San Gennaro and the Broken Laptop

Hey there lovelies ;)

I have a new-found respect for all those before me who successfully completed college without a laptop, because that is what I have been doing for the past 3 weeks. A word of caution for all those in the market for a new laptop: DO NOT buy an HP from Sams club. Their repair fulfillment company does crap work at best, and they are not above sending laptops back worse than how they were sent in. Hence, my silence since Labor Day.

Since my last post I have:

1. Traveled upstate for a school retreat (and thoroughly enjoyed my little taste of nature)
2. Finished reading my first piece of Russian literature (not all Tolstoy novels are tomes)
3. Found a $100 bill on the sidewalk (New York moment... waaaatttt)
4. Started making plans for my next international trip during Spring break (*top secret location*)
5. Celebrated the Festival of San Gennaro on the streets of Little Italy (and was overwhelmed by a crowd for the first time in my life as a New Yorker)

1. What can I say about Fall Retreat? hmmm.... how about my house totally OWNED the drama competition and is now perched in 1st place overall (for the first time in house history). Prayers are appreciated for the upcoming reading test (fingers crossed!). I don't know if I posted about last year's fall retreat, but all I can say is that it was beyond cold. As in, we had to double-up in twin-sized bunks to stay warm, and I woke up with my hair par-frozen, COLD. Packing all of our heavy winter gear for this year's retreat, however, we arrived to sunny, 80-degree weather. We spent most of the weekend on the lawn sunbathing or by the pool. Needless to say, I had one "summer" outfit, and that was the only thing I wore all weekend.... not complaining, though!

LeTower of TenBoom

2. I didn't think I'd be a fan of Russian lit.... my roommate last year took an entire class on it, and all I can really remember from her experience is that she would periodically die on the couch from the sheer amount of reading she had to complete. This year's Interregnum theme, however, is Mortality. What better author to explore the theme than a long-winded old Russian guy? The assigned book was "The Death of Ivan Ilych." A short, pleasant introduction to Russian literature as a whole, in my opinion. It was short, witty, and completely relatable for something written almost 150 years ago. I recommend this one!

3. Yeah... so that happened... don't ask me how, but it was right by the Stock Exchange (i.e. they won't miss it one bit). And if you are reading this and just lost a $100 bill from your wallet.............. sucks to suck.

4. (*Evil grin from across the internet*) You won't know about this one for a while.... just know that it is on par with my London trip, except that this one hits a little closer to home for me. PLUS I will have my brand-SPANKING new DSLR, so you, my readers, are in for quite a photographic treat.

5. I don't normally feel the need to go out and do something at 10pm at night (I know, as a New Yorker I should embrace it). But honestly, as a college student, sleep is a rare commodity. So in a bout of self-pity and boredom I found myself in my jeans, slouchy sweater, and a pair of boots that have seen better days, in the middle of a bustling street in Little Italy during the Festival of San Gennaro. Every other booth was selling pizza, pasta, cannolis, and cigars. The entire street was strung with lights and decorations. It was quite a thing of beauty. The festival itself was amazing, but -and I never thought I'd say this being the extreme extrovert that I am- the crowd was utterly overwhelming. So I grabbed some Lamb and a giant Cannoli and left back to my apartment around 1 in the morning thankful for the experience and the quiet streets of the FiDi.

And they call it Bella Notte....

It is currently too late for me to be up on a Sunday night... I am cringing thinking of all the reading I have to do in the morning. So I will leave you all with this.

Buonanotte!

xoxo

-H

P.S. A piece of eyecandy for my lovely readers... a smokin' McLaren right outside my building... I look forward to the day when (not if , mind...) I will be able to afford this baby.

Happy Labor Day from NYC!

Lazy Wednesday Morning Update

Among the many things I love about this city is the simple fact that no matter how long it has been since you lived there last, it has no qualms about taking you back in to its fast-paced, honest-to-a-fault, go-hard-or-go-home family. I realize that makes little to no sense, but that is the thought that woke me up on this beautiful Wednesday morning. I have no classes today which made everything just a little bit better too. 

My summer was so crazy that it didn't even feel like summer. Usually those three months are filled with lazy afternoons basking in the sun and reading to my heart's content. On the contrary, when I wasn't traveling clear across the continent, I was working three jobs just so that being a broke college student, I could have something to eat over the semester. I began THIS book in early May, and I have yet to reach the half-way mark (to give you an idea of how insanely busy I was).

I am currently writing this from my surprisingly quiet apartment (same one as last year). There is a beautiful clear-blue sky outside, therefore, this post is likely to be short... when there is sunshine in the city, you have no excuse to miss it. 

In other news, my house took home second in The Great Race this year! If you don't know what that is, click HERE. I was on the running team as usual, and after four grueling hours running through the city on probably the hottest day of the year, we made it to the finish line in one piece. Here's a picture of the house with all the new freshies!

If you have no idea what on earth I'm talking about when I say "house," here's a little explanation: My school is kinda like Hogwarts in the sense that when you enroll for the first time, you are "sorted" into one of ten houses named after famous Christians in history. It's not like Greek life because you don't have a choice not to be in a house, but also because the house is more like a combination of a sorority, an academic house, and a family. House life is one of the many reasons I chose this school over so many others... 

I have a feeling this is going to be a really great year. I'm hoping among many other things that I can effectively balance school and work, that I can do well academically, and on top of that, that I have time to enjoy this incredible city. 

One last thing, if you haven't already, please subscribe to my blog! Doing so means you automatically get notified when I post anything new, which means you visit my blog often, which makes me very, very happy. It's a win-win situation ;) 

One last pic that I took as I was landing in LGA: 

xoxo
-H

Diving in, No Looking Back...

Hello! I'm back with my once-every-six-months post... I have good news in that area, however. This month I will be starting an Introduction to Marketing class, and the main assignment is that I keep a blog. That's right, I will actually be posting.... regularly (*gasp*)!

I'm currently writing this from my dorm bed... yes, I'm back in the city after a fantastic and crazy summer. I would give you all the deets now, but I am unashamedly saving that material for a boring day in my semester. Therefore, you are likely to see the story of my summer up on my blog quite soon... (kidding... but so not kidding)

I have spent the last two days pin-balling around the city trying to get my crap together before the school year hits me like an unwary cab driver. I've got a full load on my plate this year and for the first time in my life as a college student, I will be attempting to handle a part-time job as well. Prayers for my sanity are appreciated. 

Today I got to sit back and appreciate this marvel that is my city with my best friend, Ashley. Below are a few pics from Bryant Park where today apparently, there was some great Jugglers-of-the-Northeast get together... it was entertaining at least....

Bryant Park from my perspective...

The inside of the Helmsley building

Thus begins my Junior year... Thanks to my Marketing class, you'll be hearing a lot more from me at least for one semester. So here's to an excellent second-to-last year...

xoxo

-H

When a girl is tired of London, she's tired of life...

Surprise! Guess where I went for spring break?

I believe the last time I wrote was in October... that's lame... While I do have a good excuse (as always?) I do wish I could have kept my readers (do I still have any?) updated!

This semester has been quite an interesting one in so many ways.

1. I have come face-to-face with my mortality thanks to Business Statistics
2. I have had the privilege of working with an amazing Christian Magazine and Advertising Agency as an intern
3. It has taken me a while to pin down my summer plans, but it looks like I will be spending the first third in Asheville, the second third in California, and the last third in Miami :)
4. I have come to the realization that I will have to come back to the city early this summer to figure out where I am going to live and *gasp* sign a lease! (yay for being an adult...)
5. I went to freakin LONDON for spring break! (which means in one year I will have been to New York, London, L.A., and Miami... All I need now is to schedule a last-minute trip to Tokyo with a pit-stop in Paris)

So... London.

I realize that the majority, if not all of you, didn't know about this trip. I kinda planned it that way. I feel that the best trips are the ones that no one knows about until after the fact. Anyway, I've been planning to go since October, and thanks to so many caring and wonderful friends and family members, I was able to raise enough funds to go. My team consisted of ten students (including me) and three team leaders.

Our flight left from JFK at the butt crack of dawn. We spent roughly seven hours in the air (the longest flight I had ever endured) and landed in Heathrow airport at roughly 10pm their time (it was confusing: we spent 7 hours in the air but the actual elapsed time was 12 hours... )



The Royal Naval College

We had the privilege of staying with one of Michael Keller's (yes, that Keller, he was our group leader) good friends (a really wonderful South African woman). This is always how I prefer to travel - staying with friends instead of in a hotel. You get to see the place through a different lens when you're not living like a tourist. 


We spent our first day exploring the area of London in which we were residing: The Isle of Dogs and Greenwich. Among the many things I saw was the prime meridian, the royal naval college, and


Inside the Royal Naval College

Greenwich market. The day was perfect - sunny, with a perfectly blue sky, at about 70 degrees (completely unusual for London, but thankfully, that's what our entire week looked like).

I should mention that at this point, only half of our team was present. The team was split into two groups because there wasn't one flight that had enough room for a group of 13. I was pretty happy when I found out that I would be flying with the earlier group and thus having a whole extra day to enjoy the city, the amazing weather, and eat lunch in an open-air market! 



Greenwich Market

St. Paul's Cathedral



Tower Bridge from London Bridge

Saturday through Sunday was mostly spent sight-seeing. The second part of our group came in Saturday afternoon from their layover in Iceland, after which we rode the tube to Canary Warf (London's version of the FiDi), did some shopping, and rode bikes along the Thames (I almost died several times btw... not only am I bad at riding a bike to begin with, but I also kept looking the wrong way when crossing a street). After a service at the community church Sunday morning, we spent the rest of the day on a Harry Potter walking tour through the greater part of London (yes, I am that much of a nerd).



My team spent Monday and Tuesday volunteering at the community center/church and making Bible runs. If you, reader, have looked through my old blog posts (on the blog I kept in high school) you will know that I took several trips with my church to Honduras. I value those experiences, but in comparison to my experience in London, they couldn't be more drastically different. Honduras is the poorest non-island nation in the western hemisphere. So if you set up a church, you can pretty much guarantee that you will have a pretty healthy congregation in a short amount of time because they need the help and support of the church - they have nowhere else to turn to attain basic necessities such as food, clothing, and medical attention. London on the other hand, and I dare say, the rest of developed Europe, is a completely different story. The church my team was working with, for example, has been operating for over thirty years and their congregation on a good day, can best be described as anemic. Merely 50 people showed up for the Sunday service we attended. It's different with the Brits... you can be in a community for decades and still not see a difference. It is such rocky ground, that you rarely, if ever, see fruit come of it. That is why I commend the missionaries that have heard the call to minister to the citizens of a first-world country.

Wednesday, I had the opportunity to take tours of the local Mosques and learn about the Muslim culture and faith. This was one of the most eye-opening experiences I have ever had. Not only did I have to cover my head and wear a skirt (which - and I'm going to sound rather American and feminist when I say this - was so demeaning... I mean, I automatically felt like I was being repressed and looked-down upon when I had to cover my head) so as not to stand out as an American/tourist/Christian, I had the rather unpleasant experience of interacting with Muslim men and being treated as if I was a Muslim woman. I have never experienced such outrage as when I would ask one of the men a question and instead of answering me directly, they would turn to one of the men in my group and answer them as if they had asked the question. They wouldn't even acknowledge my presence. I've never felt so insulted, so demeaned, and to think, there are millions of women that deal with this kind of disrespect day in, and day out. Now I know this sounds crazy, but have you ever entered a place and had this gut feeling that something is off? I had that feeling while touring these Mosques. The women in my team were luckier than most in that we got to enter areas of the Mosques where women aren't traditionally allowed (can you believe that? They actually have separate prayer rooms for women, and I don't need to tell you that they aren't half as nice as the main ones built for men. Women can't even enter through the same doors as men. Oh no, they have to make their way through the back door to perform their daily prayers...). But as soon as I entered this building, I experienced this sensation of spiritual deadness... It genuinely unsettled me. I know that sounds crazy, and I know that I'm sounding uber "christiany" right now, but I just had to share that.





So what can I say about the rest of my trip? I did a lot of sight-seeing. I got to fulfill a lot of childhood dreams including, but not limited to, seeing the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens (if you've seen the movie Hook, it's the statue that he wakes up underneath at the end of the movie), seeing the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum (nobody ever told me it was that big!), getting to see Buckingham palace (and the changing of the guards, of course...). Oh, and did I mention... Michael somehow finagled his way into getting us seats in debates in The House of Commons and The House of Lords! It was INCREDIBLE!

If you are a Sherlock fan, You'll know what this is... ;)

If I were to do ONE touristy thing...

Childhood dream = fulfilled

 I am so thankful to have had this experience with wonderful team members and leaders. I am also grateful for the experience to live one day in the shoes of a Muslim woman. I was so sad to leave, and I hope to have the opportunity to go back very soon (*cough* study abroad? what?). Oh! I almost forgot... let me leave you all with this picture of me seeing my nephew for the first time:

Cheerio!