Broadway and settled on Chicago as we wanted to see one where we knew most of the songs. The show was a bit odd because they had the orchestra on the stage with the cast performing around them but it was still really good.
The next day we went to the south of Manhattan and went on the Staten Island Ferry so we could see the Statue of Liberty without having to pay, and the view was just as good as the one you get from paying for a special ferry. Afterwards we walked around and saw the Stock Exchange, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Seaport and Chinatown. In the evening we went for an Indian at a restaurant near the hotel which was really nice then just had a walk near the hotel because we were really tired. We got the bus back to Albany at Sunday lunchtime and didn't do much else on Sunday. On Monday we went to the mall and I had classes all day on Tuesday so we didn't get up to much. Last night we went to The Cheesecake Factory which was amazing but I felt sick afterwards. When we'd finished there we went to look in a few shops and I bought some fancy dress for St. Patrick's Day.
We're heading back to New York on Saturday morning because Natalie is flying back on Sunday morning. Then next Thursday is my 21st birthday which is very exciting! I'll update the blog after my birthday but at the moment my plans are to have a night out in Albany on my birthday then go to Boston for the weekend because I really like it there. Bye for now!!!
I'll pick up from last time, on Friday 18th February we set off on our road trip. We had 2 cars because there was 7 of us, I was in a Chevrolet Impala which was a pretty big car. The first day we drove to Buffalo which is about 4 hours west of Albany. The temperature reached 15°c while we were on the way there which was lovely surprise. Some of my friends went to see a NHL (ice hockey) game but I wasn't really interested and it cost over $60. The rest of us went to a small restaurant to eat and it was really nice, afterwards we met up with everyone else in a bar and played a few games of table hockey, which was like table football but only with hockey!
Early on Saturday morning we left to head to Niagara Falls, which was only 25 minutes away, but as we got there, the weather turned and there was awful fog and heavy snow. The border crossing was really easy and only took about two minutes then we drove down into the town. We got out of the car but the view was really bad, you could barely make out the waterfalls even though they were only about 100 metres away. We decided that we would come back on either Sunday or Monday in the hope that we would have a better chance of seeing the waterfalls. We then drove 90 minutes north to Toronto, around the western side of Lake Ontario. We checked in but had a problem as we'd accidentally only booked two single beds in the room when there was four of us, so we had to pay extra to get a camp bed in our room. Later that afternoon, the weather was really nice so we decided to head to the CN Tower, Toronto's most famous landmark and one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. The views were amazing and at one point we were 1400 feet in the air. We went to a bar for dinner then went to bed because we were really tired.
The next morning we decided to head back to Niagara Falls because the weather forecast was a lot better. When we finally got there, the sun was out and the sky was blue which meant that the views were absolutely incredible. There was a mist in the air which was the spray from the waterfalls so you got absolutely soaked and my friend's hair actually froze! We took lots of photos and went for lunch then drove back to Toronto. We'd aimed to go shopping when we got back but it was late Sunday afternoon and all the shops were closing so we just went for dinner then to a bar. On Monday morning we set off and got back to Albany around 8 hours later.
For the next few days, a group of us went to stay at my friend Jonathan's house in Saratoga Springs, which is about 40 minutes north of Albany. Some people went skiing everyday but I just stayed at the house with a couple of others because I've never skied before so we just had some lazy days. We got back home on Thursday night then on Friday we went to the cinema to see Unknown with Liam Neeson which was a pretty average popcorn movie but entertaining nonetheless. We went to New York on Saturday for Emma's 21st birthday. We went to a club called Home Sweet Home which was really good and more like the clubs that I'm used to from home. It was a really good night and I wasn't as sick as last time I went out in New York.
Last Wednesday, I went to see a speech that Bill Clinton gave at our university. He talked about lots of different things but mainly about how we need to use our initiative to make the world a better place. Apparently he was paid $200,000 by the university to speak which he donated to his charitable foundation. His speech was inspirational but I'm not sure if it was worth that much money but I suppose if it inspires people to do better, it was worth it.
On Thursday I headed back down to New York as my friend Natalie from Nottingham was coming to visit me for 10 nights. My plan was to meet her at the airport at about 8.30pm but when I was on the bus I checked the internet and saw that her flight had been cancelled! We couldn't really contact with each other because she couldn't receive texts or calls from me so the only way was for her to use payphones whenever she came across them or to text me, but as I said I couldn't reply. Eventually she arrived at JFK at 11.30 the next morning and I was there to meet her. We went back to the hotel then had lunch and went to Central Park, Fifth Avenue and to the top of the Rockefeller Center. We decided that we would go to see a show on Broadway and settled on Chicago as we wanted to see one where we knew most of the songs. The show was a bit odd because they had the orchestra on the stage with the cast performing around them but it was still really good.
The next day we went to the south of Manhattan and went on the Staten Island Ferry so we could see the Statue of Liberty without having to pay, and the view was just as good as the one you get from paying for a special ferry. Afterwards we walked around and saw the Stock Exchange, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Seaport and Chinatown. In the evening we went for an Indian at a restaurant near the hotel which was really nice then just had a walk near the hotel because we were really tired. We got the bus back to Albany at Sunday lunchtime and didn't do much else on Sunday. On Monday we went to the mall and I had classes all day on Tuesday so we didn't get up to much. Last night we went to The Cheesecake Factory which was amazing but I felt sick afterwards. When we'd finished there we went to look in a few shops and I bought some fancy dress for St. Patrick's Day.
We're heading back to New York on Saturday morning because Natalie is flying back on Sunday morning. Then next Thursday is my 21st birthday which is very exciting! I'll update the blog after my birthday but at the moment my plans are to have a night out in Albany on my birthday then go to Boston for the weekend because I really like it there. Bye for now!!!
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Superbowl and Letterman
Time for the weekly update.
Last Saturday it was my friend Mehdi's birthday so he had a party at his flat and we went out afterwards which was quite fun. On Sunday it was the Superbowl which is the biggest sporting event in America. Green Bay Packers took on Pittsburgh Steelers. I find American football a bit confusing but I enjoyed the game, I chose to support Green Bay and they eventually won 31-25. They'd been leading 21-3 at one point and it looked like Pittsburgh might steal it at the end but Green Bay just about held on. Personally I found the adverts and the pre-game and half-time shows more entertaining. Christina Aguilera sang the national anthem but messed it up badly which was quite funny. The Black Eyed Peas performed at half-time and although their vocals were terrible, the show itself was spectacular. The adverts cost up to $3 million for 30 seconds so some of them were very entertaining!
Monday and Tuesday were boring as I had lots of work to do, but on Wednesday I went to New York to see Late Night with David Letterman. Before the show we ate at an amazing Mexican restaurant where they made the guacamole in front of you! We arrived at 2 and lined up for about 15 minutes then got given our tickets and were told to come back at 3.30. We eventually got into the studio at about 4.15 and a warm-up comedian told a few jokes then introduced the orchestra who played a couple of songs before David Letterman came out. It turned out that it was 47 years to the day since The Beatles had made their American TV debut on The Ed Sullivan Show in the theatre that we were sitting in! The guests were Elton John and Anderson Cooper, who's an American journalist. At some points it was difficult to see because of the huge cameras but it was still very entertaining!
On Thursday we went to WT's as per usual then on Friday we went for dinner at Chipotle which is a Mexican which is halfway between fast food and a restaurant. Afterwards, everyone was going to see The King's Speech at the cinema but me and Emma had already seen it so we went to see True Grit, which I had already seen but I preferred to The King's Speech. On Saturday I went to the cinema again, this time to see Made In Dagenham, which was a comedy drama about female workers at Ford's Dagenham factory in 1968 who went on strike for equal pay. I really enjoyed it but it was very strange hearing Dagenham accents in America, and I'm sure the main character partly based herself on Stacey Solomon! At night we went out to a couple of bars.
Next week, it's Winter Break so we have a week off. From Friday to Monday, I'm going on a road trip with some friends to Buffalo, Toronto and Niagara Falls which is all very exciting. It's only costing about $130 each for car hire and hotels which is an absolute bargain! I don't have much else planned for this week so I'll update the blog after the trip - bye for now!
Last Saturday it was my friend Mehdi's birthday so he had a party at his flat and we went out afterwards which was quite fun. On Sunday it was the Superbowl which is the biggest sporting event in America. Green Bay Packers took on Pittsburgh Steelers. I find American football a bit confusing but I enjoyed the game, I chose to support Green Bay and they eventually won 31-25. They'd been leading 21-3 at one point and it looked like Pittsburgh might steal it at the end but Green Bay just about held on. Personally I found the adverts and the pre-game and half-time shows more entertaining. Christina Aguilera sang the national anthem but messed it up badly which was quite funny. The Black Eyed Peas performed at half-time and although their vocals were terrible, the show itself was spectacular. The adverts cost up to $3 million for 30 seconds so some of them were very entertaining!
Monday and Tuesday were boring as I had lots of work to do, but on Wednesday I went to New York to see Late Night with David Letterman. Before the show we ate at an amazing Mexican restaurant where they made the guacamole in front of you! We arrived at 2 and lined up for about 15 minutes then got given our tickets and were told to come back at 3.30. We eventually got into the studio at about 4.15 and a warm-up comedian told a few jokes then introduced the orchestra who played a couple of songs before David Letterman came out. It turned out that it was 47 years to the day since The Beatles had made their American TV debut on The Ed Sullivan Show in the theatre that we were sitting in! The guests were Elton John and Anderson Cooper, who's an American journalist. At some points it was difficult to see because of the huge cameras but it was still very entertaining!
On Thursday we went to WT's as per usual then on Friday we went for dinner at Chipotle which is a Mexican which is halfway between fast food and a restaurant. Afterwards, everyone was going to see The King's Speech at the cinema but me and Emma had already seen it so we went to see True Grit, which I had already seen but I preferred to The King's Speech. On Saturday I went to the cinema again, this time to see Made In Dagenham, which was a comedy drama about female workers at Ford's Dagenham factory in 1968 who went on strike for equal pay. I really enjoyed it but it was very strange hearing Dagenham accents in America, and I'm sure the main character partly based herself on Stacey Solomon! At night we went out to a couple of bars.
Next week, it's Winter Break so we have a week off. From Friday to Monday, I'm going on a road trip with some friends to Buffalo, Toronto and Niagara Falls which is all very exciting. It's only costing about $130 each for car hire and hotels which is an absolute bargain! I don't have much else planned for this week so I'll update the blog after the trip - bye for now!
Saturday, 5 February 2011
Back For Good
I realise that I've done a very bad job of maintaining the blog but I'm going to summarise what's happened in the 3 weeks that I've been back in Albany, then I'm going to try my best to update the blog weekly. This is not going to be in any logical order because it's far too difficult to remember what happened when!
First of all I have to talk about the weather! I've never experienced such cold temperatures and huge levels of snow in my entire life! It's snowed quite heavily a few times since I've been back but the most surprising thing is the piles of snow on the sides of the roads. At the mall car park they must be at least 15 feet high! A couple of weeks ago, the temperature dropped to around -25°c which was unbearably cold, so now when it's -8 it feels perfectly fine - that certainly wouldn't be the case if I was in England! There was a terrible snowstorm that hit most of the country on Tuesday and Wednesday and we were supposed to get it really bad on Wednesday so the university called a Snow Day. This annoyed me because I don't have any classes on Wednesday so it made no difference to me whatsoever, but the storm faded out before it reached the North East so it wasn't really bad here.
Since I've been back I've been on a couple of trips. One afternoon I went to a shopping outlet in Massachusetts which was just under an hour away from Albany. Apparently it was quite small compared to most retail outlets but I got a pair of Hilfiger jeans for $13 and a gilet from Gap for $12 so I was very happy. Last weekend I went to New York for a night out with some of my friends. My friend Emma had a friend visiting from England so they were staying in an apartment for the weekend so we all just stayed there. Unfortunately, I inexplicably got very drunk and can't remember any of the night besides being sick. Needless to say, the journey back to Albany the next morning was very difficult!
I'm enjoying my classes this semester more than last semester. I'm taking American Foreign Policy, Roosevelt to Reagan, Issues and Images of Diversity and Introduction to Report Writing. The last two are my favourites so far.
On Wednesday I'm heading back to New York because I've won tickets for The Late Show with David Letterman. The guest is going to be Elton John which should be very entertaining! I've also got tickets to see Bill Clinton give a speech at my university in March.
I've booked a cruise for Spring Break which is the thing I'm most looking forward to at the moment. We leave from New Orleans and go to Belize, Honduras and two places in Mexico. I don't think it's a young persons cruise but I'm more bothered about relaxing in the sun than getting really drunk! My mam, Brian and Matthew are coming to visit the week before I leave and I'm going to stay with them in St. Louis for a few nights before I go on the cruise - all very exciting!
That's all for now but I'll write another post next weekend. Bye!!
First of all I have to talk about the weather! I've never experienced such cold temperatures and huge levels of snow in my entire life! It's snowed quite heavily a few times since I've been back but the most surprising thing is the piles of snow on the sides of the roads. At the mall car park they must be at least 15 feet high! A couple of weeks ago, the temperature dropped to around -25°c which was unbearably cold, so now when it's -8 it feels perfectly fine - that certainly wouldn't be the case if I was in England! There was a terrible snowstorm that hit most of the country on Tuesday and Wednesday and we were supposed to get it really bad on Wednesday so the university called a Snow Day. This annoyed me because I don't have any classes on Wednesday so it made no difference to me whatsoever, but the storm faded out before it reached the North East so it wasn't really bad here.
Since I've been back I've been on a couple of trips. One afternoon I went to a shopping outlet in Massachusetts which was just under an hour away from Albany. Apparently it was quite small compared to most retail outlets but I got a pair of Hilfiger jeans for $13 and a gilet from Gap for $12 so I was very happy. Last weekend I went to New York for a night out with some of my friends. My friend Emma had a friend visiting from England so they were staying in an apartment for the weekend so we all just stayed there. Unfortunately, I inexplicably got very drunk and can't remember any of the night besides being sick. Needless to say, the journey back to Albany the next morning was very difficult!
I'm enjoying my classes this semester more than last semester. I'm taking American Foreign Policy, Roosevelt to Reagan, Issues and Images of Diversity and Introduction to Report Writing. The last two are my favourites so far.
On Wednesday I'm heading back to New York because I've won tickets for The Late Show with David Letterman. The guest is going to be Elton John which should be very entertaining! I've also got tickets to see Bill Clinton give a speech at my university in March.
I've booked a cruise for Spring Break which is the thing I'm most looking forward to at the moment. We leave from New Orleans and go to Belize, Honduras and two places in Mexico. I don't think it's a young persons cruise but I'm more bothered about relaxing in the sun than getting really drunk! My mam, Brian and Matthew are coming to visit the week before I leave and I'm going to stay with them in St. Louis for a few nights before I go on the cruise - all very exciting!
That's all for now but I'll write another post next weekend. Bye!!
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