New York -- Week 1

These last two weeks have been, without a doubt, some of the two craziest weeks of my life. This is the first time I've had a chance to catch a breath. I'm not complaining (you know me, I like keeping busy), but it is nice to finally have a chance to sit and reflect on everything that's been going on. Yay for Sundays.

So! Recap of my first week in New York City:

Last Sunday I flew in and literally slept through both flights. With graduation and moving and family gatherings, I maybe had seven hours of sleep total the few days before. So I was exhausted. The two-hour time difference didn't help much either. But it's all good now.

We took a taxi from the airport to the International House, where I'm staying these next two months. It's not as bad as I had imagined. It's one of those buildings that was really majestic back in its day, it's just that it's day was 100 or so years ago. Here are some pictures:

tiny, tiny. and easily messy.

one of the lounge areas. old, but i like it.

the subway station i take to work. right in the middle of harlem. i think it's actually quite beautiful.

The communal bathrooms are an adjustment. Last night I was showering and the lights turned off midway through. Thoughts of Psycho ran through my head. Luckily I did not end up like poor old Marion and I]m safe to see another day.

Monday I started my internship at Goodman Media. I took the subway and didn't get too lost. I mean, I made it there on time. Also, first rule about being a New Yorker, DO NOT make eye contact with anyone on the subway. I accidentally looked at this one girl, smiled, and received a death glare. Oops. I did find that most people are nice one-on-one, but commuting to and fro they just don't want to be bothered. It makes sense. There are a lot of people. Don't want to get too cozy.

Anyway, about Goodman ... I love it here! Right away they placed me on several accounts and put me right to work. Real work too, not grunt stuff. And I'm happy to say that all that schooling paid off; I at least have a basic knowledge of everything that's been asked of me. I hope I'm doing a good job. Everyone's been super nice and helpful. They have a ton of interns throughout the years, but they still treat us as one of the gang. It's really comforting.

Oh and did I mention the view??

view from the times square conference room

the "diner"--coolest break room ever, or coolest break room ever?

standing outside the office building

That night my dad was actually in the city for a business meeting, so he took me out to eat and to pick up some supplies, which I was so grateful for. I was starving, and we ate at this delicious Italian restaurant, Carmines, where the family-style portions were much more than I could handle. I'm really glad Dad was there to help me out on my first day; it was such a blessing.

Tuesday some of us went to eat at Dallas BBQ, which was good, but Fluffy's cheesecake was even better, a place I remembered from last time I was here. Basically I want cheesecake all the time. Number one reason I came to New York. (I'm only slightly kidding)

mmm.mmm.mmm

We also walked around Times Square, where the costumed men kept making Jessie scream. It was hysterical.

Wednesday was the NYC Great Gatsby premiere, so we wandered over to the Lincoln Center to see if we could spot Leo and the gang on the red carpet. It was pretty crazy, there were a ton of people and lots of screaming girls. But we got to see him! Along with Tobey Maguire, Amitabh Bachchan, Carey Mulligan, Jay Z, Nina Dobrev, and others. I couldn't get that great of pictures, but here they are:

jay z

amitabh! the indian crowd behind us was going nuts.

tobey

so sexy.

Thursday we tried to get lottery tickets to a Broadway show and failed, so we ended up eating at Shake Shack and wandering around Times Square instead. We bought tickets to a stand-up comedy show, which hopefully we will go to sometime this week.

Friday I went to the Met! I only really had time to explore the first floor--this place is huge! I'm going to go back several times, especially to see all the Impressionist paintings I missed. The first floor contained some pretty rad things, such as Greek statues, Egyptian tombs, medieval art and armor, OLD French furniture, and Native American clothing. I felt so cultured walking around there. It's amazing that humanity has lasted this long and there are still artifacts left over from those eras. It sometimes boggles the mind to think about how they came up with all this stuff with their ancient tools and knowledge. Craziness.

more cheesecake. obviously.

Saturday was a pretty long day. I got to sleep in, which was nice. We went to Central Park, Canal Street, Chinatown, the Brooklyn Bridge, and Wall Street. I actually took the time to make a video of our Saturday adventures, which I need to be more proactive on in general. It's hard trying to balance not looking like a tourist in your business clothes while wanting to video everything you see. But Saturday was casual, and I had no shame. Enjoy!

Overall, it was an exhausting, but thoroughly enjoyable, first week at New York! It flew by so fast, much like I'm sure the whole two months is going to. There are a million things I want to do and I hope I have time to do them all. I'll continue to keep you updated. It's weird that I haven't had much time for social media, I've just been so busy! I'll try to keep in touch as best I can. But feel free to text and call me!

xoxo,

chelsaat