it's not fake!

Thank goodness the plumber came early this morning, otherwise Liz, Alexis, and I wouldn't have gotten up at all today. It was a great day to just lay around and relax. Finally getting up Alexis mentioned lunch and wanted go out. Thankfully I have a lot of items from Trader Joe's so I talked them into staying here if i made them lunch. We had frozen Peruvian rice...it was funny how amazed they were. They thought I actually made it!

After talking with Kathryn about the MSLO building, I started to freak out about my outfit for the first day. I have this look in mind, but I'm not sure how to put it all together. Therefore, Liz and I went to Century 21. Century 21 is a large discount department store with high-end designers. Essentially....high-end TJMAXX. Liz and I were both overwhelmed in this place. It was huge, messy, and hectic. We did have fun looking at the before and after prices. We both had outfits in mind we wanted to find. I would suggest going and have nothing in mind. Otherwise you will be truly disappointed. I ended up getting a Lucca Lucca trench coat and a cute black dress. Nothing I can wear to MSLO...

I met up with Andrew for dinner. His internet isn't set up yet, so he borrowed mine. We went to Kum Gang San in Koreatown since it is two blocks down. I was not the biggest fan of it. I do not think I would go back. I actually ordered Japanese there because the other options freaked me out. Bone marrow soup!? The only utensils they had were chopsticks. I managed, but it was hard. I haven't mastered this skill yet...it is my goal to have it figured out by the time I leave. I need to get the practice kind kids use.

Alexis's twin sister and high school friend came to visit tonight. Our apartment now sleeps six comfortably! =) These girls have so many connections in NYC. Because I was with them, I was able to surpass the line to get into Garden of Ono again. We were supposed to go to the top of the hotel to the rooftop bar, but it didn't happen. We decided to stay at street level. I was hoping to go to the Gavensport because it is ultra exclusive, but oh well. While I was there I ran into Chris Klein (American pie movies). I guess I can now say someone famous bought me a drink!

We were then going to go to Marquee, the most exclusive club in NYC, but got out too late. I forgot to mention we didn't leave the apartment til 11:45!!!! This is absurd to me. Therefore, Alexis's promoter got us into the Pink Elephant Club. There we could drink for free with the bottle service. We had to wait outside until Frenchie came and got us, but it was fun to walk by everyone. This place had a scanner for ID's. I thought when I turned 21 I wouldn't have any issues...but this is the second time my ID has been questioned. The power-tripped bouncer scanned it three times and then starred me down for a minute! IL just took on a new design, so I think it doesn't look normal. I then show them my school ID, but I don't think they believe that either since no one has heard of Maryville University. Thankfully Frenchie told them to leave me alone.

Walking into the club, it is very chic and loud. It is fun to experience the "trendy" club scene, but seems as if it would get old fast! I'm more about the fun bars where you can hold a conversation and you don't have to know someone to get in.

Eventually finding our table, we were greeted with a bottle of Belvedere and Grey Goose vodka with all of the mixers you could think of. This was probably the highlight of the evening since I didn't have to pay $15 for one drink. Later in the evening we were presented with champagne. Like I've said in earlier post, i'm not sure how this all works, but i like it. The Pink Elephant was fun to experience, but I'm not sure if I need to go there every night. I wish i had more photos from these types of nights, but I was made fun of when I asked someone to take a picture. "We have professional photographers for this." Agh! I'm trying to find the professional photos on the web now, but I do not think they are posted yet.

We took cabs everywhere tonight, I was not a fan. I have an unlimited metro card, cabs are too expensive for me. I guess I was living the glamorous life tonight and the subway didn't fit into it.

Besides the high-end club scene, I experienced two NY traditions for the first time tonight. I hailed a cab and bought a pretzel from a street vendor. We have decided if you are dressed nice, you can get much better treatment in the city. When the cab drivers saw four really nicely dressed girls standing on the side of the street they all come rushing. It is very weird. The cab driver we got was very odd. I'm not sure where he was from, but couldn't believe we were from Philly and STL. Supposedly they are both really fat cities! =\ He was very confused by the twins as well, he said they looked like potatoes. Who knows what that means.

I like the street food vendors. Especially since they are open all hours of the night. You can walk into a club/bar and they will be serving meat items and then walk out a in a few hours and will be selling doughnuts and coffee. It always smells so good...especially the Halal (Islamic) vendors. Thankfully the vendor near my apartment still had regular food at 3:30am. I was so excited to try my first soft-pretzel in NYC. Since Ashley and I were "pretty girls" I got my pretzel with mustard for $1 instead of $3. Oh Brother! This city is nuts. While this comment was calm, people in NY feel as if they can say anything to you walking down the street...

I guess it will be fun to experience NYC through the promoters for awhile and will be fun to think back on in the future, but I'm ready to feel normal. Two more days until I have a full-time job. I can't wait to start, work for this amazing company, and experience the real NY!

-Sam