Bidding adieu to the Big Apple

This post is so incredibly overdue that it's almost embarrassing to write. That said, I need to have it in here for multiple reasons.

1. I'm a sentimentalist-in-denial. I try to come off as flippantly detached, when, in reality, I'm a bleeding heart. What's worse is that I can try to convince myself that I convey an attitude of disinterest...but I'm pretty sure everyone knows I'm a hot mess.
2. The last few weeks in NYC were completely unreal. As I became increasingly excited about my move to Iowa, I also became preemptively homesick for New York.
3. To document the craziness. As I become increasingly swept up in the workload of medical school, having a narrative of my final days in NYC will be a fun little departure. I can live vicariously through myself. Is that weird?

Anyway, so the week of July 23-27 marked my last full week in NYC. As I was scrambling to accomplish as many things as I possibly could, I somehow managed to make my way up to New Haven to visit my friend Michael. A graduate student in composition at Yale, I've known Michael since we both attended a piano summer camp in early high school. During my first year in NYC, we saw each other regularly (as we were both living there), but since his move to CT for school, I saw him only on a handful of occasions for concerts at Juilliard.

Upon arriving in New Haven, we immediately did what any studious, dorky-type would do, walked past Yale's Secret Societies and perused their libraries (much like I did with my friend, Amruta, at Princeton). A few months prior I read an article about the country's best academic libraries, distinctly remembering that Yale's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library (see below) was on the list.

The translucent marble walls were gorgeous, and the column of rare
books was magnificent.

After visiting the libraries, we continued making our way around campus, catching up about the past year. Before running to the theater to see Moonrise Kingdom, we passed Mory's, also known as Mory's Temple Bar, the exclusive New Haven institution known for weekly Whiffenpoofs appearances. The Whiffenpoofs are the nation's oldest collegiate a capella group. They travel around the world every year, serenading the world's a capella junkies.

Mory's. Opened the year of Chopin's death. Anyone know what year that is???

Anyway, after the movie, we went to grab pizza at a famous pizza joint, and subsequently called it a night (...after watching an episode of Downton Abbey (I mean, I could end every day with a little D.A.)). The following morning we went to grab some breakfast at a nearby coffee shop. I forget the name of the place, but it was adorbs. I made my way to Union Station shortly thereafter to catch the MetroNorth back to NYC.

I spent the remainder of the week doing arbitrary things around the city. Visiting museums I'd never visited, strolling through random parks, and finishing those last minute moving-related chores that seem to continue creeping up on you. Anyway, so Friday approached in a hurry, and before I knew it I was on my way to my going-away dinner at Sons of Essex on the Lower East Side. This place was country-hoedown-meets-grunge-Americana kind of place. Very American...but also very LES simultaneously. It was grungily delicious.

There was a consensus that my arm looks oddly long in this photo.
at Sons of Essex, 133 Essex Street, New York, NY

Naturally, dinner was followed with some carefree frivolity at this place called Viktor & Spoils. We enjoyed some 100+ proof libations, followed by some craziness in Wburg at this place called Glasslands. This place is freaking awesome. I don't know how to explain it exactly. It's basically in an old warehouse, filled with an eclectic clientele that's discerning but also laid-back. Essentially everything about it is confusing and nonsensical; par for the course in Wburg.

As I finalized the my plans to make the jump to Iowa that following Tuesday...I ramped up the energy of my final weekend in the city. In order to do that weekend justice, I'm going to devote a separate entry to the move and that weekend altogether. If I don't start making these updates more manageable...I'll never finish them. Oy vey; as I write about those days in NYC, the more distant it feels.

I really need to catch up...as so many incredible things have happened in med school and outside of it. There's never a dull moment in my life. I'm so blessed, and oh so happy stressed.

Actually, I'm incredibly happy...I'm pretty sure I've never felt more certain about where I am in my life as I do right now.

Until next time (which will be sooner than later, I PROMISE)...Tschüss!