NYC, Part I

I took a bus to New York City Friday morning to visit David at Columbia. I was very excited about the trip, not only because I hadn't seen David in over a year, but also because I'd only been to NYC once before. That trip was centered around visiting law schools, and allowed for only a whirlwind look at the city.

I've been meaning to take advantage of my proximity to other East Coast cities. Indeed, taking a Chinatown bus to NYC has been on my DC to-do list since last year! The bus ride was pleasant, speedy, and uneventful. For those of you who watch Conan O'Brien: We passed through Newark, and I think that Conan's critiques are well-founded.

My bus let me off near Madison Square Gardens. David met me there, and we went for a walk, checking out Times Square, Rockefeller Center, and St. Patrick's Cathedral. At St. Patrick's, we accidentally attended Mass... It was just starting as we arrived! We later realized that it seems that they do Mass continually, because another Mass started up right after ours ended. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the church, because there were a lot of people there to visit, which made the place feel like a community in a way that I haven't seen other cathedrals accomplish. Then again, a guard searched my bag at the entrance, which was a bit of a detraction from that feeling.

It was great to walk through the city. David has a very good grasp of the important buildings throughout the city, and gave me an informal tour as we explored. The tone is very different from DC because the buildings are so much taller; in DC, nothing is allowed to be taller than the Capitol (roughly 12 stories). The pedestrian traffic is more... Intense? Bustling? I can't quite put my finger on it, but there seems to be a sense that everyone has somewhere important to be, and they're nearly late. Basically, it is a city full of rabbits from Alice in Wonderland.

David and I took the subway to get to Columbia. It's not as nice as the Metro, because it is dingy, and seems to have quite a learning curve. I just blindly followed David as to where to go. I'm glad that my daily Metro commute isn't like the subway here.

Columbia has a nice campus. They have a statue of Alma Mater, and she has a little owl hiding in the folds of her robes! I am perpetually surprised by how small some university campuses can be, but I suppose that Berkeley's gigantic campus is the exception, not the rule. The law school building is very nice. They have a lot more random study spots with cushy chairs scattered throughout the building than we do at Georgetown. Their lecture halls are prettier, too. We have a better cafeteria, though, and a nicer campus overall, as our three buildings have grassy quads between them. My California sensibilities still prefer plant life to a formally urban landscape.

David and his brother Daniel have a pretty cool apartment in the grad student housing. They painted some of the walls burgundy and taupe, and have lovely furnishings to complement the color scheme. They're on the first floor, though, which I wouldn't like, because of street noise and such. The apartment layout is a bit odd... Very closed. We were discussing it, and determined that a modern apartment would never be designed like this, as people have such a preference for open spaces.

Friday afternoon, we visited the Studio Museum in Harlem. It is located across the street from the iconic Apollo Theater. The Studio Museum features a contemporary collection of works by black artists. I really liked their Hurvin Anderson installation, which examined the varied use of the space of a barbershop. This was the first museum that we visited, and it taught me a couple of things. First, museums in NYC, unlike museums in DC, are not free. And, second, museums like to give you little buttons or tags to wear, as though you are an animal that they are studying and then releasing into the wild to continue to track. Very strange.

We attempted to visit Grant's Tomb, but it was closed. I was bummed--now I'll never know who is buried there! Instead, we strolled about the city for a little while, then reconvened at the apartment before attending vespers at the Church of Notre Dame. The church had a beautiful grotto (check out this virtual tour). We finished our evening with dinner at a diner, and then watched A Beautiful Mind back at the apartment.