New York Pt. II

Thankfully, before we fell asleep, I remembered to tell Nicole to turn off her alarm. (Nicole, I love you to death, but I absolutely loathe your phone alarm. It is the most harrowing sound in the universe, and you--for whatever insane reason--like to snooze it for two hours before you actually have to wake up. This means you get to hear the awful noise every ten minutes for two hours. I did not want to hear this noise. Thank you for turning it off. I love you. I hate your alarm).

After a restful and alarm-free sleep on Nicole's king sized bed (fully equipped with a tempurpedic mattress), we greeted the day with a walking tour around Columbia. I wanted a "day-in-the-life," so we walked Nic's normal route to campus and she showed me some of her frequented classrooms, study lounges, and libraries. The school was beautiful, the weather was quite charming for mid-November in NY, and it was surprisingly soothing to be surrounded by the familiar sounds and smells of New York City.

Afterwards, we came back to Nic's apartment to make breakfast, which turned into brunch, whiiiiich turned into lunch. It was about 1:30pm by the time we got our act together, but we both knew that banana-chocolate chip pancakes are delicious at anytime of the day. Henceforth:

After lunch, I took the 1 train down to the L and headed over to my brother's place in Brooklyn. There, we had a little family reunion with my parents! We watched the JETS win, ate some foods, drank some wine, and then went baaack to Manhattan to go out and dinner and see Sufjan Stevens perform at the Beacon Theatre.

We had a great dinner near the theatre, then walked across the street to see Sufjan perform in all his majesty. Sufjan himself described the show as "avator meets cats on ice," and I would definitely agree. While the show was surely a spectacle (there were hipster girl dancers, electronic guitars and synthesizers, back-drop movie screens and flashing lights everywhere), there was nothing that could compare to the serenity of Sufjan moving upstage to solo on his acoustic guitar, which unfortunately did not happen enough. Still, the show was surely a mix of voices and inspirations, and was well-received by all.

I then said goodbye to my parents (see you in a few weeks!) and took the train back up to Nicole's. She was talking to me about El Nino and others Climate and Society MA stuff in bed, and I think I fell asleep on her.