NYC, part 1

I need to get out of New York because everything costs too much money! If I was going to school I’d have something other to do than “hey I’m bored let’s pay $20 and go to a museum” and I’d also have some food around to eat rather than “hmm I’m hungry let’s pay $10 for lunch,” etc. Plus, rumor has it the rest of the world has internet access, not to mention cell phones. *grumble*

That said, I’m really doing my best to enjoy the adventure that has come from being stuck in New York for 5 days and 6 nights. I now know the difference between Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens (though my adventures have been limited to Manhattan thus far). I bought a weeklong unlimited metro pass and have learned how to navigate the New York Subway. I have a new appreciation for all the angst Holden Caulfield felt subjected to. And aside from a growing pile of laundry and a distinct lack of shelves, life is good.

Yesterday (Thursday), David, Nick and I went downtown to visit the folks at KEI. I was baffled by 10 story buildings, 12 elevators in said building, and 5 lawyer’s offices on the same floor as the KEI office. New York is nice to visit, but I’m beginning to realize that when my gut tells me I probably belong in the western US, it is correct. Anyway. The first thing the KEI folks (Eduard – head of the program, Alex – in charge of the Russia stuff, Sarah – friendly newbie) do is order pizza for everyone. And then they present us with our passports and visas (valid for entry beginning 2/6/07). And then they give us a folder packed with New York City tourist info and proceed to rattle off long lists of things there are to do in the city. *brain overload!!* I start coming up with my own list of things I’d like to do, and they’re kind enough to let me borrow a laptop and poke on the internet for a bit.

Meredith’s “I’m stuck in New York and need stuff to do” list:
-New York Philharmonic concert
-St. John’s Cathedral service
-“Wicked” musical performance
-eat Indian food
-Natural History Museum (esp. IMAX and planetarium)

At this point, I reflect for a moment and realize that the only things keeping me from doing all these things are 1) no one I know to go do stuff with and 2) don’t want to spend an insane amount of money.

Response to 1): I’ve always wanted an excuse to go do random stuff by myself and not feel awkward, why not now? Response to 2): I’ll do my best to get student discounts and eat cheaply.

I begin to discuss how I would love to attend a New York Philharmonic concert with Sarah, and she says something like “you know, I would like that too, let’s see what they’re playing and if it’s not too expensive maybe we can both go!” Ten minutes later we have $14 tickets for that night’s 7:30 performance!! It was SPECTACULAR. Her boyfriend came too so she got a third ticket at the last minute and I wound up sitting by myself, but it didn’t matter.

The conductor was Esa-Pekka Salonen, who is basically my hero now (I’ve seen him conduct the LA Phil before and he is AMAZING). First they played Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin, which was quite good, though I’m not a huge Ravel fan. Then came the world premiere of Salonen’s Piano Concerto!!! It was THE premiere. Not one of those “we played it last weekend but it’s still the world premiere” things. This was the 100% first ever performance of a FANTASTIC piano concerto, it even had a nutty viola solo, I was completely blown away by the whole thing. Salonen conducting the world premiere of his own piece with a pianist he’s been collaborating with for years, Yefim Bronfman. A-MAZ-ING. Then we got an intermission, whew. The final piece was Musorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, which is a terrific piece of music. I’m quite certain I’ve played parts if not all of it before, possibly in CCO? Well, whatever, this was fan-freaking-tastic. The ending of that piece was so majestic, so loud, I kept getting a rush like you do when music or movies have spectacular moments. We’re talking a completely full stage (there were 12 violas!), chimes, percussion, brass, winds, strings, everything. Best. Fourteen. Dollars. EVER.

So that was Thursday. Then came Friday (today). Slept in a good bit which was nice. Headed out with David and Nick to the Natural History Museum, but they agreed to first accompany me to the Wicked box office to see if I could get a ticket for a performance this weekend. SCORE!! Not the cheapest purchase in the world, but I have been dying to see this musical for years, the seat I got looks excellent (though I’ll admit it’s all they had left), and I’m going to see Wicked tomorrow at 2pm!!!

Next it was on to the museum. The guys had actually already been, but they still wanted to see the planetarium show since it was closed when they went before. It was called “Cosmic Collisions.” We all went to that, and it was pretty good but not spectacular. Someday I want to help make a fantastic planetarium show. Then I went to the IMAX film “Roving Mars” and the guys headed back to the hostel to take a nap. It was all about the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, and though they didn’t say much that I didn’t already know, it was very well done and I love seeing things on the IMAX screen! I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the museum. It was interesting to see which exhibits were popular. Most folks loved the animal exhibits, especially Ocean Life and North American Mammals. There was an excellent “Hall of Biodiversity” that showed how humans negatively impact animals’ natural habitats. It was sad to see so few people in that part of the museum – it’s much happier to learn about whales and grizzly bears than face the fact that we’re seriously messing up our planet. But anyway. It was also funny in the “Cosmic Pathway” section, how every time it referred to the universe being 13 billion years old the number 13 was on a little metal circle that had been added in later.

So, I feel a little lame sitting around doing nothing on Friday night, but on the other hand I don’t care. The guys ran off to some nightclub that goes from 10:30pm to 4am…really not my thing. Don’t know what I’ll be up to tomorrow night, either, or Sunday afternoon/evening, or Monday. Probably visiting a laundromat on Monday, actually. How fascinating.

aaand I just got a new roommate! Oh hostels. His name’s Lou and he’s from LA, only he’s been studying abroad in France. I love it – the German foreign exchange student trying to find an apartment (Franzesca), the movie producer apprentice from New York on her way to LA (Jewelle), the token male stopping in New York for the heck of it (Lou), and the displaced Washingtonian just trying to get to Russia (me).

Enough for now. I think I’ll watch some Firefly and contemplate how odd life can be sometimes.