New York

So last weekend I went to New York.

Fun adventure that was. Took a bus at 3:00 a.m. in the morning because we wanted a full day, and didn't want to stay overnight and spend a fortune on New York hotel prices.

I stayed up till three, hoping I'd be able to fall asleep on the bus. Well, it didn't quite work out that way. So beginning my day I was already wiped. But yeah, New York is an awesome city!

I was able to see so much: Ground Zero, Wall Street, Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Madison Square Garden--all very overwhelming.

Navigating the New York subways was quite a trip. I'm glad I had been getting experience with public transit here in D.C., because New York's metro was a lot more complicated--and less user friendly, I'd have to say.

I also went to Coney Island, which is an island south of Brooklyn (Google map it). That's not a spot a lot of tourists go to, but I was determined to go, since it would allow me to see the Atlantic Ocean. It was a pretty long subway ride--nearly an hour out of Manhattan and all the way through Brooklyn. Definitely worth it, though.

One of the coolest moments came near the end, though, when we went up to Columbia University and got an amazing view of the city. The school is seated on a hill above Harlem--you can see almost everything. I got a picture of the view, but it doesn't nearly do it justice.

Still can't believe I'm getting to do all this--it really feels like a dream. I mean, while I'm doing everything it is all so fast and I don't realize it, but after the fact it's really quite awe inspiring. I almost feel like I'm some kind of impostor. But no, this is my life, and I'm really doing it. I'm living in D.C., I'm seeing New York City, I'm working in a professional news room.

Wow, how much more could God want to do?

Anyways, catching the bus at 11:00 p.m. that night, I was exhausted. Needless to say I had no problem falling asleep on that bus ride. And the funny thing is, coming back to D.C., it felt like coming back home.

Winding Down

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have been, well, caught up in a 12 page research paper and a 10 page letter about my internship that are both due Friday.

Internship finished off well. Both of the editors I worked for gave me very good reviews. They both offered to be recommendations for me whenever I needed them. It was kind of sad, I must admit, leaving that newsroom. I grew a lot in there, now that I think about it. I took huge steps in my life in there. You don't realize it while you're caught in the middle of the work, but just thinking about it right now, it's quite amazing how far I've come. This has been an amazing experience.

But no more sentimental stuff, I don't want to start crying...

In case you haven't heard, I having a fun little trip back home. May 2 I am flying to Utah to stay with relatives for about a week, and then am flying to LA to visit Biola (SOOO excited to see my friends). I'll be at Biola during the journalism department's awards banquet, so that'll be fun. After that, I flying back to good ole' Oregon, arriving May 13.

The weather is doing a lot better here--it'll be in the 70s all week, almost reaching 80 on Friday. A great change from the 10 degrees that D.C. greeted me with.

The pope arrived in D.C. yesterday, and will be driving around tomorrow. Will be pretty crazy, I can imagine. I wrote an article about how much police work the pope's visit requires--it's insane. If I can, I'd like to maybe catch a glance of him.

This weekend I am going to New York for a day. Got a great deal on bus tickets ($5 each way)! I will be catching a bus on Saturday at 3 a.m. (yeah, I know), and will arrive in Manhattan around 7:30 am or so. We'll get as much done as we can, before catching a bus back to D.C. at 11:00 p.m. Didn't really want to pay Manhattan hotel prices, so we figured this was the best way to do it.

Keep me in your prayers. This is crunch week. This is the last push to the end. I also am still without plans for a job. Despite 4-5 calls and several emails to the editor I had been in contact with at a paper in Washington (state), I have yet to hear back from him. I really don't get it. I've left messages with him twice, and once with the woman who answers the phone (who said she'd deliver him a message). Annoying.

Anyways, here are some fun pictures from the last couple weeks.