Fun, fun fun! And, a loss...

So, the weekend before Thanksgiving I went out to New York, just to see some friends, hang out, and watch the Michigan - OSU game... But I'll get back to that. After an initial flight delay I finally got to Newark. I asked around for the fastest way to get to Midtown Manhattan (well, the fastest way that's not a cab), and was told there was some bus that was supposed to be fast. OK, I guess I underestimated how far Newark is from Manhattan, because after the bus finally got there, it still took about an hour to get to Grand Central. But, at least I was there. I talked to Jamie and we decided to meet up at the cutest little coffeeshop (OK, I'm Dutch, I should say: coffee house) downtown. It sounds like Jamie is doing great, one show (the Flood) was just ending, and another one beginning soon, so she's really livin' the dream!

After a brief stopover in Chinatown (I wanted to find something funny Chinese to bring to Steph, in China, but couldn't find anything) I decided to wait for Rachele at the Starbucks on her corner (in Chelsea, if I remember correctly), because I was kinda tired of lugging around my big-old backpack. But, she got home just minutes later, so lucky me! After catching a breath we went out for a beer with Rachele, Mel, and their "editor-in-chief" (!). After that, Rachele, her roomie Andrea and I went even farther downtown, to 2nd & 2nd, and met up with some of their other friends. There was a vodka bar there, and it was awesome! Not only did they have the coolest and most amazing infused vodkas there (horseradish-vodka. chili pepper vodka. honey-ginger vodka. To name but a few!), but they also had the coolest lady singing live (her name was Grace Garland, check her out at http://www.gracegarland.com ). So, as we were doing shots of vodka, which later turned into martinis, Grace and her guitar player were putting on quite a show; she even did a 10-minute-or-so improv song 'serenading' Rachele's friend Peter ("Make love to me with your eyes"), it was brilliant. After that, we went to a karaoke bar and got a private room. After Rach killed a cockroach (oh, New York...) we got free shots, which was quite nice. And then home by cab; I always forget how nice it is to take cabs places, and not driving after this night was probably a great idea...

The next day, well, we /almost/ made it out of the apartment while it was light out... in other words, we didn't. Of course, sleeping in was excellent, until a crazy New York pigeon tried to attack me through the window or something... I don't get it really... Anyways, Rach and I went for a bit of some really yummy Thai food, but it had just gotten dark out. Oh well! Anyways, after we got back I packed my bags and took a train up to Grand Central to meet Kat (a.k.a. Geraldo's P.A.) there. Of course, because neither one of us was really paying attention, the train we were sitting in that we thought would take us to White Plains didn't move (and, there was no one else in it... You'd think that would've tipped us off!). So then we finally figured out which train we were supposed to be sitting in, and off we went, up north through Harlem and the Bronx to Westchester, where Maria came and picked us up off the train. We ate a late (and of course GIANT) dinner at the Cheesecake factory (with an awesome strawberry margherita!), and then decided to put on our PJs and watch Mean Girls (or, in Kat's case, to sleep to Mean Girls going on in the background).

The next morning we didn't quite make that early rise-and-shine call, but still got up at a respectable hour, put on our Michigan gear, and got on the road to Hartfort, CT. The drive was a lot of fun (a lot of a cappella!!!) so it went by like THAT! We then got to V's house ready to watch the big game. TJ and Christy and I threw the football around for a little bit, probably in an effort to not let our nerves get the better of us... which in my case only partially worked. What worked a lot better was the "shotski". Where I first thought this was just a weird Russianization of doing shots, it's an actual ski with four shotglasses mounted to it, which are then filled with the poison of choice, and four people drink them simultaneously. The one trick, as Kat discovered, is that it sucks to be shorter than the other three people, because the rum will end up in your face and shirt rather than in your mouth. But, good times! Of course, the game didn't really end up going our way, so Maria and I display appropriately sad faces. To the credit of V's (OSU) roommate JJ, he didn't rub it in, which was mighty big of him (not sure I would have been so "gallant"). After that, the night just continued with more beer, more shotski, more girl-on-girl wrestling, more naps (and I think at some point there even was a wheel-of-fortune!), and overall, despite the big, big loss, a great time!

The next morning, Christy, V, and TJ were leaving early to go see the Bears play in the city, but Maria, Kat and I were not far behind them. But, not until we had an awesome breakfast at Hot Cakes, some breakfast place that made me feel like I was somewhere down south or something... amazing omelets though! The drive back also was over before it began, and after a brief "chill" at Maria's place, Kat and I took the train back into the city. She had some apartment to see (funny how housing situation rules the lives of everyone in NYC; everybody I met up with this weekend has discussed their living situation with me!), I went downtown to meet up with Mel. We had a couple of beers at the (famous?) White Horse Tavern, and then dinner at a really funny little Tex-Mex place (I totally forgot I was on Manhattan after 10 minutes at that place!). I then had to rush back to Newark, which is when I realized that that bus I took on the way in probably WAS the fastest; on the way back I took the subway and Airtrain etc., and it took me almost 2 hours... I arrived at my gate 5 minutes before my official "leave" time, but /luckily/ my plane was delayed. It took a while, but I got back safe and sound in A2 around midnight.

So, the real saying-goodbye-to-people has begun, and it's making me sad, very sad. Even though these people all live in New York, and it's not like I see them all the time (in some cases about once a year, maybe), but still, moving to another continent makes it all feel much more serious. I'm making everyone promise me that they'll visit me in Europe, even if they don't necessarily mean it; that will make me feel less bad about leaving, I'm hoping. As for the trip itself, I'm planning to buy tickets in the next week; the plan as posted a couple of posts ago (below) pretty much still stands, give or take a couple of small changes. But, more will follow shortly, after our little Christmas party at my place on Friday, with the Four Wise Men. And, scene...