First days

Sorry I couldn't put pictures online so far... I'll defintely try to put them very soon. Anyway, here's what I did over the past three days!

First post about my trip to New Haven/New York!! After arriving last friday and spending a couple days in New York, i just finished my first day as an intern in New Haven - and eventually i can rest a bit!

So... I arrived in New York three hours late last friday (one of the engines of the plane refused to start while boarding, which was a bit scary...). Apart from that the trip was fine though, and I was surrounded by 12 year old girls who played games with me and considered me as an old person since i am more than 20.

Arriving in FJK airport in Queens, i was welcomed by a nice and big picture of George W. Bush on the wall... I also had to give my fingerprints and they took a picture of me. Some people were moaning in the queue, but only six years after the attacks, i guess it really makes sense. Then i took a taxi to go to Cecile's. First yellow cab, yaaay! Cecile is a girl from Sciences po who's really into music and does an internship at the French Music Department in the US. She hosted me for the week end.

Immediatly after arriving, we went to meet a few friends of hers in Greenwhich Village. One of them is actually a guy from Lille I had met before (I know, it's a small wolrd), the other is an Australian girl who decided to leave Melbourne all in a sudden two weeks ago to go live in New York, where she had never been and knew no-one. In two weeks time, she found a flat and a job - crazy.

So we went to a few bars downtown, and I got to see the Stonewall Inn (the bar which started all of the Gay Pride movement), on the way we saw a jam in a small jazz place. I also saw Magnolia, the bakery of Sex and the City! By the way they give Sex and the City tours so i guess i'll go to one at some point.

On Saturday, Cecile and I had brunch with Jenny, the Aussie girl, in Brooklyn heights, which is the most upper class part of Brooklyn, directly facing Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. Brunch was great (scrumbled eggs and salmon on pancakes), after that we were off to Coney Island, to see the Siren Festival (loads of cool bands i had never heard of, like Black lips and the New York Dolls). We left quite early though cos we were knackered and it was so crowded, and we had to be fit for Jenny's birthday party in the evening!

So we spent a little time at the beach and then searched for a present for Jenny in Chelsea. Chelsea Market is great, and has lots of cool cake and sweet shops, where you can see the people making the cakes, and a huge flower market. It's actually the kind of place where you imagine that all the trendy kids go to. I think i'll go there again - i still haven't seen the mythic Chelsea Hotel anyway.

Jenny's party was on the top of her roof, in Manhattan, not too far from Time Square, and the view was fantastic. A few other people were there, from Australia, New Zealand and... Manchester! They got really excited when i told them about my boyfriend from Bury... ;-) We went to a bar then, which was crap (Justin Timberlake, Shakira and so on in the background), so Cecile, Francois (guy from Lille) and I left for the Stonewall Inn instead.

On Sunday Cecile and I went to the Fryck Collection, a gallery located right next to Central Park next to Madison Avenue, and which hosts so many famous paintings : a few Vermeer, Renoir, and lots of paintings by Reynolds, Hogarth and Gainsborough. We had a quick walk round Central Park and headed to the hype part of Broolyn, where we had lunch (most spicy curry i ever tasted). Then I took my train to New Haven in Grand Central Terminal, where there still was lots of police and firemen cars because of the explosion two days before.

I'll tell a bit more about New Haven later, and put some pics online!