I am surprised at how I get home sick much more often than I thought I would. I can see how it would be really difficult at times to be here by yourself. Exploring the City would be a lot less fun. The Skidmore house would be really depressing. It can be a little spooky at times with the both of us here, especially when you're talking your laundry all the way up to the bedroom at 11:30 at night. You can give yourself the willies if you think about it too much. But enough about that. I'm gonna write a helpful entry for future reference.
Okay, let's talk about the shop, as far as what I know. The lunches I've been doing have been more like dinners; for example, today we had chicken and veggie kabobs on the grill, cucumber and tomato salad, basmati rice, pita bread, and peanut sauce with a spiced honey cake for dessert. But I have Nick to help me out some too. It is the intern's job to take care of lunch, or at least do the grocery shopping. For someone who doesn't like to cook or doesn't know how, lunch will be simple stuff like sandwiches, salads, soups, etc. But everyone in the shop likes the simple stuff, so there's not really any pressure there. They do like it when you "shop outside of the box" and buy things that aren't necessarily on the list. I pick up different fruits and Craisins, things that look good, and things I think people might like, and of course anything I needed for lunch. But there are two important things to keep in mind when shopping and planning meals: there are two vegetarians in the group, and everyone likes to eat really healthily.
A bit about spending. They are pretty lenient about spending, as long as you don't go crazy. They've said that a lot of interns don't know how to handle their spending because they've never been given free reign with a credit card. The limits on your lunch and dinner amounts are only caps, $12 and $20 respectively. So if you spend $25-$30 dollars on dinner once in a while, it's not a big deal, as long as you are being responsible with the rest of your spending. DON'T BUY ALCOHOL OR CIGARETTES OR ANY OTHER QUESTIONABLE MATERIAL WITH THE INTERN CREDIT CARD!!! Remember that it not only makes you look bad, it makes OSU look bad. I do have to say that having all your gas, train tickets, metro cards, groceries, etc. covered is a sweet, sweet deal.
Speaking of train tickets and metro cards, I'll tell you how that works, so you won't goof up like Nick and I did the first time we rode the Long Island Rail Road. When you go to the Babylon Train Station look for the vending machines that sell tickets and metro cards. This is where you buy the tickets for the train, and you can also buy a metro card for the subway (just look around for other people standing in line). A round trip ticket to NYC during off-peak hours is about $16, the metro card is $20. The first time Nick and I rode the train we didn't realize that the metro card is exclusively for the subway and you must buy a separate ticket for the train. You can buy a ticket on the train, but it costs more. It wasn't a big deal, but we felt a little stupid. Oh yeah, when you pay for parking at the train station, you do that at a little vending machine too. It's easy. They are located next to the stairs to the platform (you'll see what I mean when you get here). Surprisingly, the subways are extremely easy to use; just remember that Uptown = North and Downtown = South, and East to West = Small to Big (meaning you go from First Ave. in the East to 12th Ave. in the West). Never be afraid to bust out a map and figure out where you're going. A lot of people do it. I think there may be more tourists/non-locals in New York than locals.... Also, the City is very easy to walk; the blocks are really small and it takes no time to get from here to there. Brooklyn on the other hand..... But that's another story. Explore every chance you get! Remember, you only have 12 weekends to do all your sightseeing, and believe me, time flies.
Hmmm, what else...Oh yeah. I think we said it before, but the restaurants on Long Island are HORRIBLE. Seriously. Over priced and bad food. However, there is one good place called Pollos Marios (picture below), Columbian food, located north of Bay Shore (where ULAE is.) But it's difficult to find a good restaurant in the City too. Who knew? Maybe we're too picky (but probably not). It might sound hard to believe, but you'll get tired of eating out. It's nice to cook at home some, too. The best grocery store to go to (the most fun with the best products) is Fairway. If you like to shop for groceries, this is the place for you! Nick and I love it. It's probably about 20 minutes from the house on the highway. It's a lot of fun. Check out the website for more details: www.fairwaymarket.com There are a couple of grocery stores right around the corner from the house, though. The Stop & Shop has a RedBox Rental inside. A lot of times we'll rent a movie (don't use the intern credit card!) and either pick up something quick or make something at home, and have dinner and a movie night. Nice and relaxing.
One last thing, I think, and that is - Prepare yourself for how different it is up here. It really is different. The people are very different. It is like the movies. And I would have to disagree and say that NYC is not the friendliest big city. People are rude and inconsiderate. Of course there are the exceptions, but that's true everywhere. Generally speaking, I don't like New Yorkers (at least in the Metro area; maybe it's different Upstate). It's a different world up here folks, and the natives have never heard of Oklahoma. But I don't want you to get the impression that it's horrible, but I didn't know what it really would be like and it's always nice to know ahead of time.
Well, hopefully this will give you some good tips. We'll definitely put up more as we think of them or experience them.
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