Halfway there!

6/20-6/26

This week I finally started running subjects, but something was wrong with the data where they are not learning as much as they should, so I’m not sure what to do. Besides that, I had a slice of $1 pizza at the pizza truck. The crust was sooo crispy, it was delicious and very cheap too!

After the lab meeting today (and eating two huge slices of pizza), I hung out with Yichen, Frances, and Susan around St. Marks area. We went to Sushi Park where there is 50% off rolls (even though it’s always 50%) and dollar menu. It was good food for really cheap. There was also a really sweet sake we had there. We then went to Bon Chon chicken for their wings, strawberry soju, and watermelon soju. Ah, so much drinking and eating on a Wednesday night lol. 

Saturday I went kayaking AGAIN with some Rochester people and Jane. This time the waves weren’t as strong, but it was still very fun. We stopped by H&H bagels beforehand, apparently it’s really good. However, the cashier lady was SO RUDE to us and the bagels were just ok…I’ve definitely had better, no wonder they’re going out of business. Afterwards we went to Katz deli and Jane and I split a pastrami sandwich on rye. With half a sandwich, we were stuffed, which is great. The pastrami is so juicy and tender while the bread was very soft, I loved it! The only thing is that it was very expensive…$15 for a whole sandwich lol. I then went to dinner/drink with Bruno at Oh Taisho, then BonChon. It was nice getting to know him because I haven’t really seen him since Korea Night.

Sunday I went to the Harry Potter Discovery Exhibition with some SURP people. There were a lot of props from the movie and it was AMAZING. I just bought my midnight showing for the last movie and am so excited, but sad it will all be ending. I feel like a piece of my childhood will be gone. Later, I met up with Jane and Peter. We went to B&H where I got a lot of good advice for alternatives to the Nikon 35mm and SB-700. Now I need to think about it even more, but I honestly just need to splurge and get it before I run out of time in NYC. We then shopped at Macy’s until it closed and ate zha jiang mian haha. 

Living Life

6/13 - 6/19 

Being in SURP, a lot of my friends need subjects to experiment from. I was in a study for my friend that in the end pays you an iPod. However, I did not believe that a mere ‘hour’ you can earn $50 and an iPod, so I did not do the study as well as they planned. In the end, I spent 10 minutes and got $24 and an iPod shuffle. I feel really bad because it might have skewed their data, but then I asked some friends what they would have done and their bidding style is almost the same. I want to describe it on here but I’m not sure how much I can say.

Anyway, on Tuesday I went to watch another Broadway show called Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo with Jane and Charley. At first, I thought it was a cool magician and Bengal tiger act. Wow, was I mistaken…the story was not a typical Broadway, no songs, just acting. It was very deep to a point where I only understood the surface. Something about war, corruption, America, etc. but I lost it there. I wish I understood it more because I probably would’ve found it very interesting.

Wednesday I met up with Joewin and NJ. We went to this place called Tori Shin for their charcoal bamboo ‘special’ oyako don haha, sounds fancy right? It is supposed to be a yakitori place, however, their food is soooo expensive (each person $55 if you wanna get what most people eat). Thankfully the oyako don was not that bad, and probably the best flavored one I’ve ever had. We then walked from 65^th street to 10^th (didn’t feel like a long walk though!), got Kung Fu bubble tea, and then 8^th to go to a hookah place at St. Marks with some other Pi brothers and two girls from some sorority. I feel really weird hanging around with Greeks sometime, all they talk about is the Greek system and I never have much to say. Nonetheless, it was the first time I tried hookah, but it wasn’t good or bad. I couldn’t taste or feel anything lol.

Thursday I went bar hopping with Ellen and some SURP + roommates for her 21^st birthday. We went to Keybar first for a free round of delicious birthday shots and then went to a karaoke bar called SingSing. Unfortunately, at this hour, they don’t let under 21 go in so 3 of them left when we could not find a place. We walked a bit to West 4^th street, where we played some foosball (lost) and then a pirate bar with lots of rum. Later, we just chilled and went to a pizza place. It was a fun night, I’m finally starting to feel like a New Yorkan.

Friday I went to International Center for Photography with Jane and Sining. I thought this place was going to be huge like MoMa. Unfortunately, it was only two stories and some of photos were interesting, others not so much. However, I understood it much more than MoMa. Thank god for these free museums (although they did make us pay $1 for donation -.-) We then went to Schnitzel and Things for dinner. The fried chicken just tasted like a big chicken tender haha. This place was ok, good for cart food though. I’m sad it turned into a restaurant, but good for them. At night I went to chill with some SURP people and celebrate Ellen’s birthday again. I made these cool orange peel jello shots with sake and Chaia made a chocolate cake. We were having fun, playing kings, talking and what not when this RA knocked on our door and told us to quiet down. And we did…however, 10 minutes later this other RA came and wrote us all up. We weren’t even doing anything and it was 11pm! Wow NYU people are so strict and the girl had a very bad attitude about it. But yeah, interesting experience.

Saturday I went kayaking with Jane, Stephen x2, and Joewin at Hudson River. It was free and SO MUCH FUN!! I’m going again next weekend haha. Being in NY has made me miss the outdoors so much and this was definitely a good break from the city life. There was also this small wave that a far away steam boat made, I rode it and even got a little air! We then went to Empanada Mama and ate good, greasy Latin American food. At night, Jane, Stephen, Peter, and I headed to Flushing and ate beef noodle at a noodle shop (originally it was going to be Picnic Garden, but it didn’t work out). The soup was ok, the noodle was great, but one of my friends and my mom actually makes it better haha. There is this other new place for bubble tea called “CoCo” and I really love the black tea, haven’t tried the rest (well, I technically just tried a sip) We were then going to a rooftop party, but that failed since they moved it. We ended up chilling on Jane’s apartment rooftop which was super cool with an awesome view! I guess this is the “NY experience”?

Sunday was the most I’ve ever worked my whole time here, which is really sad. I got lunch at Xian Famous Foods (they ran out of the famous buns, but the noodles were good), then stayed at the lab, had two hours of computer problems, and tested myself for three hours which ended up useless because the data sucked, and then analyzed and was lazy for another two hours haha. I finally feel productive with 7 hours of work. I then had dinner at Otafuku where I got okonomiyaki (it was just ok because I don’t like ginger that much, I should’ve gotten the takoyaki).

Another weekend gone!

Food Adventures

Monday there was an event called ‘Taste of Times Square’. Basically, a lot of restaurants around the area bring their food and you can have a sample for $1-$5. The food was just okay, but the environment was amazing. After that we watched the new Xmen movie about Magneto and Professor X. Despite what my friends said, I really really liked it!

I had dinner with Sarah Han Thursday, haven’t seen that girl in forever! We went to eat Japanese ramen. I think I’m obsessed with this, for some reason I always crave it. Hopefully it’s not TOO unhealthy!

The next day, I had dinner with Sarah Waseem and Susana. Sarah and I both went to Brighton, so it was so nice to see her! We went to a nice Thai place and then a Asian fusion dessert bar called Spot Dessert Bar. I had a lychee matcha bubble tea and pineapple tiramisu. I then somehow bumped into Jane’s friend from college, Peter, who was going to karaoke. Even though it’s kind of weird, but I wanted to karaoke sooo bad so I tagged along haha. We (his high school friends and I) then ended up at the bar that had the amazing sliders called “Mark”. It was cool to meeting new people. It started pouring when I was walking on the way back and my sandals kept falling off because it was slippery. I never liked meeting random people on the street, but this guy started talking to me and accompanied me all the way back to the building. He wasn’t creepy or anything. Gestures like that make my day.

Saturday, I went to a Ukranian restaurant called Streecha’s. It has got to be the best Ukrainian food I’ve had! Well…uh it’s the only Ukrainian food but I’m pretty sure my taste buds don’t lie. Sarah, a grad student at my lab suggested it to me as she’s heard of it numerous times. The place is at the bottom story of this random building and set up like a home kitchen. An old lady operates it and everything is very cheap. There is beet soup ($1.50), potato dumplings ($.50) , stuffed cabbage ($2), etc, which is pretty typical in their cuisine. I can’t really explain it, but it definitely tasted like a home cooked meal.  Another restaurant I went again was S’Mac because Jane was showing her friends around. As good as this place is, I think I prefer other types of food haha. If you are a big fan of mac and cheese, definitely go here though.

For lunch on Sunday, I went to get Murray’s Bagel, one of the best bagel places in nyc. This place was packed and long lines formed around the area. The bagel was pretty good, very chewy! Now I want to try the other famous bagel shops. Then later on, for dinner, I went to Num Pang, a really famous place I’ve been wanting to try forever. This place serves Cambodian sandwiches, the most famous one is the five spice pork belly sandwich (kind of like dong po rou). Unfortunately, they ran out of that one, so I had to get the pulled pork instead. But let me tell you, it was one of the best sandwiches I’ve had, so flavourful and delicious!!!

A Wicked Week

May 30 – June 5

These couple of days have been pretty uneventful, I’m finally settling into the regular work + study + gym schedule. The only thing is that I am really frustrated with my internship, mostly because I can never find my mentor. I just want to get my project started, but to get it started requires a lot of questions and that is why I need him. The only other person in my lab is a graduate student, she’s really cool and nice, but has no expertise in this area of study, so I’m kind of by myself. I hope this will get resolved soon because I really just want to develop the methods ASAP.

It feels weird turning 21, like I’ve done so already. In Europe and China (basically the past half a year), I’ve been able to do stuff like drink, party, casino, etc. Now 21 does not feel so special, just like any other birthday. However, to take advantage of it, Jane and I went to Crepeaway for lunch because it’s free on your birthday haha, the place was so good! We got a savory and a sweet crepe. After work I headed to Adorama Rentals to pick up a tripod and flash unit, but they only accepted credit cards, so I was kind of sad because I only have a debit. I don’t know what to do now, maybe I should just buy a cheap tripod? The rentals (head + foot) costs about $17 and that’s how much a cheap one is anyway…hmmm…

Meng tao ayi and Leo bought me a taro flavored cake from China Town, it’s so yummy! At night, SURP treated me to a cupcake shop called Crumbs and then I bought my first alcohol in America mwahaha, I got sake in a cute bottle haha. I’m so glad these people are in my program, they are all very fun to hang out with.

After another short day of work, I went with Jane to MoMa. The place was interesting but I don’t understand 95% of it. I feel like I can come up with those things but not consider it art. I definitely prefer regular art or photography. After that, we met up with Rena, Yichen, Susana, and Nita, to go to St. Marks for my ‘birthday’. I never realized how Asian we were until I’m writing this, but here’s what we ate/drank: First, we went to a Japanese ramen place and I finally had oyako don! It was not as good as the place in England but very cheap regardless. After that, we went to a dessert place and got some bubble tea (I got a red bean milk tea) and then a bar for free birthday shots, lychee flavored. Last, we came back to my dorm for the leftover taro cake. So basically…rice bowl, red bean, lychee, taro…haha SO Asian…

Saturday has got to be the best day ever. I went to Jane’s place to prep for photoshooting and dresses. We went to a small Mexican place for lunch and it was delicious! (finally something other than Chipotle.) We then looked at a lot of dresses and thought of what we wanted to sew, however, we were in a food coma so ended up napping instead. We only got up to try for the student rush tickets for Wicked since it was close by. There were about 150-ish people who signed up and 15-ish spots with 2 tickets each spot. We were looking at the weather and it seemed like it was going to rain so we were a bit upset at how we might not be able to take pictures later tonight. Anyway, I WON TWO TICKETS!!! That was definitely the highlight of my time here. I never thought I could win anything like this and it was the first try too! So basically I realized that bad things always happen for a reason: I couldn’t rent a tripod and it was going to rain = wouldn’t shoot anyway because I won tickets ;) This is my very first Broadway show for only $26.25 and we were in the second row. Watching it from there was so intimate, you could see every little detail with the stage and actors. The show was amazing and visually overwhelming. I now want to watch every show on Broadway. The acting was great, the singing was even better, the lighting put you in a daze, the orchestra was so pro, the plot was clever, ahhh everything about it was sooo good!! At the end, we waited for the actors to come out and even got some of their signatures! Etai BenShlomo is really cute.

Sunday was the most tiring day ever and I have no idea why. I am passing out as I am typing this. I went to Chinatown today but I was so stupid halfway there I realized I forgot my phone so I went back to get it but the train didn’t go the other way, so I took another train thinking I can transfer to the L to 3^rd street. However, the L wasn’t running so I walked from 8^th to 3^rd, got my phone, and headed back to Chinatown (this took an hour). Haha, Asianably/fashionably late? We went to Prosperity dumplings where they had 5 dumplings (chive or bai cai + pork) for only $1, can you believe it? I also had a Sesame pancake + duck for $1.75. Let’s just say I was in a food coma afterwards for several hours. After that we went to Chinatown ice cream factory to get some lychee ice cream (yummy!!!) and Quickly bubble tea (ehh it was ok). We then shopped at Elizabeth mall and other street places until about 7pm where we could walk no further.