This is it. Last day.
We had no choice but to try driving to New York again. Every bus was cancelled, every train was cancelled, and every flight was full.
Shaken to the bone, and exhausted from waking up at 4:00am, we ventured out to New York in post blizzard whether. The drive was completely fine. The plow trucks and salters must have been working all night to make the roads as a safe as possible. The only difficulty came from driving into Manhattan during rush our. The traffic was horrendous and the driving etiquette was selfish, loud and inefficient. It's really a dog eat dog world in New York - people honk at each other, crowed intersections and zoom through pedestrians to get 10m closer to their goal. The atmosphere is contagious; I came close to honking my horn and screaming at adjacent drivers.
In the end we made it though, we got through New York rush our and sprinted our way to Chucks house.
The number one item on my list of things to do in New York was visit the 9/11 memorial museum. But when it came to saying goodbye to Kaz, I decided my time would be better spent traveling with her to her airport at JFK.
Right afterwards, I caught a desperate uber to Newark airport to catch my flight. $135. Shit.
The last few days in America were adventurous, but needlessly stressful. We spent too much time worrying about travel arrangements and calling car rental companies. None the less, I really enjoyed my time in the US.
Slideshow of trip:
https://animoto.com/play/FnEgs9Zx0aeuFwC9AwjIbw
Saturday, January 6, 2018
America day 11
We had the intention of driving to New York in the morning today but the Blizzard had been in full force from 3am, and nothing was coming in or out. According to the news there were heavy road closures and jack knifed trucks scattered everywhere. We had heard about the blizzard as early as yesterday morning and were willing to drive last night, but under the advise of Frank we decided to simply stay another night and wait it out. This was a decision we would later regret. We tried driving that evening but got stuck in snow, noticed skidding and got sworn off the roads from angry/concerned plow drivers. Despite this, adventuring out, seeing hundreds of plowers and salt trucks brilliantly work together to clear the roads was amazing.
Instead we stayed in, had a great homemade meal and played a few card games. When the weather started to settle, we ventured out and decided to go sledding down some gentle slopes in cardboard boxes we found nearby. Good times :)
Instead we stayed in, had a great homemade meal and played a few card games. When the weather started to settle, we ventured out and decided to go sledding down some gentle slopes in cardboard boxes we found nearby. Good times :)
America day 10
Sadly Kaz's ankle was still giving her jip (gip? jiip?) - it was still giving her problems is what I mean. So Martin, Kaz, Kri.. the polish dude, and I decided to change plans a bit and head to the White Mountains 2 hours North to do a small hike. The car ride gave me the opportunity to read more of the book Kaz got me for Chrissy; Artemis.
We finally got there and did our little walk. It was a nice n' cute hike. I took a step in snow and got buried hip deep. We also played around breaking the thin ice layer that had formed on top of a moving river. I found out that thin discrete ice sheets form on top of the river. I think this is due to slowly decreasing water height, but i'm not sure.
On the way back we stopped by Woodstock pup. Here we enjoyed half price appetizers that were easily the size of main courses. I also got to try my new favorite beer of all time. it was a locally brewed brown ale. Fuck yes, America.
On our way back we stopped by Boston central, got to see the famous MIT and enjoy clam chowder. I muffled a teenage girl scream when I accidentally walked past the office of a favorite professor of mine that was a famous YouTube education celebrity.
We finally got there and did our little walk. It was a nice n' cute hike. I took a step in snow and got buried hip deep. We also played around breaking the thin ice layer that had formed on top of a moving river. I found out that thin discrete ice sheets form on top of the river. I think this is due to slowly decreasing water height, but i'm not sure.
On the way back we stopped by Woodstock pup. Here we enjoyed half price appetizers that were easily the size of main courses. I also got to try my new favorite beer of all time. it was a locally brewed brown ale. Fuck yes, America.
On our way back we stopped by Boston central, got to see the famous MIT and enjoy clam chowder. I muffled a teenage girl scream when I accidentally walked past the office of a favorite professor of mine that was a famous YouTube education celebrity.
America day 9
We woke up super early and started our drive from New Jersey to Boston: a 5 hour drive. Little did we know that by the time we arrived, news was starting to spread about a potential blizzard. Will our heroes be stuck in Boston? Or will they make it to New York in time to catch their flights in ease? Stay tuned for the answer!
Once we arrived we met up with my friend from Uni, Martin, and one of his friends Krzysztof (yep, he's originally Polish). We settled in nicely with the help of homemade bubble tea.
After a quick introduction, Martin introduced the idea of cracking a hole in the 25cm thick ice that had formed over the lake next to his house, and jumping in. Very cool!
Later on that day we would meet up with Martin's parents over dinner; Frank (from the Netherlands) and Ruth (from the Philippines). Frank is fascinating; he graduated from MIT with an Engineering degree, got a MBA from Stanford and confounded an increasingly successful self driving submarine company in the 90's. He's now working on a new Startup creating solar panels which is supposedly using game changing technology which can 1/2 the amount of energy it takes to make solar panels. He was pretty scathing of Trump and his climate change denying views because it mean't they would get no more grants from the Government. However, he told me that he was planning to find a hole in the system to get subsidies from the Government by claiming that funding will make America more competitive against China and their latest boom of solar panel production.
Once we arrived we met up with my friend from Uni, Martin, and one of his friends Krzysztof (yep, he's originally Polish). We settled in nicely with the help of homemade bubble tea.
After a quick introduction, Martin introduced the idea of cracking a hole in the 25cm thick ice that had formed over the lake next to his house, and jumping in. Very cool!
Later on that day we would meet up with Martin's parents over dinner; Frank (from the Netherlands) and Ruth (from the Philippines). Frank is fascinating; he graduated from MIT with an Engineering degree, got a MBA from Stanford and confounded an increasingly successful self driving submarine company in the 90's. He's now working on a new Startup creating solar panels which is supposedly using game changing technology which can 1/2 the amount of energy it takes to make solar panels. He was pretty scathing of Trump and his climate change denying views because it mean't they would get no more grants from the Government. However, he told me that he was planning to find a hole in the system to get subsidies from the Government by claiming that funding will make America more competitive against China and their latest boom of solar panel production.
America day 8
I celebrated the start of the new year by honoring my "get fit" resolution. I had about 3 bowls of very sugary quaker's oats: that amounts to about 3 sets of 20 reps of spoon lifts. Later on that day I would expand my workout to 4 kitchen sprints and 3 bread rolls.
Sadly Kaz had hurt her ankle pretty bad from New Years so today was an easy day for us. Instead of going to New York to see the big apple, we went to the doctor and went shopping for mulled cider - only small edible apples for us. It was surprisingly nice to have a gap in our rushed schedule. In what might turn out to be a pipe dream, Kaz and I used this opportunity to start brainstorming for a mobile app game I would like to code up after I finish my next set of exams.
I spent the evening chatting to Kaz's aunt about the horrible state of the education system in America while devouring pork and sour kraut. I <3 american="" food.="" p="">
Sadly Kaz had hurt her ankle pretty bad from New Years so today was an easy day for us. Instead of going to New York to see the big apple, we went to the doctor and went shopping for mulled cider - only small edible apples for us. It was surprisingly nice to have a gap in our rushed schedule. In what might turn out to be a pipe dream, Kaz and I used this opportunity to start brainstorming for a mobile app game I would like to code up after I finish my next set of exams.
I spent the evening chatting to Kaz's aunt about the horrible state of the education system in America while devouring pork and sour kraut. I <3 american="" food.="" p="">
Monday, January 1, 2018
America day 7
We were strongly advised this morning NOT to go into New York to celebrate New Years. Apparently watching the ball drop is very underwhelming, expensive and cold. Instead we decided to go to Philadelphia (Kaz's home town) to watch the fireworks from Penns Landing. We did quite a few things so I'm going to write this like a report:
1) Saw the liberty bell. Apparently it had cracked because it was built with a strange mix of alloys.
2) Had a philly cheese steak. It's really the American equivalent of a kebab. It's good, don't get me wrong, but my heart will always lead me to greasy Turkish food.
3) Saw the Jewish History Museum. I really enjoyed this - I got a few answers to questions I'd been wondering about for a while. Apparently it's an indisputable fact that Jews were actually slaves in Egypt - but the biblical story of them marching for 40 years through the desert is very likely false. Also, one of the main reasons for long standing antisemitism is almost entirely religious. Constantine the Great made Christianity the offical religion of Europe in the 4th century and that didn't go down well with groups that denied that Christ was the son of God. Also, persecution of the Jews was a lot more widespread than just Germany in the 1900's. Jews had been persecuted in Russia, England and Brazil too. In England they were expelled from the country by royal decree in the 1200's. Woah.
4) Went to UPen in University City. Unfortunately everything was closed so we couldn't look around too much, but that was ok.
5) Went to Prince theatre to see STAR WARS episode 8 - the last Jedi. The movie was a bit of a disappointment, but the act of seeing it in America was great.
6) We stopped by an Irish pub and had a few good quality beers. I almost got rejected for not having ID, but after flashing my grey hair to him, he reluctantly let me in.
7) We saw the fireworks. They were surprisingly good! It was really nice hearing the cheers and screams with each burst while munching down on a pretzel.
Sadly by the end of the day Kaz had quite badly hurt her ankle - we think it's her tendon. Hopefully this won't effect what we do tomorrow, or the hike we plan to do on the 2nd.
1) Saw the liberty bell. Apparently it had cracked because it was built with a strange mix of alloys.
2) Had a philly cheese steak. It's really the American equivalent of a kebab. It's good, don't get me wrong, but my heart will always lead me to greasy Turkish food.
3) Saw the Jewish History Museum. I really enjoyed this - I got a few answers to questions I'd been wondering about for a while. Apparently it's an indisputable fact that Jews were actually slaves in Egypt - but the biblical story of them marching for 40 years through the desert is very likely false. Also, one of the main reasons for long standing antisemitism is almost entirely religious. Constantine the Great made Christianity the offical religion of Europe in the 4th century and that didn't go down well with groups that denied that Christ was the son of God. Also, persecution of the Jews was a lot more widespread than just Germany in the 1900's. Jews had been persecuted in Russia, England and Brazil too. In England they were expelled from the country by royal decree in the 1200's. Woah.
4) Went to UPen in University City. Unfortunately everything was closed so we couldn't look around too much, but that was ok.
5) Went to Prince theatre to see STAR WARS episode 8 - the last Jedi. The movie was a bit of a disappointment, but the act of seeing it in America was great.
6) We stopped by an Irish pub and had a few good quality beers. I almost got rejected for not having ID, but after flashing my grey hair to him, he reluctantly let me in.
7) We saw the fireworks. They were surprisingly good! It was really nice hearing the cheers and screams with each burst while munching down on a pretzel.
Sadly by the end of the day Kaz had quite badly hurt her ankle - we think it's her tendon. Hopefully this won't effect what we do tomorrow, or the hike we plan to do on the 2nd.
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