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New York, I Love You

March 16, 2012 in Alumni Blogs by npadilla | Permalink

Perhaps it is the 70-degree weather, the free (working!) espresso machine I found on the side of the road, or perhaps being in the company of friends and family, but New York City is intoxicating. While a flight to California was just out of reach, visiting my brother and his girlfriend in Brooklyn, NY was a perfect substitute, especially considering I was able to make the trip with my boyfriend and our other friend, Dan.

In case you haven’t been (or just if you’re interest to know about all the great cities you can visit easily by bus from Harvard), here’s a short whirlwind tour of NYC, Brooklyn, and beyond.

New York has great buildings…

… delicious (and beautiful) coffee…

… thiiiis many cool used book store (as does Harvard square too!)…

(PS. ^ that’s me)

… cheap thrift stores…

(as modeled by my boyfriend & legal advisor here ^)

… towering buildings…

… and towering people? (or the use of wide-angle lens cameras)…

(^ Dan & I just grew a few feet…)

One of the greatest parts about the location of Harvard (besides Boston being a fun city and Harvard Square having some of the best sandwiches around) is its closeness to other great cities to travel too—D.C., Portland Maine, and Pennsylvania have been among the ventures.

Indeed, all the time away from Harvard has given me the breath of fresh air (though being in the city, perhaps not so fresh) necessary to come back for part two of the semester. Already the Leverett House Open Email List is filled with discussions of diplomas, graduation day speakers, and job openings.

And speaking of post-grad plans, I have recently been working on my submission to the Carol K. Pfrozheimer Student Fellowship, which invites Harvard Undergraduates to take advantage of the Schlesinger Library I discussed in my last post. The Fellowship provides money for research that draws of the library’s holdings and given the amazing diversity of literature on food culture and history in Schlesinger Library, I’m putting together an application that draws together my work in political-economic anthropology and food culture, focusing on the recent artisanal movements. I believe this research would also be extremely beneficial for my final project for my American Food history course.

I’ll try to stay up to date on that process and until then, hope you guys all have a great weekend! I know I’m looking forward to this last weekend off and yet also to hanging out with my Harvard girl friends once a few of them return from their own spring break adventures in Austin, Texas as the South-By-Southwest Festival.

~Natalie

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JFK –> LAX

January 12, 2012 in Reid's Blog by Reid | 2 comments

It’s been a while since I’ve updated everyone on my life. The 30th, I was in New Hampshire with my family, doing a little snowshoeing and reuniting with my crazy relatives. The 5th, I was flying from JFK to LAX, happily squished between an old Italian man and a snoring jetsetter. Now that I’ve been in the land of sunshine for a week, I suppose it’s time to write an entry!

Christmas was, of course, excellent. I received a UKULELE from my stepdad and my mom, which was awesome, and a lovely plane ticket to Los Angeles from my father. (Awesome again? Yes.) After the celebrations, I said goodbye to my mom, little sister, stepdad, dog, and cat and headed off to NYC with my other sister to visit our father. (Enough family for ya?) The ride was smooth, and we arrived in Connecticut in time for dinner with my grandmother. It was great to see the other side of my family, and although I missed Vermont’s snow, I was excited to get into the city for a few days. Here’s my “travel guide.”

 

NYC in 36ish Hours

Dining:

  • Penang: My sister and I went to lunch here with her Oberlin field hockey teammates. Start with the Roti Canai as an appetizer, have the spicy shrimp noodles for a main course, and obviously go somewhere else for pastries.)
  • Sugar Cafe: This is where you should get dessert. If you like fudgey brownies, this is the place to go. It’s a skinny cafe, much longer than it is wide, and provides the perfect munching atmosphere. Or, take the sweets to go and hop on the subway.
  • Pinkberry: JUST KIDDING, don’t go here. If you go to any chain in NYC, shame on you. There are tons of places (that I obviously didn’t have time to go to) which are delicious and more fun than any froyo chain could ever hope to be.

Lodging:

  • Stay with your grandparents in Connecticut. If you don’t have any grandparents who live there, find someone else’s.

Activities:

  • Photography: New York City is full of tourists, and what better way to blend in than to tote your Nikon along? You may come home with such pictures as this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

ooohsparklez

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Go Shopping: see above.
  • Participate in an Occupy Wallstreet protest: Although I have many friends who are anti-occupy anything, I’m not. My sister and I ended up in Grand Central with about 100 other people, and we documented/protested the National Defense Authorization Act. (Look it up. You may wish to protest after reading what it is.)
  • Visit Rudy’s Guitar Center: If you’re at all interested in guitars, ukuleles, mandolins, etc, this is the place to be. Also, John Mayer was playing guitars in the uptown location for theentire day…the day before I visited. I’ll be back, though, because I left my guitar to be humidified, as it has totally dried up in Canaday this semester.

COOL. So NYC was awesome, per usual, but on the fifth I started a new adventure in the City of Angels. Read on for the exciting bit.

 

LA

I’ve been here for a whole week, visiting my GREAT friend Georgie, and staying in her house in the urban sprawl. I cannot think of a city more physically different than New York– it goes on forever, buildings are generally low (except for in downtown), it’s always fair weather (as opposed to the extremes of NYC), everyone drives, and there’s not really a subway system (earthquakes, you know). However, the fashionistas, musicians, actors, and the like can be found comfortably (or uncomfortably) residing in either city; they’re known for similar arts. Needless to say, I love LA and NYC equally, but this weather is the perfect break from the cold. (Yeah, it’s 73 and sunny right now.) Here’s a photo-essay of the highlights of my trip, including captions.

Silverlake is the home of hipsters, which means Intelligensia Coffee and cool laundromats.

 

If LA isn't known for its street art, it should be.

 

Vermont Avenue is home to the VT Restaurant, which sports a sign that says "Barre, VT"…interesting choice of towns, eh?

 

LA, birthplace of American Apparel.

 

In Little Armenia, you will find Harvard Boulevard and Harvard Preschool, the secret to acceptance.

 

Street art is so popular there are lines that stretch around the block, just to see a gallery.

 

 

That's Georgie, those are French fries. Best ones I've had here? At The Standard, an artsy hotel.

 

This is what your building could look like.

 

Check out the city! No, it's not that small–the high rises are just in downtown, and the rest of LA spreads out as far as the eye can see.

 

The City of Angels is also the City of Dreams. Whether or not they're broken is left up for debate.

 

Venice Beach, right on the edge of the city, is an awesome place to people-watch…because of the other bizarre people roaming about.

 

At Venice, you can find many a skateboarder. There's no place like empty pools.

 

Be forewarned: if carrying a ukulele on the beach, one might break into an impromptu concert. (Yup, datz me!)

 

The Santa Monica Pier — Gorgeous views, right near the city.

 

The End of Rt 66!

 

Obviously, LA has some downsides, one being the danger of eating seafood, due to pollution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that’s all for now. Next time I post, I’ll be back on campus for Speak Out Loud Wintersession workshop!

 

Until then,

-Reid

 

 

 

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New York, New York

December 15, 2010 in Kate's Blog by Kate Meakem | Permalink

I love Boston.  I love Cambridge even more.  But sometimes it’s nice to take a break and do something random, do something spontaneous, do something… like go to New York!

As I mentioned in my previous post, my exam schedule for this semester is really strange.  I had a two-part Spanish exam at the beginning of last week while it was still Reading Period, and a 15-page Celtic History final paper due Friday afternoon.  Now I have an entire week of nothing before my next two exams, which will be Economics 10 on Saturday morning and Government 20 on the following Monday afternoon.  I suppose that most students, given all of this time, would either waste it or use every second to study.  I decided to give myself a break after a week of hard work before the second week of hard work by going to visit some friends in New York.

This might sound drastic and only a little crazy.  I do admit to being on the spontaneous side of normal, but really it was very easy and not at all hard to do.  Being from Pittsburgh, I’m not used to easy travel unless it’s by car to either Ohio or West Virginia or by plane to anywhere worth going.  It turns out that in New England, there is plenty of affordable public transportation that can take you almost anywhere!

After I decided I wanted to go to New York for the weekend, I looked up ways of getting there.  Amtrak has a fast-moving three-hour train ride there for about $90 one way.  While this no doubt would have been both comfortable and quick, I decided that I really wasn’t willing to hand over that kind of cash for a quick trip.  So I looked up bus routes, and lo and behold Bolt Bus has a four-hour ride from Boston to New York for only $15!

The trip itself was also easy!  I took the T (Boston’s subway system) directly from Harvard Square to South Station, where it was a two-minute walk to the bus terminal where I boarded my bus.  The Bolt Bus had Wi-fi and power outlets so I could watch endless numbers of movies on Netflix and stalk my friends on Facebook.

Before I knew it, I was there – dropped off right outside of Penn Station!  But while New York was awesome, I found that I really did miss Cambridge.  The great thing about going to school in a city like Cambridge is that it’s a lot more manageable in size but there is still always more to explore.  But, if you’re ever looking for something crazy and spontaneous to do… New York is just a $15 bus ride away!

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