New York, New York!

Yeah, everyone in Times Square could see us!

I made a trip down to NYC during the first weekend in November to visit my dear friend Astrid and her friend Birta (I hope I'm spelling that right, Birta!).  Astrid is my sister's friend that was a foreign exchange student from Germany, back when they were in high school.  The last time I saw her was about two years ago at Amber's wedding.  On this visit, she went to Memphis for two weeks and then went to NYC for a few days to visit Birta, her friend from home.  Since I'm pretty close, I decided to take a bus on down to see them.

I must put a plug in for the Megabus.  I first heard about Megabus my freshman year at SLU.  They are a very cheap bus service.  I've taken it once from St. Louis to Chicago.  It actually goes to Memphis now too!  Basically, the earlier you book, the cheaper your ticket.  They even offer tickets for as low as $1!  Now, they have double decker buses, so it was neat riding to NYC and back on the top deck.

Once in NYC, I met up with the girls and we walked around Times Square for a bit.  Then we went to dinner at a nicer-than-we-expected-yet-affordable Italian restaurant.  After more sightseeing (check out our picture in Times Square!), we made our way to our hostel.

Hostels always have good stories.  And I of course have a great hostel story for you!  I was given a two person room, which consisted of a bunk bed and like 2 feet more of space. Luckily for me, I had no roommate.  Well, the guy at the front desk said someone could show up later in the night.  So, while lying in bed, anytime I heard some noise in the hallway, my ears would perk up, wondering if I would have a visitor.  About one or two in the morning, not long after I went to bed, I heard some footsteps and then my door open.  I decided to play the whole pretend I'm asleep thing, but that didn't last long.  That's how me and <roommate> met.  I can't remember her name.  But, I spoke more Spanish than she did English.  She was from Quito, Ecuador.  I think she was upset because she had to sleep on the top bunk (she was a little on the large side and probably in her 30s or 40s).  Anyway, I slept through the night, even though the room was ridiculously hot.  In the morning, we both were awake and talked for a while.  Our conversation was mostly in Spanish.  I was surprised at how much I could remember.  We had quite the exemplary elementary conversation.

After I met up with Astrid and Birta, we walked through Central Park for awhile and then down 5th Avenue.  We also hit up Grand Central Station, then met up with my friend Nathan from high school for lunch.  Nathan hung out with us for the rest of the day.  We went to the top of the Rockefeller building and the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art.  The art museum was free at this time, so it was nice to save some money.  It was pretty neat.  Afterwards, I had to find my bus stop for my trip back to Boston.

It was nice to have a short trip to go down to NYC and especially nice to hang out with Astrid and meet Birta.  Also, I hadn't seen Nathan in years, so it was good to catch up.  Now, I just to need to go to Germany to visit Astrid!