21

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...