It really does only take 10.5 hours!

After work last Friday, Sean, Mike Doyle, and I decided to jet off to New York City for the 4th. Christian had bene bugging us about coming, and we convinced Doyle at the last minute to come along. The drive from South Bend went pretty quick. Even so, we still pulled into New York at about 4am, a little delirious from the drive. Nevertheless, we woke up at ten am for the World cup game and left for a tour of the City (apparently Staten Island, where Christian lives, does not count as “the city”). Chris showed us Staten Island’s AA stadium that had a high school all-star game going on. There were a bunch of firefighters and NYPD sitting in the mostly empty stands, waiting for their next call. For some reason that image of cops watching some ball on a summer day will stick in my mind as a typical New York scene.

We also saw the memorial to the Staten Island people who lost their lives on 9/11. Staten Island was the quickest way into town for the FDNY, so most of the firefighters who died came from Staten Island. We took the ferry into Manhattan and Christian took us by Wall street, the Bull, Trinity church, and the stock exchange because I had never done any of the tourist stuff. Then we took the subway (way less cool and way dirtier than the London tubes, and there’s no awesome accent) up to Bloomberg where Christian is interning.

Bloomberg has an awesome building and it seems like they treat their employees well. Christian got us into the building and gave us a tour and explained what he did. He’s got a pretty sweet set-up on the sixth floor and gets t oplay with Bloomberg’s cool consoles that the Mayor made millions off of. Pretty cool summer gig. And they have free food there! After Bloomberg we went to an asian lunch place by his work and got some pad thai for lunch. We walked through a famous candy store (dillons?) for a bit and then walked into central park.

It was hot as blazes and super crowded there, but we found a nice spot on a hill to do some people watching for a bit. Sean and I compared it to Forest Park at home. FoPo is way better and way bigger. Being back in the big city made me miss London a lot, but I still don’t think I could handle being in such hot mass of humanity that was central park. Times square for more than an hour at a time.

We tubed form Central Park down to Times Square to see that whole thing, which was pretty impressive. Ads and gigantic flagship stores all around. I was most impressed with the curvy signs in front of ABC news that scrolled the news. Don’t know why. I imagined how cold and miserable this place must be on new years and how I would probably not have fun if I went to Times Square. TV will do just fine, thanks.

We waited for Coleen, who was in town with her parents seeing a show, to meet us in front of the gigantic Toys R Us. We reunited there and I met her parents for the first time. Christian, Sean, and Doyle left us to go nap back on Staten Island while the Hallorans treated me to dinner at a bbq place off Times Square. Coleen has a very nice family and I don’t think I did anything to embarrass myself. I was most surprised by her parents’ strong new York accents, given that Coleen’s isn’t that noticeable (except for when she says wudder instead of water. Silly girl).

After dinner Coleen and I walked around for a bit. She showed me Grand Central Station, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, and that gridiron building. I mimicked the NBC announcer that used to introduce Stone Phillips and Matt Lauer on tv (“live from NBC studies in Rockefeller Center …”). I was hoping to see Tina Fey from 30 rock there, too, but I guess she was busy. We hung out in a park for a little bit before we met the rest of the gang at a bar downtown. Josh, who is living in Jersey this summer, met us there with a few of his friends, and some of Coleen and Sean’s friends met us there too. We had a nice ND reunion there and hung out for a good while. I took Coleen back to Grand Central and hailed a cab for the first time. Wasn’t as exciting as I thought, but still pretty cool. My cabbie didn’t talk to me and wasn’t nearly as friendly as the London cabbies. After the bar Doyle and I got some beers and toasted to the statue of liberty as we passed by her on the fairy. A classy way to ring in the fourth.

We woke up Sunday to more bagels from Christian’s bagel deli and set up for a bbq/party on their deck. Josh, Coleen, Christian’s friends, et al came over for a long day of drinking and barbequeing. Made me real excited for football season. It was quite hot outside, and thank God his neighbors invited us over for a swim in their pool. Their neighbor was telling us about his football playing days at Army, where he played the last game against ND at Yankee Stadium. The rest of the night we drank some more, with a brief respite to go watch the fireworks from Staten Island pier. New York’s fireworks suck apparently if you don’t live in Manhattan. They were tiny bubbles on the horizon without noise. Christian said we should have just watched them on tv, to scoffs from the Midwestern kids in the crew. After many claims of new Yorkers being un-American for having crappy fireworks and actually enforcing their illegal fireworks ordinances, we went back to the house and stayed up late. This has been the first fourth since I was about two I think where I haven’t held something in my hand that had been lit on fire or exploded. For shame, New York, for shame. I missed our times in quaint old Door County where I would blow up fireworks with my cousins. Sometimes simple towns and simple pleasures can be just as good as the big city I guess.

Monday we woke up a little later, thank God, and headed back into Brooklyn to visit the infamous Coney Island. This was quite an experience. We saw the biggest mass of poorly parked cars, mazes of trashy roads, dozens of overheated traffic cops, and the most ghetto amusement park I have ever seen. I loved eveyr minute of it. Coney island is like if Six Flags St Louis stopped cleaning or repairing their rides about 30 years ago. It was great. Plus there is a beach there, which was a far cry from the peaceful shores of Cherry Grove, SC, that’s for sure. We walked around for a bit and the rest of the group rode the infamous cyclone roller coaster (I opted out). Then we walked to Nathans, home of the worlds greatest hotdog and the eating contest, which had taken place the day before. We then drove to a famous Brooklyn pizza joint for the New York style pizza that Christian had been promoting since freshman year.

I gotta admit, it was pretty good. I still prefer Stl style thin crust, but this pizza hit the spot. Nothing fancy, just a solid thin crust cheese slice and a thick crust square slice. Excellent. After eating it was finally time for the South Bend crew to leave. We meandered our way through Brooklyn, Staten Island, and New jersey and finally made it on to the toll road to take us all the way back to the other bustling metropolis that is South Bend. It was a great weekend, and I feel proud for having finally visited the greatest city in the world. My two complaints would be that the tolls and traffic there are quite ridiculous (we spent like 30 dolars going over 2 bridges) and their fireworks suck. Otherwise, I think NYC definitely lives up to its hype. I can’t wait to go back there for the Navy game in the fall!

There's no Bend like South Bend

Ok so my first fortnight back home had me in Wisconsin surprising my grandma, heading to South Bend for senior week, at SLU bars having memorable nights and on bourbon street running into friends and friends parents. Things finally settled down when I got put back on the schedule at Petsmart. I worked at Petsmart for two long weeks, cashiering with a smile as always. Sometimes I feel like I am “above” that job (having worked in freaking Parliament like two weeks previously), but then I just get happy I have a job and keep asking for pet perks cards (you’ll save ten cents on the cat food if you sign up today, sir!)

A few more friends came in, and I got to see most of everyone at least for a little bit. Jerry had a party back in st Louis, so I saw all of those people, and I even went out to MIzzou with nick for a birthday party and we hit up the MU bars.

My brief reign in STL came to a close, and I packed up and headed up to the bend for my summer internship at Faulkner Strategies. Our apartment, where I am living with Sean and our friend KQ, is small, but it gets the job done and rent is cheap. Sean and I share a room, and we rarely turn on the ac to save money. Coleen came in to visit my first weekend there, and I was very happy to see her for the first time in America. Turns out nothing changed when we crossed the pond and she is just as cool over here.

I was worried a little bit about my first day at Faulkner, basically because I had no freaking idea what it was they they do and what I would be doing. I wore a suit the first day, even though I knew I would be overdressed, which I was. The front desk bookkeeper girl Rachel gave me a tour of the place and explained more what they do – they do direct mail targeted communications for political clients for their campaigns, as well as high resolution digital printing for local small businesses and non-profits. If someone needs a business card, mailer, poster, booklet, etc, these guys can print it.

They also do political clients for local, state, and national republican campaigns (yes, just republicans). Those things you get in the mail with bio information and reasons why you shouldn’t vote democrat are done by firms like this across the nation. Scott Brown winning in Massachusetts? You’re welcome. (the voters helped though). They are different because they are way more “creative and fun,” and the digital press can do a bunch of cool variable stuff that I won’t get into here. I work with two of the project managers who work with political clients and help them do research on candidates and compile information for their bio cards and issue mailer pieces. I won’t get too into detail so as not to bore people, but I have a lot of fun at work researching and learning about the political machine form the inside. Everyone there is close, and they all have a good time at work.

Life in the bend in the summer has been better than I thought. There are lots of students here, so there is stuff to do during the weeknights. Trivia, Sand Volleyball league (Sandy Clams for life), Summer Ultimate, Silverhawks games (which I have yet to take advantage of), Natty Light, and Turtle Creek’s pool. Cost of living is low so, thanks to ND’s internship fund, I will escape this summer with about zero dollars in my bank account instead of negative a billion. It will be good to have some job experience before I enter the real world, whenever and wherever that may be (I have a lot of thinking to do). I went home once for Sean’s graduation party and father’s day. It was good to get back home for a bit, as I might not be able to make it back to the Lou until august. Tune in to next post for my new York trip last weekend!

Small World, again.

One of the highlights of summer so far was my trip to New Orleans for my cousin Lucy’s wedding. Mom, Dad, and I drove down on Thursday and arrived in town with enough time to head to Par O briens (I think), home of the (in)famous hurricane drink. We talked with the rest of the fam for a bit and called it a night in our old but charming hotel in the bottom of the French Quarter. Friday brought the swamp tour in the middle of hick-Louisiana with a down-home local gator hunter. We saw quite a few little alligators, and the kids on both sides of the family had fun throwing them marshmallows. There was no BP oil in sight.

We had lunch with Aunt Jellybean at a Spanish place recommended by Lucy’s husband and went to pick up Joshua from the airport, who technically broke military rules to get to his sisters wedding. That’s dedication. Both families had a crawfish boil in a park downtown. The crawfish were tasty, but near impossible to salvage meat from and not worth the effort, in my opinion. Definitely fun to try and a fun social event for sure. Later that night I hit the town with my Dad, Uncle, and cousins, and we walked up and down bourbon street. It was sortof weird having been to bourbon street before with the ultimate team over mardis gras and then contrasting it to this experience.

The place is much less crowded when it’s not mardis gras, and I was happy being able to recognize places that I had seen before. I didn’t want to show off my knowledge of Bourbon street too much in front of my parents, as I was techinically underage the past two trips to Bourbon street. My Dad bought me a few beers and we were walking down Bourbon when I got a tap on my shoulder from John Quigley’s dad. The quigley’s were in for their wedding anniversary, and John had told them I would be down here, so they walked down Bourbon street for the off chance they would run into me. Lo and Behold, another small world moment. Some good cathcup and texts to John and we parted way and finally settled in at a bar off of bourbon street where we could all here each other talk. Dad bought a round, and for some reason there was an extra shot of whiskey laying around. Being a noble mcgoron and against Dad’s wishes, I took the shot like a champ. No chase, no face.
I left the family early to meet my friend Jerry who is studying at Tulane at a concert/club nearby. I saw a few friends from HS and caught up with Jer-bear. We saw some good local music and almost got thrown out of the place when we were sneaking drinks of Malibu form a flask and my scotch from Scotland. Made for a pretty awesome night.
Saturday we walked around the Quarter and the French market and had lunch at What I think is the original bubba gumps.The wedding itself was in a park, and it was cozy and cute. Everything was quite well done with a New Orleans charm – including a march off band from Alex’s high school that played The Saints Go Marching In as the new couple danced down the aisle with the wedding party and guests in tow, waving handkerchiefs. It made for a fun time and introduced a lot of us northerners (their family was from Michigan) to life in New Orleans. The reception was a typical Mcgoron reception – lots of booze, piano man, and drunk aunts at the end of the night. We took two drunk people from the other side home at the end of the night, and then Josh and I got beer from the Unique Market and drank it with Gary, Pat, Dad, and Andrew in the hotel courtyard.

Sunday morning we woke up and went to Café Beignet, the birthplace of the (in)famous donut type, for some coffee and donuts before hitting the road to the Lou. I read a book about law school on the way back and got nervous about my future plans, which will probably be a theme in my next few blogs. I’ll take a break now and get some water because our apartment is scorching hot, then I will continue.

Home at last

So it’s been a struggle the past few weeks deciding whether I should keep blogging about my life now that I have returned back to the boring old United States. After many many sleepless nights mulling the subject over, I decided that even though my life may be quite boring from here on out, it would still be good to document my adventures so I don’t forget them. So basically I am writing for my own memory’s sake, and if you loyal readers want to follow along, you are more than welcome to. Bon Appétit!
I’ll pick up where the last blog left off I guess – we flew home from Merry old England. Our last night in town was pretty much perfect. We cooked our final pot luck dinner and wasted our money on a final pub crawl, hitting a Belgian pub near our flats, the Jerusalem tavern, ye olde mitre (even older than the cheese I think), the Cheshire Cheese one final time, and to end off the semester of pubs, a last stop at the City Pride, the place where TJ and I started it all 5 months prior. A quick stop at Farringdon Grill and some pics behind the coutner with my favorite fast food guys rounded off our final beautiful London night.

The next day in the airport was much less amusing. We waited several hours in the airport to get clearance to fly around that damn volcanic ash cloud. It was quite sad leaving London and Coleen in the same day. I arrived home in chitown to applause on the plane, hugs from mom and dad, and a quick 4 hour drive to Wisconsin (with a t-bell stop along the way). We surprised grandma and grandpa for a mother’s day brunch and a few stories of my London adventures. It seems my aunts and uncles had been tracking my blog, so I didn’t have to go over as many details as I thought, which was quite lovely.
The next week I spent at home reorienting myself to the good ole US of A. I got jack in the box tacos with Jimmy my first night back – I sure missed those things, and talked about his upcoming trip to Barcelona. Most of the week I spent waiting for friends to get in town. We had a few good nights at bars down by SLU, including a run in with a friend’s underage sister, and an interesting night involving polar pops from circle K. I hadn’t getten on the schedule at Petsmart yet, so I was allowed a few days to unwind before I made my glorious return to South Bend.
Sean and I drove up to the Bend to bid farewell to our senior friends. We stayed at Katie Citro’s house and lit the town on fire for two days (if you consider getting tricked by Kate Gardner into moving her furniture from house to house painting the town). Nevertheless, I had good reunions with Bennett, Griffin, TJ, Barloh, and other Knott Boys. We hit Club Fever on Thursday night, which will not be mentioned ever again in this blog.
In a bout of spontaneity, despite what Griffin says, Sean and I called and audible and stopped in Champaign Illinois on our way home to party with some ND and U of Illinois kids. It took us about 5 hours and some great Chicago confusion to get there, but our night in Champaign was great, playing drinking games and judging the state school girls at the U of I bars.