But first...

In order to start at the very beginning, before I can tell you about my experience abroad in London I must tell you about my adventure in New York. Although I just landed in London two days ago, it already seems like ages ago that I left Brooklyn headed for JFK International Airport.

In truth, at this time last week I was out discovering the inner-workings of the New York subway system and exploring the city for the first time. Upon my arrival, I quickly realized that my trip would be centralized around meal time. Every night I ate something completely different and had the opportunity to try foods I'd never had before. On Friday I ate a sandwich from the corner shop and Vietnamese, on Saturday I ate pizza and mexican (who thought you could get good mexican food in NY?), on Sunday I ate malaysian noodles, on Monday I ate a bagel and homemade pasta with turkey meatballs, on Tuesday I ate West Indian stewed chicken with beans and "peas" (actually rice), on Wednesday I had thai, on Thursday I had more pizza, and on Friday I had a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting and one big juicy burger. And if I had woken up before noon, I would have had time to eat even more food! I probably would have liked to curl up in a cocoon and turn into a beautiful butterfly, but instead I just kept walking.

It is amazing how much more walking people do in a city like New York, where the car is not the prominent means of transportation. I've never broken in a pair of boots so quickly, but tromping through heaps of snow everywhere I went made the boots quite a necessity. My brand new boots now look well-worn and approximately 3 years old. But they took me everywhere!

The piles of snow did not slow me down though. My brother, Damian took me to as many parts of the city as he could, and when he was at work I went to museums. I saw the statue of liberty from the free Staten Island Ferry; walked through Times Square which looks like daylight even at night; walked around Rockefeller Center (which was fitting since I developed an acute obsession with 30 Rock while I was in town); and walked through many other parts of New York that I had always wanted to see.

Times Square!

Then I got up the courage to take the subway by myself from Brooklyn to Manhattan so that I could go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I had no idea a museum could be so big! I only spent about 3 hours there, and I feel like I hardly saw anything. My favorite part had to be the modern art. It was just fun to look at. And then I got even more bold and rode the subway to the American Museum of Natural History. Not only did I stand nose to nose with a T-Rex, but I also had to make a transfer on the subway. If you go to NY, I would recommend this museum. There is so much there, and the special exhibits all sounded amazing, but I didn't pay the extra money for that. In fact, I skimped and paid under the suggested admission. The AMNH has tons of cool displays about earthquakes, fossils, early humans, and nature. There is something very different about standing next to the true dinosaur models rather than seeing photos on the internet of on TV (or in Jurassic Park). And honestly, one of my favorite parts was the life size model of a blue whale. Animals just shouldn't be that big!

So New York was great! Next time I want to go when it is above freezing and visit Central Park and some of the other outdoor sites that were buried in snow. As for the menu I plan to eat ethiopian food, east indian curry, doughnuts, a pastrami sandwich, more bagels and pizza, and anything else that strikes my fancy. Oh, and I want to get a cup of black tea mixed with coffee, milk, and sugar. I sampled Damian's and it was quite an interesting flavor.

Thank you for bearing with me through my non-abroad post, but now I can move on to London: 2011.