Thursday night I played some games with a NYC gaming group and then met up with 5 CMU friends and Rahul (from high school). We had a nice time. Friday was horrible weather so we stayed in.
For Saturday, I had an invite from a friend I know through playing Diplomacy: Glenn. He performs in a kind of improv-competition-show that runs on Saturdays at the Broadway comedy club. For only 5 bucks each (we had half-price tickets) we were treated to an excellent, and clean, comedy show. I highly recommend it. Here’s the website if you are interested: http://www.comedysportznewyork.com/
After that the 14 of us went out to an Egyptian hookah bar, called the Horus Cafe, for a while. This is another place I would highly recommend to anyone who likes hookah. Unfortunately they kicked us out when the belly dancing was starting at 1130. :-(. From there we went to this bar and that bar and managed to keep most of the group together until we all went our separate ways at 4am. All in all, I was very happy so many people took the time to see me, and spend time with me. Thanks: Arianna, Sam, Kami, Spencer, John, Vicki, Charlie, Jeremy, Jennie, Amy, Eddy, Rahul, Kim, Kostya and German Sam
Of course, as luck would have it, when I went to the train station Sunday afternoon to leave the city, my ticket reservation had been cancelled. After a bit of confusion I realized that I had bought my train tickets for the wrong day. My reservation was for Saturday’s train. This was only a minor hassle, but I did learn an important lesson: don’t buy things online while tipsy, tired, or in anyway impaired. As it turned out, I had the wrong date on my phone which is what I referenced when buying my ticket, so it wasn’t a complete failure on my part.
Tomorrow I will do a few last goodbyes around Stony Brook/Setauket, and then Thursday I am flying to Turkey. It wasn’t until yesterday that it all really hit me: I am going to live in Turkey. It’s kind of crazy when I think about it. Like… it’s Turkey. It’s far away (both culturally and geographically), I don’t speak the language, I don’t know that many people… I am not familiar with any part of life there really. From my two visits, and my many Turkish friends, I know some, but I am sure it won’t even come close to properly preparing me. Don’t get me wrong, I am just as excited as ever. It’s just that now, I am starting to get those little butterflies in my stomach that one gets before a big presentation, or a first date. I am starting to think about the unknowns and imagine how things will be. Little things like, imagining the way the seasons will change in Istanbul if they do at all, or what that intestine sandwich must taste like that Izzy tried to get me to eat. There are also probably hundreds of surprises that I will run into along the way. Where most people would be intimidated by these uncertainties, I am not. Instead, it’s those uncertainties that make it a real adventure!
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March 22nd, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Good luck in Turkey, I know you will do really well there (and in pretty much anything you do). Hopefully the dvds arrived before you left, but if not I’m sure it won’t be a problem for mom or dad to mail them to you. I would like to try to come visit you in Turkey for a week or two once I get out of school, so make sure you do plenty of research on the closest bar (if there are any). We had such a hard time trying to find a beer in Egypt, I don’t want to have to go through that hassle all over again! Maybe I can just go back with you when you come for my graduation? That’s a ways away, so no need to worry about it now. When you are here for my graduation, I will be opening my bottle of Jack Daniel’s Gold Medal Edition that you can only get at the distillery in Tennessee. It’s their best line of whiskey, so that’s something to look forward to. Once again, good luck in Turkey and don’t get killed by terrorists or something.
Peace out,
Graham