A Life: Hey guess what? I'm still here!

Selam!
Well, about a week after we were notified of our postponed departure date, I am still suspended on the East coast. And it hasn't been an awful waiting period of an experience either! I never realized it before, but I have a number of really close friends and acquaintances in the New York City area. So, after the initial period of extreme disappointment, I readjusted my mindset and my plan to try to include as many of my friends and as many trips to New York as possible. Which I have so far! And with two weeks to go until I leave for Turkey (our new departure is September 20, crossing my fingers this one is final), I have more than enough time to continue my adventures.
It all started in New Jersey. We spent the second day I was there at the beach (Jersey Shore :P), which was awesome. Being at the beach is so nice for me being from New Mexico, even if it's Jersey instead of the Caribbean. The next day, we went to New York with my friend's (Bronwyn) mom and her mom's boyfriend, and did the touristy stuff; Central Park, F.A.O. Shwartz, Tiffany's, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, etc. We also ate at this FANTASTIC Italian restaurant, Eataly. Restaurant is a very loose word for it, however. You walk into a bustling crowd of people pushing for a spot in the line for the gelateria, bakery, fish market, meat market, cheese market, and more! As you head farther into the building you enter an area full of people standing at counters drinking wine and eating cheese, prosciutto, and bread. We didn't get to experience this part, but for anyone who has the time, I recommend taking part in this, as the flavor of the prosciutto and homemade mozzarella (my personal favorite) are probably to die for. For dinner at Eataly you can choose from the fish restaurant or the pizza/pasta restaurant. We headed for the pasta restaurant, and after waiting for a seat, we were seated. I ordered the squid ink trenete pasta with mussels and tomato sauce, and had absolutely no idea what I should be expecting! It came to me in a seemingly relatively small serving of black pasta. BLACK!! The color came from the squid ink, which aside from the color, gave the pasta a slightly fishy, slightly smokey taste. It was interesting. Not delicious, not disgusting, just interesting. I ate about half of the plate before I was full, and took the rest home (it has sat in the fridge since. Not on purpose, we just haven't gotten around to it). For anyone who likes different, slightly strange dishes, I recommend this. It is unlike anything I have ever tried, and I have tried a number of foods. We headed back to Jersey after dinner, but my time in the city was not over. A few days later I was getting tired of the monotone quality of Jersey. Please don't mistake me, Jersey is a wonderful place, but having been used to the diversity of Santa Fe, being in Jersey surrounded by malls is too much to deal with for more than two days in a row. So after promising to check in every hour and text every time we changed locations, my friend and I were allowed to head into New York City by ourselves. We ended up getting off the PATH train near Soho, and spent the morning wandering the streets and eating at an adorable little cafe called Salud, which seemed like a mix of Soho and Mexico to me! Eventually we walked up towards Washington Square Park, noticed that the welcome center of NYU was across the street, and decided to pop in to ask a few questions. Fifteen minutes later we were on a tour of the school. Well, first it was an information session for an hour, but it was part of the tour. Now, when I had looked up touring NYU, the website said you had to have a reservation, but the people at the front desk were happy to put us in for the one ten minutes later. Could you say good timing?! The part of NYU that stuck with me was the campus (and the $66,000 tuition. Eeeek!). The focus of the school is to be in and part of the city. While most colleges are gated and have a quad, the buildings of NYU are spread out in the area, and the "quad" is Washington Sq. Park. I love that when you walk out of the dorms or any other building, you are immediately surrounded by Manhattan, and if you walk into the park, you are surrounded by fellow students. I also love the international aspect of the school. With three campuses around the world (NYC, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai) and a number of study abroad options (not nearly as much as Barnard or Columbia), including Ghana which is high on my list for study abroad in college, the school is trying to make itself a community of the world, not just the U.S. If you stay in the dorms, you will be placed with people from around the world, of different cultures, back grounds, and ethnicities. The world is my oyster, so a college that is very much focused on that catches my eye pretty quickly. I had crossed NYU off my list when I stopped wanting to be an actress, but it is absolutely back on again. Bronnie and I were in no way done with being in New York, so that night (after many more promises to text every hour) we were again allowed back into the city. The second day was less about exploration, and more about visiting more colleges. So we took the number one red line up to 116th street for a day touring Barnard and Columbia. The first tour, at 10:30, which we barely made it to due to some subway mixups, was Barnard. Barnard is an all women's college founded in 1889, and is a member of the Seven Sisters. It has been associated with Columbia since 1900. Now, I knew the two schools were very close to each other, and my mom had always said they were across the street from each other, but I had not expected the truth of the matter. They are literally ACROSS THE STREET! You walk out of Barnard, cross Broadway, and walk into Columbia. The schools also have a very close relationship and exchange. If you're at either of the schools you can be part of any of the clubs, sports, or classes at the other. Both schools have fantastic study abroad programs, and very good financial aid. Barnard's campus didn't strike me like NYU's or Columbia's did, however. I have no explanation for this, I just didn't absolutely love it on first site. What did strike me was the focus on strong, intelligent women, at a small liberal arts school that centers it's academics on the leadership of women. Those aspects of the school, plus the connection to New York, seem perfect for my college experience. I had a funny, small world moment at Barnard as well. My tour guide, while introducing herself, mentioned that she was from Albuquerque, NM. I immediately told her that I was from Santa Fe, and about an hour later, we figured out that I went to Hummingbird with her brother, who goes to NMSA. If I had come later that day, or another day, I may not have had her as a guide, but I came that day, and was able to discover again, how small the world really is. Bronnie and I then headed over to Columbia, and signed up for a 2:00 o'clock info session and tour (this was another school that said you should have a reservation!). We had an hour until the tour, so we went to Ollie's Noodles across the street, ordered to go, and ate our lunch on the quad of Columbia. Now, let me interject here, that the number of cute guys in New York, and especially at Columbia, is drastically higher than New Mexico. Drastically!!!!! So, anywho, as we sat there people watching (Columbia and Barnard don't have classes on fridays, so everyone was outside), we noticed an unusual amount of feathers floating around our feet. We then noticed everyone around us looking up into the tree next to us. Looking up, we realized that there was a hawk eating another bird, probably a pigeon. It was pulling the feathers out and devouring the meat like nobody's business. I tried not to look up for the rest of lunch... it was not a pleasant sight. We then headed over to the visitor's center for the tour. I will skip most about Columbia (although I have to mention that the dorm setups seem fantastic! You can have a single room if you want, or you can live in a co-ed dorm!) and focus on the campus. WOW. That is one beautiful school. There are big, grand, columned buildings, and glass walled modern buildings combined in one school. There is a chapel, and the whole sports complex is underground. The pool is UNDERGROUND!!!!!!! That was just so weird to me. And cool of course. If you're at Barnard, all your sports will take place at Columbia, so I would be able to take advantage of that at either school. The tour at Columbia concluded our second day in the city, and we headed home after that, exhausted.
So that was the last time I went to the city up until now. The next day I woke up and my friend in Connecticut and I decided that I should take the train up there for a few days to visit her. I have known her for twelve years, so it was hard to resist. Well, long story short, here I am, sitting on her back porch, looking at the absolutely stunning view of the green, green, green Connecticut forest. This state is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I am heading back to Jersey tomorrow or wednesday, but I'm so glad I was able to see another part of the east coast.
In two weeks I will be in Turkey. I have already been away from home for a week and a half, so I'm not so homesick now, however, the day I flew to New Jersey, I was painfully homesick. And terrified. Terrified of leaving everything I knew, of leaving my parents, who are such an important part of my life and of who I am. Sometimes I still miss them, but I feel like this three week trip is serving as an important buffer between my life in New Mexico and my life in Turkey. I have also been talking to my host family on Facebook, which has done a lot to ease my fear. They seem like fantastic people, and I cannot wait to meet them. I also received my school information! It is bright orange!!!!!!!! And by that, I mean the school is the shade of flight attendant's uniforms in the 60's. I will be attending the school with Tommy, and according to a girl who went last year, we will wear a uniform for half of the year, and then we won't have to. This is slightly disappointing, because I really enjoyed the thought of wearing a uniform, but oh well! C'est la vie (wrong language I know).
Although the Americans missed the AFS orientation in Istanbul, there are some other students who had to be postponed as well (two German girls, and a boy from the Dominican Republic at least), who will arrive when we are.
Well my friends, that is all for now I believe. I say goodbye to you from this beautiful setting, and hope ya'll are having as good of a time as I am wherever you are. Stay tuned for more New York adventures!
Xoxo, Izzy