OAK>JFK>BCN

NEW YEARS EVE
(haven’t had internet for a while, so I have lots to post!)

I had a much harder time leaving my family than I usually do. Maybe because of a lack of sleep? Maybe because my 14-and-a-half-year-old dogs might not be there next time I go home? Maybe because this was the longest amount of time that I’ve been home since high school? Maybe because my whole family woke up at 4 in the morning to see me off? Also, it should be mentioned that Aunt Pam, Leah, and Grandma all called to wish me a good trip. Aunt Laurel also sent me a few emails. It’s hard to feel so connected and loved and then shun it. Whatever the reason, I cried a bit in the security line as my family walked away, but continually turned around to wave.

I slept most of the way to New York. “Welcome to New York!” came over the loudspeakers. I always enjoy being welcomed by the pilot. I feel like it’s just for me and have to catch myself to avoid saying “Thank you!” out loud. I was giddy in the airport when I realized I was going to see my friends from college for the first time since graduation. I gathered my luggage and met Danielle and her dad at the curb. They had a GPS and internet printout instructions. We went through the midtown tunnel and found Margot’s place in Chelsea. When I saw Margot, we both went BAH! And hugged. We were amused over having had the same reaction to seeing each other. Her apartment was smaller than I expected- just enough room for her double bed and a dresser in her room. Her roommates’ room was 3 times the size! The walls were dark wood panels and brick.

We went out to dinner at a place called Cafeteria. That sounds like school lunchlines and lunch ladies slopping food onto metal trays, but it was actually very chic- trendy. I had a steak sandwhich. I felt exhausted but tried not to let it show.

After dinner, we baked a funfetti cake (LOVE). Then we started to work on our outfits. We all had a few options and chose for each other. Margot’s friend from FIT, Stacey, came over. Becky, who I know from UD, did too. We pumped up some jams and popped some champagne. I gave Margot and Danielle their feather masks and Stacey brought 2010 glasses. We were all excited about that because 2011 just isn’t going to have easy eye-holes.

We got on the subway to Brooklyn. We sang on the subway and wore our New Years gear. One guy kept taking pictures of us. We sang some songs and created a bit of a scene. When we arrived, we followed the crowd of other masked people in the light rain. We all started the wrong way. We met a British guy by commenting on his shiny orange shoes. His name was James and we basically adopted him into our circle for the evening. Later he gave us his card and we found out his name was actually Alastair.

We found the event and I realized I hadn’t thought to bring my ID. The bouncer didn’t really care that much and let me in anyway. Inside, there was a HUGE wheel that people spun. It had things like “humiliation” and “shotgun a beer” on it. People were waiting in line to spin it, but I didn’t see any good prizes so skipped it. Becky spun the wheel and got a date with the host. In the corner, there was a little booth draped around the edge in striped fabric. It had paint guns for shooting at stuffed animals. We passed the bar and coat check and found a stage. Somehow, we found out a brass band was playing there at 11. We decided to find upstairs in the mean time. There was a techno beat pulsing through the upper floor. We wound our way into the crowd and were surprised to find a hammock. We found a side door to a balcony and went onto it and back in another door. There were people wrapped in tin foil with a camera projecting them onto the wall. They were sprinkling water around. It was a bit odd. In another room, there was fake snow supposably made from the inside of diapers. There was Santa in the corner to have a photo with and Jesus in another corner. Jesus had dollar bills folded into his loincloth. We thought that was odd and went down to the brass band just in time for midnight.

Confetti shot out at us and the band played an upbeat song. Two performers dangled themselves off of a hula hoop strung from the ceiling. They rolled a piano to the stage with a girl laying across the top of it. After a few songs, we decided we wanted ot go to the other location for the same event. It was PACKED. We didn’t make it upstairs and returned to the first location as police and fire trucks rolled up.

This time, the area was PACKED. We watched as a fire breather blew flames to the ceiling and went back to the brass band room. A new band was playing and a drunk guy fell on all of us somehow. We sat him against a wall and decided it was TOO crowded.

We decided to leave and found our way back to the subway. At home, we ate some of our cake and went to bed. Margot and I shared the twin. I ended up sleeping upside down on it. We fit better that way.

NEW YEARS DAY
In the morning, as we left Margot’s apartment, I asked how many floors there were. She said she didn’t know. I thought to myself that I would have explored that if I was moving into a new place. Then it finally hit me that I WAS about to be moving into a new place… in BARCELONA. I was NOT going home after the weekend. My heart skipped a few beats and I trailed after Margot and Danielle.

We were wearing our 2010 glasses and got several looks on our way to a Mexican restaurant for lunch. I had the chicken sampler because it had a tamale in it. After that, we decided we wanted to go ice skating at Bryant Park. We went back to Margot’s to change and ended up with a pot of Oolong tea. We did eventually leave again. We took the subway to the rink. It was very scenic and we were thrilled, anticipating skating in the middle of a group of trees surrounded by tall old buildings. Then we saw the line. No. Margot said there was also skating at the Chelsea Pier. We decided to go there instead. On the way, we walked through Times Square and saw the ball that drops. It was TINY, like maybe one story tall. I was glad we didn’t spend our evening out in the cold watching it slowly move down a few feet. It would be cool to see the performers and such, but not in weather like we had last night!

On the way, we walked through the village and went on the “High Line.” It used to be a high railway track. Now, they’ve converted it to a sort of park. It’s several blocks long. It has trees and plants and they’ve done a neat job of leaving the tracks show and taking advantage of the possible views. It’s very clever how they arranged things to be connected between the old and new. They had wooden lounge chairs that rolled along a few feet of track. Also, there was a nice place with a view of the Statue of Liberty off one side and a sort of coliseum style seating area over the road. You could watch cars come racing out of the tunnel directly under you. Also, it was interesting to see the street lights change progressively down the street. I could tell that it was fairly new because there were lots of people out considering it was a cold winter day. Margot said it opened in July and it was amazing then, with colorful flowers carefully organized along the walk.

Near the end of the high line, we went back to street level and crossed over to the Chelsea Pier. It’s like a massive work-out center. The rink was closing for the day and opened the next day at 12. It’s on an old pier out over the Hudson. It has glass windows around 3 sides with nice views. We walked back to Margot’s apartment because Danielle was ready to go home to Delaware. We walked her to the subway. Margot was just telling us that William Wegman’s studio was a few doors down from her apartment when we saw three weimeraners (sp?) running toward us off leash followed by an older man. The dogs ran up barking but quickly decided they were friendly and let me pat them. WW told us they were friendly and I ALMOST said something about liking his work.

Margot and I had a sort of picnic lunch. We put out sandwich fixings and ate them as we saw fit. Then we made our Winter Wonders collage. We had cut out the pictures for it during our senior year at Delaware and she still had the ziplock of magazine clippings. It was something that I’ll remember fondly.

Then we rushed off to see It’s Complicated at her local movie theater. It was PACKED! We had to sit in the 3rd? row! A couple sat next to me and chatted through the whole movie. Ahem! Afterward, we looked at costumes in a case by the front door—they were supposed to be from the Young Victoria, but we weren’t sure they looked nice enough. I decided to go to the bathroom before we walked back and while we were there, we noticed lots of people getting made up and ready for performing with the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Margot and I sheepishly followed. We found some seats in the back. It was clearly sold out, so we hoped no one would ask to check our tickets. It was an interesting experience. I hadn’t been before, but didn’t announce myself as a “virgin.” When the movie started, people went to the front of the theater and acted out the show in front of the screen. I was impressed by how precisely they matched the screen, down to the angles of their bodies and their costumes. Margot and I stood up and danced around for the Time Warp. People periodically shouted at the screen things that were clearly jokes with the movie, but it was hard to hear. Also, people knew enough about the photography to be able to pretend to be manipulating the screen like you would on an ipod touch.

Afterward, we went home to bed. I was exhausted.

Sat JAN 2
We woke up around 12 to my alarm. I had the other half of my sandwich from Cafeteria for lunch and cracked some eggs for Margot. She doesn’t like the feel of raw eggs. We had clearly missed the skating rink. We went to Rite Aide so I could hit an ATM and get a notebook for my class. It was snowing lightly. I tossed out my soda can and Margot told me it’s illegal in New York not to recycle. I was impressed but wasn’t going back to move my can.

We also went to the post office 3 doors down from her apartment to get postage to send my mom’s phone back to her. The post office was rather old and spacious with marbley tiles. We went back to Margot’s and I made brief calls to my parents and sister (who didn’t answer). I almost cried talking to my parents. I never really took the time to consider being afraid of the new experience—address my potential feelings. We heard the door buzz and realized it was my driver. Then we got a call from my driver. Margot and I dragged my stuff downstairs. There were TWO drivers there for me- a Chinese man and an Indian man. They both came running for my suitcase and almost had a fight over who was supposed to take me. The Chinese man shoved the Indian hard enough that his Bluetooth fell out of his ear. It seemed very New York to me- a little rough and brusk. I’d gotten 2 confirmation emails but Margot and I figured they’d realize I didn’t need 2 cars. We didn’t share that info. We just watched and waited for them to solve it themselves. The pushy Chinese guy won although I would have preferred to go with the Indian guy. I hugged Margot and followed my luggage to the black car.

At the airport, I checked in my bag and went to MacDonalds for a Cinnamelt. My sister and I have often shared them and recently talked about them. I had to satisfy my craving while it was possible!

I saw a few people in Blue Hen attire and almost introduced myself. One was even in a Gamma Sig sweatshirt! Then I went through security and waaaaited. I noticed I definitely stuck out in my hot pink puffy vest, athletic shoes and jeans. Everyone else was very chic in form-fitting neutrals (not cozy clothes for the plane) and they all spoke in delicate foreign tongues. At least I wasn’t in sweatpants and loungewear boots! Also, I was taller than most everyone else.

I saw the sun going down in a big orange ball outside and it made me flash back to seeing the sunrise coming out of OAK. It was streaks of bright colors that morning and I was still feeling warm about my family’s send-off when I saw it. That was when I realized again I was alone heading off to a foreign country. I tried not to think about it and shuffled my feet forward, forward, forward.

Aer Lingus is wonderful. They really do have Irish flight attendants and all of the airport personnel were in mint green! Even the plane was green. Wonderful. They played Christmas carols while we waited to depart. I cat-napped while we waited ½ an hour on the jetway. Then I watched a WHOLE movie waiting for dinner. I wanted to go back to sleep but also was fungry. The flight attendant asked me if I wanted the chicken or the beef and I asked her what was better. She said “I bring me own food,” and handed me the chicken.

I tried to sleep but had trouble drifting off. The person behind and in front of me were both bouncing around enough to jostle my area. My flight went through the night. As we neared landing time, the pilot said “Welcome to Europe” and told us the weather: “a bit cloudy with light flurries and very cold.” He said “very cold” three times throughout the flight! I was thankful I wasn’t leaving the airport into the very-cold.

Coming into Dublin, we could see beige fields with green trees or shrubs between them. The airport was full of cheesy souvenirs with leprechauns and Guinness logos. The airport was still decked out for Christmas. They had trees and statues of ornaments with faces and penguins. I had to go through bag claim, down a hallway that looked rather “employees only” and through security again to get to the gate. I thought I was going to be too late because my ticket said the door closed at 6:15, but it wasn’t true.

JAN 3
The ride to Barcelona was rather uneventful. I tried to sleep, but worried what the immigration man might ask me. Landing, we had a nice view of the city. To the left, there was the ocean and to the right, there were low mountains in the distance and the city itself to see. It reminded me of San Francisco’s nickname, the White City, except that this white looks rather antique—like yellowy or slightly peach. That view gave me more momentum on getting over pre-arrival, homesick-style jitters. After all of my worrying, it turned out the immigration man asked me… nothing, just gave my passport another stamp. I got my luggage and headed out to find an ATM. With Euros in hand, I could get some food. I got a muffin and a peach juice and here I sit in the airport. I couldn’t check into my hostel until 1 and it was only 11. I couldn’t really take all of my luggage to any sights so I went on the computer. I was getting much more excited now that I’d arrived…TBC (to be continued)