With this blog, I will share my experiences in the many places that I visit during this summer. Also, being near the New York area, one tends to gather a few interesting stories, which I will share for your reading pleasure! Enjoy!
First of all, I am in Newark, New Jersey currently. Before coming up here, everyone that I had run into either referred to it negatively because of either the Jersey Shore (MJ) and called it "Dirty Jersey". With my internship, I supervise and have a lot of contact with different students, many of which are from New Jersey. I didn't know before coming up here that there is a lot of pride and love of New Jersey from the students that are here. This was something that I could immediately appreciate and surprised me! Also, the most fascinating part of being in this area is the diversity! I'm one of the very few white people that are on this campus and just walking down the street, one wonders if they are even in the United States anymore. This immediately intrigued me and is something that I love about this campus!
Anyway, as much as Newark, NJ is not as bad as everyone was saying, the best part of Newark is how close it is to New York City! The other interns and I have ventured into the city a handful of times already since being here. Having visited the city a few times prior to my internship, I have a general idea of how one should govern themselves while traveling about the city. In order to blend in with the other New Yorkers, you must not stare at anyone no matter how crazy they appear (which they look crazier every day), walk during the "don't walk" signs at the cross walk, and not become freaked out by the subway rats! I was flattered when I have been approached multiple times to give directions to tourists! I had to stop myself from jumping up and down and yelling "I'VE DONE IT!", but a New Yorker would never do that.
Story #1: So I'm walking in the city near the Washington Square Park area and talking to my brother on the phone when I see someone on the street walk by that looks really familiar. I quickly realize that this is a movie star that I have seen multiple times named Liev Schreiber (Scream and Wolverine). Once again had to stop myself from becoming excited, but was able to successfully able to harness my excitement. Either way, it was a fun first day in the city by myself.
Story #2: After exploring the city for the 5th (6th, 7th... who's counting) time this week with the other interns here, we decided to finally head back to our humble abode of University Square residence hall in Newark. We had been walking around in the city for about 7 hours, exploring the Museum of Modern Art, creating shenanigans in the Plaza Hotel, meeting a reptile guy in Central Park, etc. After an exciting evening, we took the PATH train back to Newark, which the journey can take up to 45 minutes through all of the different connections and waiting for trains. Anyway, the girls and get into the PATH train and there is a intoxicated young gentleman holding a sign that had clearly been stolen from something that just said "Wet Paint" and was showing it to everyone on the train. He and his friends had sat on either side of the train in the seats and as we got closer to NJ the train took on more people making it harder for this man to see his friends. He began to yell things like, "hey Matt! You can't see me!", "JERSEY!", or "WET PAINT!". Needless to say, we had quite the laugh at this man's expense and he enjoyed our company beside him during our venture back to "JERSEY!" (I couldn't help it).
There are many more stories that I have and much much more to come! I will be updating this at the very least weekly so keep checking in!
http://s1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff447/billysmassey/?albumview=slideshow
