Little Italy, plus some ramblings.

I am way behind on documenting my time in NYC.  I've made a lot of great friends here, and we've done some really fun stuff.  The funny thing is, most of the friends I've made have all been people who go to BYU, who I just didn't know beforehand.  It's funny how I had to come all the way to New York to meet fellow BYU Comms majors.

It's pretty cool how awesome BYU is.  There are probably about 30 of us here, and everyone is interning at some pretty big name places.  There are print journalists interning at some major newspapers and magazines, broadcast journalists at some of the most-watched morning shows, advertising students at top ad agencies, and public relations students at corporate in-house internships and agencies.  At the end of our long days, we all come back to the same apartment complex and eat dinner together.  It's a really fun experience.

Last weekend, we went to Little Italy.  It reminded me so much of Boston.  When I lived in Boston (I interned on Mitt Romney's campaign in 2008), I worked in the heart of the Italian district.  It was gorgeous, and I really loved it there.  It was fun to be in Little Italy and get a slight feel for Boston again.  We also did some light shopping, (I said LIGHT shopping, Blake :) and then went to the Guggenheim Museum.  The Guggenheim was cool because I'm fresh off my interior design/architecture class at BYU and it's one of Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings.  The art inside was different though.  

I used to really love that sort of modern cubism style, so I recognized a lot of the Marc Chagall and Kandinsky paintings, but the rest of it, not so much.  They did have a huge impressionist section,  with Monet, Degas, and old school Picasso's (back when he painted and drew people as they are, not in the cubism forms he created later) and that was by far my favorite.  I've always loved Degas.

I think it goes back to fifth grade.  My mom coached the knowledge bowl at my elementary school.  The knowledge bowl was for overachieving, ahem, nerdy elementary school kids who wanted to learn in-depth about a certain subject, and would study year long before school and then compete against other elementary schools at the end of the year. 

I remember we had an all-girl team, and the topic was art.  That was the best year of my elementary school life, (and that's saying something, because I LOVED elementary school!) My mom spent forever making flash cards for all of us, and quizzing us in the mornings at the school library.  Most of what I know now about different types of art, and different artists came from what my mom spent hours countless hours helping me learn in elementary school, and not from my advanced art classes in junior high and high school.  Good thing it paid off, because who took home the gold in our matching Old Navy shirts my mom bought us? Only the Hillcrest Hawks. Don't mess...

After that I really wanted to be an art history major, but then I when I got to college I decided on English, then French, then political science, then finally, public relations.  (I think I'm starting to figure out why I haven't graduated yet...) But I still love art history, as more of a hobby.

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to, I'm a few weeks behind on this, but here's a start.

 This is a really cool vintage store we found.  We weren't allowed to touch the clothes without assistance because some were over 100 years old.  My first thought was "cool," which was quickly replaced with "sick, I don't want to buy some nasty 100 year old old lady outfits, I'd rather buy something that looks vintage, rather than actual vintage, there is probably still dead old lady skin cells on those things."

    Sidenote: Living here, I've quickly realized that if left unchecked, I could easily develop a debilitating case of OCD.  I have to hand-sanitize every 5 seconds, and when people breathe on my arm on the subway (Do not breathe on me, it grosses me out so bad.  Especially when it's nose-breath), I have to hurry and sanitize my arm.  Everything is so dirty here!

     NYC is beautiful, and the people are some of the most talented, successful, and interesting in the world, but with that often comes eclectic, crazy lifestyles, and often complete disregard for all things civility when it comes to public transportation.  I am constantly amazed at how awful and selfish people on the subway can be, but once we're out of the dark underground free for all, and back on the streets, they return to smiley, helpful individuals.  I somehow remember Boston being so much cleaner and friendlier than it is here.

    

   A few weeks ago, I was on a packed subway headed into work.  An old feeble woman got on and slowly made her way through the crowd.  There was one empty seat and she had almost reached it when a young guy ran behind her and sat down about 5 seconds before she could.  I was shocked.  I was standing, or I would have let her sit in my seat.  Nobody seemed to notice or care.  I wish I said something, but I think I just watch too much Law and Order because I thought maybe he would stab me or something.  (That being said, everyone I have met at work and outside of the subway have been extremely nice and helpful people.  It's just something about those tunnels, I tell ya.)

 Little Italy

 Tori and I by the Italian flag inspired fire hydrant, with our ever-present H&M bags. Hey, when there's one on every corner...

 This reminded me so much of Boston

 And a 14 week pregnant picture, in front of the Guggenheim.  

Also, Blake comes Monday night.  I can't wait!