Job + School + General Panic | Diary

TIA HERE and hoping to turn Duo Diaries a bit more personal from time to time. This is effort #1. Because here's the thing—as much as I love writing blog posts with a topical focus, sometimes I don't feel I have an adequate amount of time to create a post of the caliber I'm really hoping to achieve here. Currently, the DD drafts include "How to Listen to Lana Del Rey's 'Honeymoon' Album" à la this Taylor Swift 1989 post, several video tours of the Cornell University campus, and "How to Write a Query Letter," in the same vein as this post about reader's reports. So what's the holdup, right? Life, it seems, and all of the resulting anxiety.

Lunch in East Village & Free Friday @ MoMA | A Day with the Duo

VICTORIA HERE to take you on another adventure with me around NYC! This time with TIA as I tagged along to get lunch and later hit up the Museum of Modern Art with her and her friend who is also interning in the city. We met up in East Village for lunch and ended up going for sliders at Mark Burger.

MARK BURGER | 33 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10003

Mark Burger is a dimly lit restaurant that serves up a specialized menu featuring exclusively mini burgers (a.k.a sliders) along with fries and an insane assortment of shakes.

The best thing about this place is that the sliders are surprisingly cheap and they blast all of those hiphop hits you loved in middle school! You can get a regular slider for just $2.50 or go my route and get the double bacon slider for $5.50. No matter what you choose, these little cuties are actually pretty filling and I couldn't take anymore after just one slider, cheese fries, and a mocha shake, of course.

After lunch, we had time to kill until Free Friday at MoMA started at 4PM. We resolved to walk back to our dorm in Chelsea but after losing track of our route multiple times decided to just chill in Washington Square Park until it was time to head to the museum.

Here are some random snaps from the day:

Entrance to MoMA | 11 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019

Since we probably walked around for an hour and a half lost around West Village, we were kinda beat once we got to MoMA. Heads up for people planning to taking advantage of Uniqlo's Free Friday Nights: I suggest getting there around 5:30-6PM unless you want to wait in a line that wraps around the block! 

UNIQLO FREE FRIDAYS | MoMA is free to all every Friday from 4-8PM

We ended up only exploring about two floors of the museum. Tia's phone was dying and we lost track of her friend and I was super tired - it just wasn't looking good. But I definitely enjoyed checking out the Andy Warhol pieces and all of the people crowded around each one taking photos that they will probably never look at again!

I already had seen the music exhibit the last time I was there, but I also particularly liked it the second time around. It was so cool to see vintage record players and, particularly, the ones I was obsessed with in high school on display. To think about how differently people in the past enjoyed their favorite albums is pretty interesting. I just have to consult Youtube, but music was a lot more concrete and physical in those days and probably not as easily accessible...

After roaming around a bit, we came upon this window overlooking the garden with a great view of that typical NYC architecture. We got a few tourist-y shots in front of it and headed down to the garden before we ventured back home. 

Until next time,

V.

Arriving in NYC | Diary

VICTORIA HERE to fill you in on what I've been up to recently! This summer I will be working at a social media marketing and pr agency in New York City called Socialfly as a social media intern. Super excited to learn more about marketing and develop those professional skillz. I am a complete NYC newbie so I hope you guys stay tuned to witness me take on this new opportunity!

Monday | morning: I spent night Sunday waiting for the 4am Shortline bus to NYC. As I was about to get on the bus, a girl asked me to help her mom out who couldn't speak English and was already sitting on the bus alone. Fortunately, her mother was Korean and I was able to speak with her and help her buy a ticket. I definitely am way better at understanding the language than speaking it myself so though I was able to listen well to her stories about her children and visiting America, my replies were quite short but I tried my best! She praised my Korean skills and became more comfortable with me (gave me gum and an apple when I woke up from my nap lol) which is all I could ask for. After we got off of the bus, I helped her get a taxi to JFK airport and was very satisfied that I could put my Korean to good use even after having left Seoul.  

Monday | evening: After the five hour bus ride I was finally at Port Authority and took a short Uber ride to my summer housing at FIT where I met Tia in our shared apartment. We unpacked our things, were treated to lunch by Tia's mom, and took a train to Chinatown where we bought the most beautiful mangoes ever.
Tuesday: I slept.

Wednesday: I went out and explored the Chelsea area to make up for not doing anything the day before. I wore black jeans which was the worst decision considering how hot it was. I have been sweating so much here! I got lost a few times and probably walked more than 20 blocks but I was still happy. Mostly because I picked up a new skirt from Muji and much needed summer tanks on sale for 2/$10 at H&M~
Thursday: I was set to catch up with a friend who I met while in the city for a networking event over spring break. We decided to meet at a restaurant called Santina in the Meatpacking District because of its close proximity to the Highline.

The Highline

I live near the end of the Highline on 31st and didn't realize the restaurant is at the complete opposite end of the line past 13th so today I ended up walking more than 20 blocks too! But the time totally passed by quickly because my walk was filled with cool murals, art pieces, and funky architecture.

Santina is a trendy (and expensive) restaurant located right under the Highline in Meatpacking. The menu featured a lot of different seafood plates amongst others.

I went for the Wild Rice Calamari Salad mostly because it was one of the cheaper options at $17 (still expensive but good)! All of the main dishes on the menu were around $24 and up, so if you're into that definitely check this place out.

Gansevoort Market

After lunch, we headed over to Gansevoort Market for something sweet--my friend needed a de-stresser after going through a two hour job interview the morning of. The market is full of little eateries with their own booths. The options range from freshly squeezed juice to tacos served straight out of a Volkswagen. 

My friend decided gelato would be her cure of choice so we both ordered custard and marsala wine-flavored cones called Zabaglione. We were definitely satisfied!

Afterwords, I headed back down the Highline while listening to my new fave Soundcloud mix. It was a pretty nice day.

Until next time,

V.

Mad Max, Moving, & Mangoes | Diary

TIA HERE, now with a crazy week under my belt. After days of packing, I finally moved my six boxes from the old apartment to the new one (in Ithaca) and nearly broke my arms in the process. I definitely didn't do it all alone. Victoria had her fair share of boxes as well and we would've gotten nowhere without the life-saving assistance of my friend Sarah, a wonderfully talented < 3 A Cappella member and grad student with a big car. You're amazing, Sarah!

Dear Denmark: Until Next Time

TIA HERE with a full heart. I have now been away from Copenhagen for a week, but some of this was written during my last few days in the city. It's my final love letter to Denmark, to the people I met, and to the experiences I had while abroad. I never knew a single journey could affect me so tremendously, but it has, and I am glad that four years ago I decided to undertake it, and last spring I made it happen.