New York, New York, New York

Thursday the 3rd, Zach Parsons arrived in DC to see me off to New York City. We celebrated out long awaited reunion over several pitchers of fine brews. Friday was my last day of work. With the help of my boss, Katherine Thornton, I bound 5 copies of my portfolio. After the portfolio was finished, I knew my work experience in DC was done. It was bittersweet saying my goodbyes to everyone. I had an amazing time working with all of them this summer. They are a great bunch of people.

Also, I could not have asked for a better bunch of roommates. Ashly, Jacob, and James were great guys to spend a summer with.

Friday night was a night of celebration, though it made the 5.5 hour bus ride from Chinatown DC to Chinatown NYC a little less pleasant the next morning. Jarred Lindbloom met Zach and me at the bus stop and escorted us to the apartment he shares with Brendan Newman. A short while later, a friend of mine from USD, Patrick Johnson, arrived on a different Chinatown bus.

The days seemed to run together for one reason or another, so I will simply recap the sites we saw and times we had in the Big Apple: the Pier, the Brooklyn Bridge, several other bridges, Wall Street, the World Trade Center, Little Italy, Chinatown, the Staten Island Ferry, the Statue of Liberty, a Broadway PLAY (not musical) "The Lt.. of Inishire", Time Square, the subway, the inside of several bars and pubs, Zach and Patrick crying after they were beat yet again by the unstoppable team of Jake and Jarred, the bottoms of several beer glasses, Central Park, and several other things I have failed to mention.

The only thing I did not enjoy was the Broadway Play. Since then, I talked to a theater buff from New York who told me that we should have seen a musical. Unfortunately, getting seats for less than $100 in summer is not an easy thing to do.

I took the Chinatown bus home on Thursday, the 10th and flew out the morning of the 11th. Travel was unexpectedly light despite the ban on all liquids. I was only 10 minutes late getting into Minneapolis and was 10 minutes early getting into to Sioux Falls.

This summer was amazing. I am a very lucky boy.