Speaking of the NY trip, I had a fantastic time there. Surprisingly, I love love love the city. I had the impression that NY is a very big city, where one tends to get lost rather easily, and that New Yorkers are cold and unfriendly. Well, NY is definitely a bustling city, but to me, it is over-glamorized. Like my impression of New York from the movies and magazines was proven wrong. I did not really have that much difficulty navigating around the city, reading maps and taking the subways. And New Yorkers can be quite friendly too. Well, at least those that I asked help from were very helpful to me.
This trip was also the first time that I had stayed in a city all by myself. I was supposed to have gone there with Jessica over the Labor Day weekend, but she found out on Sunday morning that she had to go back to Pittsburgh. So well, I was basically by myself for like 1.5 days. I was quite scared initially, but after a while, the fear just went away and I actually enjoyed the time I had to myself. It was kind of weird though to walk around and sight-see all by yourself, and to take self-shots (erm), but I also asked a few people to help me take pictures. (I promise to upload the photos soon..).
I met my cousin too last Saturday for dinner. He's working in Manhattan and he actually stays opposite from the hotel I stayed in (well..more like a hostel). We had dinner at a nearby Korean restaurant in Korean Town..the Korean food was so delicious! I think the Korean food there is slightly different, and I heard the Japanese food there is pretty unique too. Anyway, after dinner, my cousin brought us to his office and showed us around. His office is so cool! His company is supposedly quite small and occupies one floor of the building. But well, all this just makes me want to get an internship in New York even more! Perhaps at Wall Street eh??
I managed to visit quite a few places too. Wanted to walk down fifth avenue on Saturday, but it was rainy and cold, so didn't really manage to go around much. Luckily, the weather was much better after that. Went to Statue of Liberty with Jessica (we took a ferry that went past it, not onto the island) and the Empire State Building is nearby our hotel. Empire State Building at night is gorgeous..it has colorful lights. I think that night, it was a mixture of red/white/blue lights and the colors of the lights are supposed to change every night. Pity couldn't take a picture of it cos it was raining! We also went to the Financial District, and we walked past New York Stock Exchange without realizing it haha. Couldn't find Nasdaq though. After Jessica went back, I managed to visit the Brooklyn Bridge (but was too lazy to walk across it), Chinatown (so crowded!! only went to look around at accessories), Little Italy (bought a gelato), Rockerfeller Center, Times Square, Empire State Building (only went to the front of the building) and Fifth Avenue (walked down along 5th Avenue and shopped! Labor Day sales!). I wanted to go to SoHo and visit Trump Tower, but did not get a chance to. I definitely want to go back there to visit the places that I didn't get to visit and do stuff I didn't do this time, like going to Liberty Island itself, going up the Empire State Building and watching Broadway.
And then, there was the US Open. It was the highlight of my entire trip. Just being there, soaking up the atmosphere live, feeling the excitement first hand, seeing things that you've seen on TV for real..the feeling is just undescribable. Went to watch with Shuping and her friends, Huilin and Vivienne (but they sat at a different section of the court). We had tickets for the Sunday evening matches at Arthur Ashe. The matches that we got to see were Sharapova vs a Russian player whose name I've completely forgotten, and James Blake vs Carlos Moya. Because of the rain on Saturday that washed out play, they pushed the matches back on Sunday and it was a very long day of play on Sunday. The night matches started late because the afternoon matches ended late. Federer's match was also going on at the same time on Sunday evening at Louis Armstrong and the line for that match was just so long! We wanted to watch a bit of the match (our tickets allowed us to watch matches in other courts), but we decided not to in the end because of the long line. Did a bit of shopping before watching the match. Bought a few stuff from the Nike shop there. The Polo jacket looked so tempting and it was gorgeous, but the price..bleah. Shuping and I sat further in front cos we found lots of empty seats in front and we had a pretty good view. Sharapova looked so pretty in her cocktail dress get-up and yeah..she really screamed very loudly. Could hear her very clearly all the way from the back. And the crowd just loved her..especially the guys..chants of "I love you Maria" could be heard everywhere. During the changeovers, they actually had this lucky fan giveaway a few times..if your face was shown on the gigantic screen there, you could win an upgrade to better seats. Sharapova won pretty easily and hit 3 tennis balls into the crowd after her win. But she didn't hit it hard enough to where we were. Haha. Shuping and I moved further front after her match and we had an even better view of the next match. Of course, the crowd was in favor of Blake, especially since he's a New Yorker. Pretty exciting match. During the changeovers this time, the camera would show random faces of a few people, and there were a few people who also played it up for the camera and actually danced! Match ended at 12.30am and by the time I got back, it was 2am! Exciting day for me. The feeling of just being there was just incredible. Up next: Wimbledon! Heh. But French Open may be the next one for me. And I want to watch US Open again next year!
So last week, I was telling everyone that I still didn't feel like school has begun. It was mostly because I didn't really have work that had to be handed in, whereas all my friends seemed to have lots of homework. And I was still in my holiday mood. But not anymore. The work has really started to come in. Assignments to be handed in, and I'm trying my best not do my work last-minute now. Plus observations to be done for child psych and preparing for job fairs. I really need to settle down and get pretty serious about school soon!
Have you ever been in situations in which your head tells you one thing, but your heart tells you another? I've found myself being in such a situation a number of times. (Like the Roddick vs Federer final. I wanted Roddick to win, but I knew in my mind that Federer would win). So which one comes out on top in the end? Your head or your heart?
I should go to sleep now. I'm beginning to ramble on and on, and I certainly do not want to oversleep for my 8.30 class! And ahh..the "I Feel Pretty" song from Maria Sharapova's Nike commmercial is stuck in my head!