Day 1 + 2

Hello New York City!

Currently I am sitting in my bed, looking out a huge window, which has the most amazing view of the Empire State Building. Monday night it was lit up in red, white and blue for Memorial Day, but tonight it's yellow. So great. The Empire State Building is right outside my window!!! Also, I hung up some posters in my room and right above my bed, without even thinking, I placed the London night sky view poster.

I get to sleep under the New York and London skies at the same time :) :) :) I'm cheesy, I know.

ALSO. after dinner tonight, we were walking and one of the girls pointed out this set of 3 little stores, owned by a British family. One store is a tea store and has teatime and crumpets, one store sells British goods, the third store is a chippy shop!! I almost cried of happiness. Honestly. No one understood my excitement. Oh well. Can't wait to go back and become best friends with that family!!! My little piece of England right around the corner. :)

So long story short, I moved in Monday morning. The whole family took a road trip, helped me unpack and clean... we grabbed lunch, then they hit the road.

I was supposed to have six roomies but once we moved in we realized, no way is this gonna work out. 3 rooms, 2 bathrooms (one connected to a bedroom), one refrigerator, no common space, bunk beds in 2 of 3 rooms.... nope. not happening. And considering other interns' apartments were much more spacious, it really wasn't financially fair for six girls to have this small place. So, Lizzie's dad worked his persuasive magic and Lizzie and Marissa were moved to another apartment in the building. That leaves me and 3 other girls, Rheanna, Kirsten and Rosie in my current place. Rheanna and I share the larger bedroom, and Kirsten and Rosie each have their own rooms. Sharing a bedroom is not ideal, but I happen to have my own little nook in this oddly shaped bedroom (I'll post pictures soon!), so it seems kinda like two bedrooms. kinda. haha but we'll make it work!!

Good thing is, there's air conditioning and it works like a charm. Counting my lucky stars for that.

I'm staying at NYU apartments in between the east and west sides, next to Greenwich Village. And, right next to 5th Ave. Yes... 5th Ave... the 5th Ave, famous shopping street! This could be dangerous. There are so many things around. Everything I could ever need it right nearby. Convenient stores, restaurants galore, grocery stores, shops... Union Square is a two blocks away. There's even a puppy daycare next door. It's the most perfect location.

After my family left Monday, I met a few of the other interns then did some grocery shopping. Where's a Tesco when you need it. I headed to Whole Foods, which was the only store nearby (that I know of) and wow was I in for a surprise. I did about 20 circles and loops around, finally picking out the "essential" food items. Carrots, milk, eggs, grapes, cookies. Essentials? Whole Foods is... expensive. It is also very organic-y. And I am not.. organic-y. I just want eggs. Not organic, expensive eggs. Just eggs. After that, I trekked (two blocks in intense heat is a trek) back to my apartment.

This city is tiring. One trip to Whole Foods is enough to wear you out! The other girls and I were joking about how we literally need to take a break or a nap after we go anywhere. NYC in the summer is HOT. and HUMID. so much for looking nice for work. I'll look good when I leave my apartment, but by the time I use the subway and walk in the heat, I'm going to be disgusting. Yuck.

Monday night I met a few of the other girls and we just sat around chatting about journalist things and the internship. I can't put into words how nice it is to be around people with the same interests as me. I can talk about geeky journalist things to them and they are just as enthused about it as I am. I'm around my own people! Journalists are one of a kind. We're sarcastic, quirky.. we procrastinate and as seen by our experience with the dinner bill tonight.. we don't like dealing with math and numbers. Anyway, I can't wait to exchange magazine stories with each other as this summer goes on! (Background info: we each were assigned a different magazine in the city.. there's about 30 of us and most are living at these NYU apartments I'm at).

Come Tuesday, I woke up, met a few other interns and did some errands in the area. Hello hugest bed, bath & beyond I've ever seen! and of course, the thing I needed was in the furthest corner of the store. Then Danielle, Steph and I headed to card services to get our NYU ID card. After waiting for a half hour in one line and 10 minutes in another, we finally got our IDs. Then it was back to the apartment for a rest, of course.

On to the next errand about an hour later. A dry run of the daily trek to the Time & Life building, where Sports Illustrated is. Lilly, Kirsten and Steph joined me, because Lilly and Steph also work for Time Inc. magazines. I am terrified of the subway system, but after asking a stranger for help (where are your subway maps, new york??!?!? I miss the tube), we finally got over to 49th street. The Time & Life Building is on 50th, right across the street from Radio City Music Hall!!! It's the greatest location. I can't believe I get to go to work there everyday!!! Insane.

After that? Back to the apartment for rest of course. Later we met up with some more interns and went to a mexican restaurant, Benny's, nearby where I had the yummiest chicken quesadilla. It was so great to just hang out with other interns and get to know everyone. Although, it's funny because thanks to Facebook, some of us had already been communicating or at least recognized each other.

We called it a night because we have orientation bright and early Wednesday morning. I'm anxious! This is a big deal. This is all so real but I think the realness will hit when I step into that Sports Illustrated office next Monday. Yikes. Wish me luck!!!


xxx