A busy few weeks!

Well, I have just had the loveliest visit from my dear friend, Seonaid, who has been staying with me for the past 2 weeks :) Photos will follow but for now here's a not-so-brief run-down of our exploits:


So, we had a delightful time. I was frustrated to get an energy-zapping cold but Seo was struggling with the heat so I think she was pleased to take things at a slower pace. We still managed to do fun stuff every day such as...

Swing dancing at a jazz club called Swing46 with a full-on brass band!

HUGE pastrami sandwiches from Katz's diner (famous for THAT scene from when Harry Met Sally...) followed by drinks in an al fresco bar.

Dinner then a night out dancing with all my chums from school to celebrate the end of our course - we danced into the wee, small hours, showing off our moves from 6 weeks of dance class. The bar even had a map of Scotland on the wall so I could show everyone where I lived!

Horseriding western-style on a beach in southern Brooklyn :)

AMAZING trip to the Empire State Building (twilight, sparkly lights, HUGE orange moon, fireworks, saxaphone player...!)

Thrift shopping at a crazy place with peach prom dresses from the '80s and acres of tie-dye t-shirts!

Cinema trip to see the Edge of Tomorrow - good fun!

A trip to Christie's fancy fancy auction house to sit in on a sale, and look at some art exhibitions - for free! And they were delightfully welcoming to us :)

THEN we got more free stuff when we went to ogle Saks Fifth Avenue and got collared by a Clinque rep who whisked us downstairs in a fancy elevator to a HUGE and fancy spa for a free facial each! I needed to buy new moisturiser anyway so they got something out of us. We were delighted with our free day...

Until we paid $137 each to go and see Wicked!! It was worth it though, we both really enjoyed it and were glad to share the experience. Got huge goosebumps at the end of act one, it was amazing!

Next, trip to Govenors Island (former fort South East of Manhattan)which was lovely but Seo got heat exhaustion and my cold took hold so we were botha bit useless but still had a lovely time!! We got free bikes for an hour before we dipped and that was great fun!

Amazing amazing amazing sunset at Hudson River Park as we waited for American Hustle to start on the big screen - a great (free!) experience :) 

The next day was a trip to Stony Brook film festival with my acring friend Maria but I think I'll have to save that for its own post 'cause we had too much fun to mention!

By the weekend we were exhausted and on Saturday we did VERY LITTLE! We watched a lot of Dexter on Netflix, did some laundry and found a cool for all-day brunch at 4.30pm! (Amazing eggs benedict and popcorn chicken with waffles and syrup! Ooh we had a wonderful time :))

Sunday was busy: Seonaid got up really early to do a tour of Wall street with our friend Kath, who is an actress and tour guide) then I joined them at noon for a tour of Soho and Little Italy. She's a FANTASTIC tour guide, so much fun and really involves everyone. Then Seo and I went for a wander through Chelsea Market before walking the High Line (a former elevated train line converted into a garden walkway) whilst eating the best gelato in NYC! Then we zipped back to Greenpoint, collapsed for 30mins, then cooked dinner for horsey friends from home who came over for the evening!

 We had a LOVELY time and it was really perfect for Seonaid's last night.  She's now en route to London (via Istanbul??) and is speaking at a conference tomorrow afternoon!

I've got a nice day to catch up with myself and then I'm off to Vermont tomorrow to visit my friend Robin from acting school! Should be fun :) Then the next 2 weeks will be reading and classes and making plans for career development so I can hopefully hit the ground running when I get back! :)

This really is the trip of a lifetime :)

Look! A chipmunk!
Came across this little chap on one of my exploratory runs in Central Park :) 29th May

A beautiful, peaceful church I came across after orientation... 28th May

CABARET with ALAN CUMMING!!! So exciting! Welcome to New York!! :) (28th May)

                                                          

We had to attend Orientation on Wednesday then a bunch of us went out for lunch - got a good feeling about my group: some interesting people. Spent the following afternoon and evening with Shawna; a Canadian filmmaker and actress. We had a nice time chatting about movies and actors and philosophies on life... We met squirrels and tortoises and drank wine and generally had a lovely, chilled day!

Three amazing buskers singing kind rock/orchestral gosoel music (28th May)

 

Shawna and a squirrel!
(A fairly odd, crab-walking squirrel who seemed unable (or unwilling) to go in a straight line...)
(28th May)

Perfect picnic spot overlooking a posh fancy restaurant
 - cheaper, less noise, and better view of the tortoises!! Cool! (28th May)

Have been a bit remiss with the photos - slowly getting caught up! Here's the last few days before I started my course...

AMC Cinema on 81st Street - delighted to be seeing the new X-men film (didn't even know there was one out!) (29/6)

Even more delighted to find out they had RECLINING SEATS!!

For your delectation: New York be Crazy moment #2!

The peaceful sounds of Sunday morning traffic, dumper trucks, sirens and alike were interupted by the indignant fury emanating from a slim, middle-aged Brooklynite standing in the street screeeaaming with idignant fury to a couple of hapless construction workers that they shouldn't be working on a Sunday.
This pillar of the community had nothing better to do than go around reading the work permits on display and take it upon himself to uncover any infractions. His passion (and extensive vocabulary of expletives) were exemplary, and in fact you may sympathise with his fervor in upholding the law, but the crowning moment of NY crazy came when the helpless worker asked him why he cared. The red-faced crusader for justice reached new heights of hysteria, exploding:
'Because I live in world where there are RULES!!!! And if you don't obey the rules THERE. ARE. CONSEQUENCES!!!!
At this point we made an exit as we didn't want to risk getting caught up in the one-man-tornado but suffice to say New York be cray-zee!

Hostelling International NY - free WiFi, great bathrooms (essential!), lovely company, and a fab cafe with ENORMOUS cakes!! May 27th - June 1st

Hostel roommates Alana and Jade (?)

Alana, Shawna and I sitting on a turtle (of course!), in a bar called Turtle Bay in an area of Manhattan called Turtle Bay! What a coincidence!

Seems I landed in NYC in the middle of Graduation Day!
Hiya NYC!! Guess who's come to stay?!

Hurray hurray hurray! Genius Big Bro has helped me figure out why I couldn't get my photos up here! (I say 'helped' - you know I meant he did the entire thing while I looked on somewhat dumbstruck, right?) This photo is my first view of NYC when I surfaced from the subway - HUNDREDS of students + already-busy streets + Eilidh + 20kg bag + hand luggage = arghhh!! 

More photos to follow, y'all! Watch this space :) xx