Well, I've been in New York since Sunday evening (and will be here until Saturday.) It's my longest trip ever to the city - the most I've stayed before has been four days or so - and I'm really happy about that. I just love it here.

I spent most of the day doing my reading in Starbucks (read about 400 pages in a few hours - I can thank my Western Classics courses for inadvertently teaching me how to speed-read!), then went out to dinner with my mom somewhere in the East Village. I'm staying at the lower part of Chelsea. I haven't spent much time in this neighborhood in my visits to New York in the past, but I really really like it.

I spent yesterday in Brooklyn with Lianna - my first Brooklyn visit! - which was cool. It's a lot more "neighborhood"-y than Manhattan (at least, any of Manhattan that I've seen.) I like how fast-paced Manhattan is, though. I like my New York visits to seem like something of a fantasy.

I also had my first "celebrity sighting" of the trip - a minor celebrity, but still - while on the subway with Lianna. Jaslene Gonzalez, winner off the 8th season (or "cycle", as the show ridiculously calls it), of America's Next Top Model:



She was wearing these horrible capri-length hot pink sweatpants with boots and just a few inches of skin in between (the reason I noticed her was the sweatpants and how freaking skinny her ankles were) and a baseball cap so that most of her face was covered. Still, she's so distinctive-looking that it was pretty immediately obvious who she was. Despite the somewhat unfortunate outfit, she's gorgeous in person nonetheless.

More to come. I love New York so, so much.