Holiday Season in the City!

It is so exciting to watch the city slowly become more and more festive! Christmas lights are being hung above streets and there are Christmas tree sales everywhere! I am so lucky to have to opportunity to be in the city during this time of year. My roommate and I are hoping to go ice skating this week at the Rockefeller Center!

Ady

I was so lucky to find this babysitting job. I have spent WAY more money than I anticipated; entertaining visiting friends and shopping have really drained my bank account. I would never have lasted through the semester without the extra cash from babysitting. Not to mention that Ady is adorable! So well behaved and it’s been a blast to watch her grow up! It’s been nice to explore Central Park and Times Square with her, all while making money. I got my job from Care.com and have met a couple other Nannies who also had luck there. I definitely recommend it.

brooklyn bridge <3

UPDATE (and picture of Times Square)

I have been so busy! I just bombarded the blog with a few pictures and promise to be better about updating during my final weeks. I cannot believe its almost over 😦 The past few weeks have been great. A few friends have visited during their fall breaks and my mom came up for a weekend! I’ve been getting closer to a lot of new friends and exploring the nightlife a lot more. I got lucky; I live in East Village which is an extremely convenient location for going out. I’ve also been babysitting a lot, going to a few of the NYC Public Library Branches, and shopping (probably way too much). Still loving the city life! Will post more photos!

The City Starting to Look Like Christmas :]

Friends Visiting During USC’s Fall Break!

Paige, Meghan, and Megan visited during their fall break; it was a blast. We explored Central Park, ate in Times Square, went to the Brooklyn Flea Market (my favorite), did a lot of shopping, and even met the celebrity, Brandy, during one of our nights out. It was nice to have a little taste of USC up in NYC 🙂

SANDY

I survived hurricane Sandy. Luckily the only thing I had to endure was a week without electricity. Only a few blocks south of me had severe flooding and damage, so I am extremely fortunate. The whole thing was incredibly bizarre. Everything south of 30th street didn’t have electricity. I took the week without school as an opportunity to explore, but got too creeped out to go very far into the Battery Park district. The city was EMPTY! It was such a weird feeling walking in the middle of the street with no cars or people in sight. I am happy to have electricity back; life is back to normal.

IMG_2941

The nightlife here is certainly different than USC’s 5 Points, but I am enjoying the change. A lot of club are on rooftops, making the experience much more beautiful than any outing you would have at The Village or Pavs 🙂

update from east village

Hello! I am adjusting to NYC life pretty well 🙂  We had an NSE meeting during the first week of school, where I got to meet all of the other participating students.  Everyone seems great!  Unfortunately, since I live so far off campus, its very difficult to get together with all of them.  I had to choose between living close to campus or living close (in) the city.  I’m VERY glad I chose to live in Manhattan, but the commute definitely makes getting involved on campus a little tougher than I would have liked.  

However, I have gotten involved in the city!  I found a babysitting job for a family with a 7-month-old daughter.  As someone who wants to be a pediatrician, it was important for me to somehow incorporate children into my experience here. This babysitting job is awesome!  The daughter is wonderful, and we spend the majority of our time walking around Central Park while her parents work from home.  It is also very nice to be back in a family atmosphere; you don’t see a lot of children in East Village.  

I also started volunteering at an animal shelter in Soho called Animal Haven.  So far I’ve only had one shift, but should hopefully schedule at least two a week.  I’m the kind of person who loves being busy, so between classes, babysitting, volunteering, and exploring, I am having a great time! 

These past few weeks, I also celebrated my 21st birthday, took the megabus to Pittsburgh to visit a friend, and went to the Bon Iver concert! 🙂

first week of classes

I had almost forgotten about the fact that I have to go to classes while I’m in New York…

My classes are actually great and Queens Campus really is beautiful.  Although its just another public college campus, there are definitely differences between Queens and USC.  The first thing I noticed is the lack of blondes!  It sounds silly, but blonde girls are everywhere at USC and are very scarce here.  Which leads me to my next observation; an incredibly large Jewish population.  It seems as though almost half the student population is wearing yarmulkes and knee length skirts; definitely not a common thing on USC campus. There is just SO much more diversity at Queens than USC which I love!

As for my classes, they seem like they’re going to be around the same level of difficulty as USC classes.  The commute to campus takes me over an hour though 😦  I actually don’t mind it now; it give me an extra hour to kind of wake up; and people watching on the subway is fun!  But I’m sure I’ll get sick of it eventually, especially when the weather gets colder.

So far I’m loving my experience in NYC and at Queens College and can’t wait for what this semester has to offer!