I wish I could remember more details about the last week at school. Unfortunately, I was so caught up in writing papers, crafting finals, cleaning, packing, and trying to cram in time with friends that I didn't stop to really reflect. Something I regret, I assure you.
Oh goodness. Where did all the time go? May 1st brought a celebration of Miss Alex the Baker and her 19 years of life. What a day! Hillary and I had gone a few days before to lunch at Dogmatic which was delicious even though I don't typically eat things that resemble hotdogs. On the way we passed Alex's favorite store and had a wonderful time picking out her birthday gifts. We even trecked to Barnes and Nobles to find a good cookbook for her. Which, I must say, is one of the delightful things about my friends. Before this year, I would never have flipped through food blogs for fun--though I did look at cookbooks occasionally. Now I look through the blogs AND I have cookbooks on my "books to buy next" list even though I technically don't have a kitchen yet. But I digress... For her birthday morning we went to brunch in Brooklyn (I'll post the name as soon as I figure out where I put the business card).
After that, the two of us strolled around Dumbo for a bit. We wandered into a florist's showroom (again, I'll post the name sometime soon...). So in case I haven't mentioned this before, I love plants. Really. So we walked into this showroom/workspace/shop and started speaking with the woman who's space it was. She told us about the Greek mythology themed pieces she did for the Manhattan Horticultural Society's gala, the Miltonian orchids on her window, the glass art her friend makes, the day she carried the entire animal section of the Brooklyn Library's image archive home with her, the illustration she did for the front of her wedding invitation, her fiance's intentions of teaching at NYU, her vintage engagement ring... We just had a great time chatting with this woman! Then she gave us directions to a craft/food market further east, and we went off to enjoy that as well.
I don't quite remember what I did when I arrived back in Manhattan, but soon enough I was heading back to Brooklyn for her birthday dinner. It's strange to think about this night in retrospect. We ate at an Italian place. We came home. Hillary and I wandered the East Village looking for nourishment. We ate giant carrots. We tried a very gross "milkshake." And the next day I watched the news while at the gym and realized that there was a bomb evacuation in Time Square happening at the same time as our wanderings. Surreal.
Monday was my last day of classes. I'm the first to admit that I was working on some of those final projects up to the last minute. My next few posts will probably be me boring you to tears with my papers. Anyway. I finished classes and felt very strange about the fact as I walked home. I left the Gallatin building at 9 and realized that I won't be returning there for a class again until Fall 2011. Even stranger was realizing that I'll be a junior at that point. How did it get so late so soon!?!?
I cleaned, packed, and spent time with friends Monday night. And then Tuesday arrived. Tuesday saw me spend three hours at the Czech consulate. I was waiting to apply for my visa. While there, I ran into Brianna and decided that I'm looking forward to cooking with her (she's a vegan) in between eating heavy Czech meals. When it was finally my turn, I immediately decided that the woman working behind the counter must be one of the most patient people alive. To apply for a long-term visa, each student has to turn in a bunch of paperwork: a bundle of original forms and a bundle of copies. One of the forms in both is the application itself, and NYU supplied the 100-ish students studying in Prague next term with a sample of the application to guide them in filling it out. This would have been a brilliant idea if they had double-checked the answers they gave us. And so, this one woman spent her entire day coaching NYU students through the process of correcting both their original application and their copy of it. I was in awe.
By the time I left, I was running late. All semester Hillary and I met for lunch on Tuesdays. Since this was the final Tuesday, she had arranged for Emma and Maggie to meet us for lunch at a delicious place downtown. I took a cab since I was so late, but everything worked out. The food was great, getting to spend my final day with friends was great, and the post-lunch hunt for strawberry galette will stand out among my memories for a long time to come. While out at our ladies' lunch, Emma had the idea to start a blog where we could each post a picture each day of the summer of pleasant things we encountered. I still love the idea, but Wordpress accused me of cheating when I tried to co-contribute. I'll let you know how that turns out...
Finally, I raced home with plenty of time to finish cleaning/packing. Or so I thought. Then I encountered mystery mold in the kitchen. Knowing that my roomies wouldn't clean it and that we would then be fined for excessive disgusting-ness when everyone had moved out, I scrubbed the mold. I got it cleaned up, but then my dad arrived and I ran around the room attempting to finish packing. My poor father. There's another patient person for you. We loaded up the van, went to Caracas for lunch, and then headed home. And suddenly, it's over.
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