New York - Day 3

Wow. Day 3??

It was relatively uneventful. I'm still on the fence as to whether this was a good thing or not. Since Friday night was such a late night, we woke up pretty late yesterday morning. Actually, around this time (10:00am) and then hung out around the apartment until noon. Then, we traveled over to the Columbia University area and went to this place called Havana Central with some of Becca's friends. It was tasty. As usual, I went for the sandwich with avocado in it. Very tasty. After lunch, we wanted to get some exercise to get the digestion moving, so we walked over to this Episcopal Cathedral. Boy, I wish I had pictures. Maybe I'll go get some pictures today, but it was gorgeous! And to add to the awesomeness, we were walking out of one of the many side chapels inside, and out of nowhere this group of Tibetan monks just comes walking by. When does that happen? Apparently, they are in New York to do some art at the cathedral. Like a "sand painting" or something crazy. Anyways.

After the Cathedral, we came back to home base and I saw Becca off for her date at 4. Then I just hung out for a while by myself and fell into a deep (2 hour) sleep here on the couch. Following my slumber, I had dinner at "Cafe Latte" and then took a walk down towards Central Park. I was hoping to make it down there before dark, but I wasn't that lucky. I had to turn around down by the projects and head back. After I got back, Jess and Becca and I watched a bunch of their DVR shows and then went to bed.

Now that the play-by-play is done, it's been an interesting experience being here in Harlem. I've never felt like such a minority. I'm literally the only white person around when Becca and Jess are at work. I know you might think I'm exaggerating but I'm not, and to be honest I feel pretty intimidated. Even though I try not to act like it, I'm a little scared for my safety, just because of how I've been conditioned to view places like Black Harlem. Granted, I may have some reason to be afraid at night in the projects, but so does everyone. I'm talking about just walking around during the day time, it's just so bizarre being alone like this. Whew. But I'm getting better. I haven't had any experiences with outright harassment or anything so that helps obviously. These are all people just like you and me. We're all just people.

- Eric