new haven via new york

the weekend before thanksgiving i decided to go visit some good friends: kamilah and diane. i took the bolt bus to new york city.


quick review of bolt bus:

• i like that they have internet, but it was too spotty to actually watch anything on hulu, so that was a bummer.
• riding is way better than driving because you can do other stuff and not stress out
• i hate that they had to take me to mid-town. when we were at newark airport i just wished i could get off and take MTA to brooklyn so i didn't have to go to midtown and then all the way down manhattan and further down into brooklyn
• it takes a long time to just kinda get it going. i had to metro to metrocenter then wait for the bus then all the muck about midtown
• you do get to feel kinda self righteous because you didn't emit more carbon

over all, i think it is better to get a buddy to ride with you and just take your own car. and if you have the money the bus and train are way better too. but if you are on the cheap and don't have a buddy, it isn't a horrible option.

so i got to midtown, hopped on the #1 and headed down to see kamilah.

it was so fun to see her! so fun in fact that we didn't remember to take many photos...

here we are at my favorite mexican place this side of the rio grande
i have to get the info of it and i will do a full review, but it is delish and you can walk there in 4 mins for kamilah's apartment

she also posted about our short night together here. she got bamboozled into making HORDES of food for a church service project, so we just kinda chilled and hung out. it was super fun! i want to go back soon and do some shopping (hear that kgrace?)

so after a super late night, we slept in and had a delish homemade b-fast and i got back on the subway to head to new haven. that was pretty simple. and hour from brooklyn to grand central and then 2 hours to new haven. the train was pretty packed but i went up to the second car and found a pretty good seat i could stretch out in. i read "rough stone rolling" and then i guess fell asleep. i don't know what happened really (maybe i was drugged?). i woke up, from a deep deep slumber, and wondered where i was. once i remember the whole thing about being on a train and that i was going to new haven, i felt a bit better. the train was really quiet and i guessed everyone had got off at the stops before. the train was stopped and so i was trying to figure out what stop we were at: NEW HAVEN.

oh good

i started packing up my stuff. then realized the doors were closed.

CRAP!

so hurried to throw my stuff together and try and get the doors open. no luck

finally i realized i was at the last stop and everyone had gotten off the train and not bothered to wake me.

i ran to the first car (luckily i was close) and asked them to open the doors.

a guy got on the intercom and said "hey we have a sleeper still on the train, can you open the doors?"

the doors open, i got off and before i could even get 100 ft from where i stepped off the train moved on to go to train heaven. what would have happened had i not woken up when i did? what woke me up? how did i get so asleep? i can't help but ask these questions.

anyway, i made it.

it was fun. robyn was in town. we went to pepe's pizza. apparently there is a real rivalry between pepes and mizza (or something i can't remember). we had delicious pizza and a great time!

it was the day that yale played harvard in football. and a movie was playing called "harvard beats yale 29-29" it was a fun little documentary that i recommend with 7 stars. it was kinda awesome because i was at yale with all these yalies.

robyn left the next day and we had stayed up way too late to make it to church so we just got brunch and tootled around new haven. diane showed me yale, etc.

here is diane in front of her new house
she closes in a couple of weeks
we have been sharing all sorts of home improvement thoughts!

yale lovin' palin

i got to swim at the yale pool and then we decided to try pepe's competitor

this is the lady in charge of mizza's (or whatever it is called)

pepe's is way better. i don't really get the appeal of mizza's

i decided that i should have gone to yale. i love the idea of the colleges and how they really work to make sure people are getting a well rounded education. just seems super fun. if i ever have kids, i am hoping i can live my unfulfilled dreams (that i just got) of going to yale through them. :)

lucky for me, diane was coming to dc for thanksgiving so we got to drive back. so after doing COP reviews all day at a coffee shop in new haven, we started our drive back. it was way more fun than the bus alone and about 3 hours faster.