I recently took a trip out East to visit the grad school I’ll be going to this Fall, Seton Hall University. It happened to work out that my dear friend from adolescence lives in New York City and another of our friends would be out visiting her the same time I was due to visit. Somehow in the matter of a couple of days plane tickets were bought and it was planned that Preston and I would visit Alice and stay with her in NYC for a weekend. On Monday I would then take the short 30 minute train ride over to South Orange and check out my school. New York City was a fabulous time, it became like a 5 year reunion for us as none of us will be attending our actual one this June (honestly, have I really been out of high school for 5 years now!?) First thing off the plane and train Preston insists we have a drink so this is us outside The Local.
We wandered aimlessly through NYC and met up with a friend of Preston’s. Ate some delicious pizza and drank some more since Alice was actin’ a b**** and was at work. When Alice got off work we ate at a lovely vegan restaurant called something Paradise II, I don’t remember but it was super tasty. A good taste at the beginning of our weekend long vegan endeavor. Alice and her man Aki, I don’t care what she says I think this is the most adorable picture ever.
The picture to the right is very telling of my friends. Each pose holds a little key into the personality of that respective person.
The evenings activities included a flask and dance music created by people dressed like bears aka Claymation Velociraptor.The people were good, drinks were better and the music was great. Unfortunately my dear friends suffered some both that evening on until the next morning… It made for an interesting sub ride and a late start the next morning. After forcing my friends to eat bread for breakfast we went out for a day of sight-seeing. We DID NYC so to speak. Saw the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, hit up the Broadway show God of Carnage starring Lucy Liu and Jeff Daniels, ate some more delicious vegan cuisine . Needless to say no body really felt having a drink was in order on Saturday night.
Sunday we had a dazzling brunch, mimosas included. We were all, except Alice, feeling ourselves again and our dear friend Marie-Agathe had joined us for the day. Had we known mimosas were half-price we may have had many more. Sunday’s schedule included another Broadway show Next to Normal, some more wandering around the city including eating at a terrifying but tasty vegan Indian joint. Lots of Lights!
Later that evening after Marie-Agathe and Rachel had departed from us Alice, Preston and I went for a little gallivant through Central Park. It’s really only mildly frightening at night. We were inspired to recreate one of my personal favorite movies, Home Alone II. I took pictures of The Palace (the hotel where Kevin stayed) and then we staged this photo in the park. The roles are obvious, Preston = Kevin, Me = Kevin’s Mom and Alice = Crazy Bird Woman.
It was good spending the weekend with my peeps, I look forward to getting to hang out with Alice more this fall as school is only about a half hour from NYC and for all I know I could be working in the city. It’s been about five years since we’ve really gotten to hang out and that means there is some ruckus to cause. Monday I headed over to see what my future home of two years would be like. South Orange is lovely! A picture perfect little village. Wandered around the village enjoying Eden Market downtown which I am super pumped for! Gourmet shop with a little of everything from wine, cheese, sushi, ethnic, yum yum yum! Did the school thing and met some people, campus tour, sat in on a class. Overall I had a very successful trip to the East, I’m looking forward to moving out there this summer. There are many adventures to be had. The following picture is downtown South Orange, New Jersey.
Pamela Schwartz 
May 14th, 2010 at 12:55 am
Yay! Addicted to blogs! Alice, please remove my bag from your head.