Impromtu NYC Trip! A Novella for you :)

(Waiting at the John Wayne Airport for our flight to Newark. B got a new camera.)

Hiiiiiiiii, Babies! So, I just got back from an amazing impromtu NYC trip. We were originally going to check out a room, but it turned out it wasn't a prime location for me :(

Buuuuuuuuut, we went anyway!

It was only my 2nd time in the city (the first time I went was in February for my Columbia callback, and THAT was a crazy whirlwind and I hardly saw anything). I went with my stepmom and my stepsister, Brenna. None of us had any commitments, and because my amazing dad is a pilot, we can fly for free (it's not as easy as it seems though, we fly standby...not complaining though, it's such a blessing!) We flew out of Orange County on Monday and made the first flight to Newark.

(Brenna's pics. On the plane to Newark, and on the train from Newark to NYC)

We crashed in Newark, and took the train into NYC the next day. Then we met up with my amazing, generous friend Marianne's little girls (who're the most grown-up, well adjusted tweens you'll ever meet). The girls led us to their place, which Marianne let us crash at her place on the Upper East Side while she was visiting Chico (that was the greatest gift we could've been given). We were so grateful to have that place and their hilarious cat was fun to come home to each night.

(We literally pissed our pants, during this cat photoshoot!!!!!)

So the first night we were there, we went to Big Daddy's Diner with Emily and Audrey, then returned back to their apartment to eat a huge piece of chocolate cake and watch their new favorite show, Pretty Little Liars. We had such a great time talking to them about their lives in NYC and their plans for applying to high schools. I'll be praying for them to get into the perfect, most fulfilling high schools! :)

The next morning (Wednesday) they left bright and early and made it all the way to California that day (which was wonderful because they fly standby too!). Meanwhile, Laura, Brenna, and I walked all over and ended up in Central Park. Then we took the subway up toward Columbia. We made it to Columbia (after a brief stint in Harlem, my bad...yeah...I got us lost a lot, but it was a great learning experience). We walked around campus, and admired it's beauty. It still so surreal.



Then, I got in touch with one of my future classmates, the wonderful Mr. Bill Coyne, and we met him for coffee near Times Square/in Hell's Kitchen. It was awesome because I had never seen that crazy, bustling area before and it was so exciting! Bill was so great to talk to and soooooo helpful. He's already all up in the business, and he's been in the city for a while, so he was able to answer so many questions and offer so much insight! He told us how to rush a show and showed us where some of the cool theatre sights were. I look forward to working with him next year!

Then, the rest of the day we sort of meandered around the Theatre District, walked down 5th Avenue, and all that jazz. By the end of the day though, we were a little overstimulated, and we had put in what felt like a 10 hour Disneyland day, so we perched at The Hard Rock Cafe for a snack (which was a little touristy, but fun). Then we headed back home to rest up for the next day. We were craving something sweet, that night, so we went out in search of ice cream and discovered the amazing Emack & Bolio's, which is def not on the west coast. We got hooked real quick.


(Hard Rock Cafe: the 3 of us with Janis hahahahaha, and Brenna and I cracking up at something with matching body language)













Miss Marissa Wilhelm paid a visit to Marianne's place that lovely, rainy night on her way up to New Hampshire for her Shakespeare gig. It was cool to see her and I hope you're having a great time in rehearsal, Miss Thang!

Thursday, we were going to get up early and try to get rush tickets, so I could see my first Broadway show, but that didn't happen. We ended up getting a later start. (I was beyond excited to receive the e-mail with my summer reading list and class schedule, and other info regarding school in the fall that morning). We got our morning coffee and headed toward The World Trade Center (after stopping in the East Villiage for lunch). Brenna, saw it a few years ago, and wanted to see it again after watching a documentary about the tragedy in school. There's really not much to see anymore though. It's all construction.

After Wall Street and all that we decided to take the train up to show Brenna NYU (she loves New York too and has considered moving out there for school, which I would LOVE!). We checked out some of the buildings, of course you can't really go in without a school id, and the area around it. Then we went back up to the Upper East Side, had an amazing buffalo chicken pizza for dinner, and headed back up to Marianne's to nap. When we got up from our nap, and got ice cream AGAIN!. That night, I go a text from my amazing Columbia "big sis", Dani Faitelson. She and some of her classmates invited me to go out in the meatpacking district. SO, I brought my little sis (shhhhhhh) and we took the subway down to meet them (after I got lost again, and my phone died of course, see imagine what would've become of me had I not brought the minor out) at this bitchin club, called The Griffin. I got to hang out with the lovely ladies: Kate Flanagan, Melissa Pedro, and Dani too! We had a great time dancing (it was so cute to see Brenna dance all night! She is such a good, fun girl. She never drank one sip of alcohol. She kept it legal with H20 and danced all night!). Dani, Mel and Kate got me even more excited about school next year! They were so real, and down to earth and it's exciting to meet new friends! We stayed out hella late...rolled in at 4 am and cracked up when we were going to sleep and the cat took a gnarley dump that stunk up the place. Goooooood times!

(And I thought Chico feet were bad...)

The next morning (Friday, our last day) we get a late start, due to post-going out fatigue. We had a small brunch and headed back up to Columbia to meet with Julie Rossi, the Director of Academic Administration for Theatre Arts at Columbia, who kindly showed me around the Theatre Office. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get much info about housing and fin. aid due to limited summer hours, but all in good time. :) Then, we went to the bookstore and bought my dad a hat and a shirt and thumbed through books. After campus, we went to this Thai place that we really liked, called Lime Leaf. It was right by the school and we went twice! LOL.

After our second visit to Columbia, we headed down to Soho. Brenna wanted to go to Forever 21 (which was a nightmare, hot and waaaaaaay too crowded) and we wanted to see the infamous hotspot. It was so cute and I thought to myself, when it's not so touristy, Psquared would have a great time here! We got hot and tired of shopping so we got out third and final Emack and Bolio's ice cream, and took the subway (during rush hour, which was crazy and left us with numerous, people watching induced, inside jokes) to Central Park again. We sat and did more people watching, then we took the crosstown bus back toward Marianne's, had a nice dinner, tidied up our mess in the apartment and packed up to go home.

(Our last day: we were friggin' BEAT and PUNCHY, while people watching in the park)

We made it back home Saturday night, in time for a lovely Father's Day yesterday!

The trip was great. Even though, I'm still in the dark about a lot of things, it was great to explore without much of an agenda, get used to public transportation and spend time with new friends (not only will I have my Chico in NYC network, I'll have so many great Columbia/NY friends). I feel soooo much better about going out now. The excitement is outweighing the fear (just found out that Dianne Wiest will be filling in in September for Andrei Serban in our Acting Studio I class! :D) . Although, the fear is good. If this weren't scary, it wouldn't be worth doing. :)


Welp, there's a book for you about my NYC trip. It was a blessing, and I'm so excited for what's next! Dreams, dreams, dreams.

I love you all so much! Chico people, I miss you much and think about you all every day! Enjoy your summers and believe in your dreams, and I'll try to do the same! xoxoxoxo

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