Burrow! Burrow!

[sunshine_queen]

Alright now that I have slept and admitted that I was PMSing last night, here is the recap of the trip, in bullet form, because, dude? Too much happened.

- Wake up at 3:00 on Thursday

- Drive all the way to school, find my people, wait for a bus.

- Sit with Chang on the way to the airport

- Made the catchphrase of the trip "Bitch, I own those shoes!" much to the confusion of everyone. But they were all good sports and now I can say, "Chang, what do you own?" and get a reply.

- Get our luggage and wait in the airport for a bit to check in. My name for the flight was Madeline Zardana, which is not my name!

- Got on the plane, seated between a bunch of chaperone mommies.

- Moved once we had taken off to sit with Carolina, behind Chang and Javier. Took many pictures and had fun.

- Then got yelled at because we were all under 21 and sitting at the emergency exit, so I went to sit with my mom. Who was over 21.

- Consequently fell asleep on my mother, and had my picture taken by Marcos with my head on her shoulder.

- Woke up and EEEE WE WERE IN NYC.

- Deplaned and got our luggage, then went to wait outside in the cold for the bus. And yes. It was cold.

- Got on the bus and went to the hotel.

- We left all of our stuff in a couple rooms at the hotel- which had a nice lobby- and we went off with our group- my mom, me, Javier, Carolina and Chang.

- We wound up shopping pretty much the whole day because Javier is like a girl when it comes to shopping. I got a stuffed giraffe at the giant Toys R Us, we rode on the ferris wheel there, and we got candy. Then we found the giant, two-story American Eagle, and Chang and Carol and I were dancing around, finishing with the Macarena. That was when this dude who worked there came up to us with job applications and asked us if we wanted jobs.

- Then Javier started feeling sick. So we went to a Walgreens.

- Outside the Walgreens was a poster of Eva, America's Next Top Model. As Chang is obsessed with her, Javier ragged on her and made her drool over the poster. Then we read it: "At this location from 2:00-4:00"

- We all freak.

- Chang skids into the walgreens and runs down the stairs. As we follow, helter-skelter, we find a news crew at the bottom, who wants to interview us! We might've been on TV!

- Got Javier some Pepto-Bismol, and then we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

- At six we set off to Tad's Steakhouse, which was this jive ass fast-food place with questionable food. Javier is still dying.

- Then we get lost going to the theatre for 'Brooklyn' 'cause our tour guides were retards. Javier, who was essentially dying, wound up directing the ladies to the right theatre.

- Brooklyn was amazing. The story was a bit annoying and 'The Unfinished Lullaby' really, REALLY annoyed me, but the singing and staging more than made up for it. It was amazing. We had three understudies out of a five-person ensemble, and it was completely breathtaking.

- Javier had a horrible fever and kept passing out the entire play. He refused to leave each and every time we asked if he wanted to leave, and we almost took a cab home except-

- Snow flurries on the way home!

- We walked back to our room. I think that was the night that everyone was in our room because Javier was sleeping in the boy's room down the hall. We were the closest to the boys- the other girls from our class we were on the other end of the floor. Eventually everyone cleared out and we went nani. Except we talked for forever and had a prayer session aloud for Javier and snow.

- Next morning Javier was feeling much better. That was also the morning I woke up with my voice all retarded, and it's still like it.

- I also woke up and checked my wallet and found that I had been robbed. $31 and every cent in my change purse, including EVERY SINGLE PRESSED PENNY EVER. The money part sucked, but it wasn't too hideous as I still had my mom and it wasn't that much money, but my PRESSED PENNIES? Fuckers. True New York experience.

- We went to the Empire State Building after a breakfast buffet at Sbarro's. It was really, REALLY cold up there. Like nothing I have ever felt before cold. One side was not too bad, but the other side was my definition of cold- no escape.

- Went down and I actually got to go inside the New York Public Library. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. It was so insanely gorgeous. I didn't want to leave.

- We went to an ice skating rink in central park, but I wasn't any good. Ten minutes on the ice and I was off. Then Nica called, and that was good! That was also when the zamboni was going- which is the best part.

- More shopping. I hate to shop. That was the day I got really pissed and so did Mom, so she bitched a bit.

- Then we walked like, twenty some blocks to the hotel to get ready for Chicago.

- We had dinner at the Playwright's Café or something, which was really nice, and then we went to see Chicago.

- Before that, though, the chaperone of the other group of IB juniors, Ms. Loffredo, had forgotten the tickets for Chicago for her group, so my mom had to take care of them. And then we had to leave them outside until we convinced the managers to let them in.

- Chicago was amazing. No, really. It was just so great. The scenery and the acting and the costumes- everything. Amazing.

- That was the night that not much happened- we had, like, Sam and Bianca came over and we went to bed pretty early.

- Next morning we went to battery park super early and then we went to Chinatown.

- I didn't much dig Chinatown. I got a nice burberry scarf, but mostly it scared me.

- That was the day Mom and I ditched Javier, Carol and Chang to go see Laura! Because Laura came in and we spent the day with her, her daughter Tina and Tina's boyfriend Chris. We went to this great diner for lunch and then we went to Central Park and we shopped at Bergdorf Goodman's.

- Eventually everyone left me in my room to chill by myself because I am not a people person and I don't like being with people all the time with never a moment to myself, so being alone in the crappy-ass hotel room, reading 'The Blind Assassin,' listening to my CD, and watching an Indiana Jones marathon on Sci-Fi channel was just the thing I needed.

- Then we all got ready because my group and I were going to see 'The Lion King' on our own, so Mom and Laura and Tina and Chris walked us.

- The show was absolutely amazing. It's one of my least favorite Disney movies/stories, and I really wasn't too keen on going- but it was absolutely great.

- The girls behind us were really obnoxious, and when Carol asked them to shut up, they got all snitty and even louder, and then Carol went to talk to the manager people, and for the next act they sat by them, waiting for them to be obnoxious so they could kick their drunken asses out. Unfortunately, they behaved.

- Then we went to the big, magic McDonalds! It was great!

- We went back to the room to get Laura's stuff so she could go back to Tina's house, and then once they'd left (boo.) we went back to Times Square so Carolina and Javier could take pictures.

- Went back to the room and got changed, then we all went to the boys' room. We stayed there until 2:30 playing games and chatting and doing ridiculous things.

- Yesterday morning we were packed and ready to go by 8:30 and we went to:

- Greenwich village
- NoHo
- SoHo
- Chinatown
- Little Italy
- Uptown, Midtown and Downtown Manhattan

- I got a fantastic pair of Chanel sunglasses! They are so beautiful!

- We met up with Stephen Palahach and hung out with him for a while- he's a kid who goes to our school who happened to go to NYC this weekend too.

- We found Serendipity- that famous restaurant from like, every NYC movie ever- and couldn't go in it was so crowded.

- Made it back to the hotel, where we laid around in the lobby for like an hour, then we got on a bus and went to the airport.

- At the airport, Mom and I ditched everyone to have a nice sit-down dinner at a restaurant before going back up to wait for the plane.

- The plane ride itself was okay- I slept through most of it, hated my seatmate, but it was mostly okay. And now we're home.

Highlights:

- The inside jokes.
*The way I say 'Mom'- "Mahm," apparently
*Ashley being born in the snow- Burrow, Burrow!
*"Chang, what do you own?" : "My shoes. Bitch."/ "I own my shoes."/ "Bitch, I own those shoes."/ "I own those shoes. Bitch."
*"We're sooo drunk right now."
*Wooden escalators

- Flirting with Marcos. Who flirts with everyone. But whatever. Sigh.
- The library
- The shows
- My giraffe and my sunglasses
- How awesome I looked WITHOUT MY BRACES.

Comments

[bel-baggins.livejournal.com]

Sounds like so much fun! I see you went to Central Park - did you see The Gates? The big orangey thingies made by that artist dude?

[sunshine-queen.livejournal.com]

Totally did. And they were ugly. Ew.

[xenaamber.livejournal.com]

Gah, The Gates are ugly. :-) I'm not a fan. I haven't seen them, but the whole idea is weird to me.

You mean you ditched people and I still didn't get to see you, Madi? *sniffle* That sucks.

Your plays sounded fun -- The Lion King was awesome, no? I saw it last month.

Chinatown is weird, but they do good food. My father got his hair cut there once, too. I love Little Italy though.

Snow! We have, like, five inches now -- I'm so bummed you weren't here for it. I didn't know you were coming home yesterday; I spent the whole evening being pleased you would see it. Then you didn't. :-(

It sucks you lost your $31! I have never had anything like that happen to me in the city... I guess you just got unlucky.

[dancinggoldfish.livejournal.com]

If you were in NYC on Friday, we were in the city at the same time! And I went to Little Italy, and Chinatown before we went home. *is very excited*

But that sucks that you lost $31, and all those pressed coins. That bites.

[thepodsquad.livejournal.com]

Your trip sounds completely kick ass.

But now I wanna go to New York!

I'm glad you had such a good time, and dude, burberry!

[kerlin.livejournal.com]

The trip sounds like it was awesome, and I totally agree with you on this:

so being alone in the crappy-ass hotel room, reading 'The Blind Assassin,' listening to my CD, and watching an Indiana Jones marathon on Sci-Fi channel was just the thing I needed.

because I do the same thing on every big trip I'm on.

Also, I am seriously freaked out that you're reading The Blind Assassin because I just finished The Handmaid's Tale this weekend. Eek!

[sunshine-queen.livejournal.com]

Margaret Atwood rocks on.

[kerlin.livejournal.com]

Yea, verily. Is The Blind Assassin good? I enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale but it was the essay at the end that really killed me - as an historian, reading this man who stood up there and said that we shouldn't judge, who'd studied this manuscript and refused to give in to its emotional impact...GAH!

[puggywuggy.livejournal.com]

I think you say Mom normally. But I forget.

I'm glad you, for the most part, had a good trip! :) I'm sorry about the whole getting robbed part, though... that was my #2 fear when I went to NYC.

I think I liked Chinatown okay... I don't remember. I thought the shops were fun, though. Laura and I accidentally got the same shirt. And lmao, I think when we were in Little Italy, I asked someone, "So, where's the Brooklyn Bridge, anyway?" And she said, "Right. in. front. of. you." And lo and behold... :P

And yay about Marcos and no braces. :D

[cryssa.livejournal.com]

I am so entirely jealous. Except for the money and pennies-- some people just suck.

But hooray for the other stuff! And for Marcos and inside jokes and no braces and. . . yeah. :)