Spring Break
It's Spring Break! According to www.springbreak.com, this grand American tradition of a week's holiday to mark the end of winter is inspired by the Greco-Roman rituals that featured drinking, dancing and diddling. But because I'm in New York and not Malibu, it will probably be about as hedonistic as a Puritan hoedown. But I am determined to visit some good places in New York now that I have all this free time.
This morning didn't start well, though: the clocks went forward four weeks early, as part of an ingenious new American energy-saving policy. I dragged myself out of bed at 9am and went with fellow Brits Archie and Howard to The Parlour, an Irish pub/restaurant that was showing the France-England rugby match. It cost each of us $20 just to get in, which was a bit of a financial setback, but I was confident that seeing a safe French victory would be worth it.
Nearly everyone in the pub was Irish. And not fourth-generation Irish-Americans who occasionally trip over a dog-eared copy of "Ulysses", either: actual, genuine, old Irish folk in green jerseys, knocking back pints of Guinness at ten in the morning. When the English team appeared on television, I heard a charming voice cry, "FOCK THE QUEEN!" One guy was selling green shirts at the back, although god knows how much for.
So over an orange juice, I watched as the French team fumbled, stumbled and hoofed their way to a depressing defeat at the hands of a rather beefy-looking England. I could have found out that result for free if I'd just stayed in bed.
So what have I been doing over the past couple of months? Well, you can read for yourself on www.bronxbeat.org! Oh yes, our student-run community paper is online, and my articles are red-hot journalistic firebombs that expose the truth behind the issues you care about. Didn't you ever wonder what Italian bakeries in the Bronx are doing to cope with the trans fat ban imposed in New York City? Well, it's lucky I wrote about it isn't it? And what about green roofs, I believe you were concerned about the lack of public money for these energy-saving marvels? Read all about it here! And as for the first Chinese restaurant in the Bronx (later changed to "one of the first", because, um, it could be a pack of lies), well, you can read that little gem here.
Other news: I got an internship with Forbes.com! It starts next week. It was one of those interviews that starts well, with you in your crisp smart suit feeling confident and selling yourself impeccably, but then descends into a sweatbox panic mode where your suit becomes more limp and ill-fitting with each passing moment. By the end of it I looked like one of the Three Tenors after an encore. But it seems that I did enough to convince them that I could work on Fifth Avenue, and so hopefully I will have something to strive for outside of the tedious world of schoolwork.
A bientot, mes amis.
This morning didn't start well, though: the clocks went forward four weeks early, as part of an ingenious new American energy-saving policy. I dragged myself out of bed at 9am and went with fellow Brits Archie and Howard to The Parlour, an Irish pub/restaurant that was showing the France-England rugby match. It cost each of us $20 just to get in, which was a bit of a financial setback, but I was confident that seeing a safe French victory would be worth it.
Nearly everyone in the pub was Irish. And not fourth-generation Irish-Americans who occasionally trip over a dog-eared copy of "Ulysses", either: actual, genuine, old Irish folk in green jerseys, knocking back pints of Guinness at ten in the morning. When the English team appeared on television, I heard a charming voice cry, "FOCK THE QUEEN!" One guy was selling green shirts at the back, although god knows how much for.
So over an orange juice, I watched as the French team fumbled, stumbled and hoofed their way to a depressing defeat at the hands of a rather beefy-looking England. I could have found out that result for free if I'd just stayed in bed.
So what have I been doing over the past couple of months? Well, you can read for yourself on www.bronxbeat.org! Oh yes, our student-run community paper is online, and my articles are red-hot journalistic firebombs that expose the truth behind the issues you care about. Didn't you ever wonder what Italian bakeries in the Bronx are doing to cope with the trans fat ban imposed in New York City? Well, it's lucky I wrote about it isn't it? And what about green roofs, I believe you were concerned about the lack of public money for these energy-saving marvels? Read all about it here! And as for the first Chinese restaurant in the Bronx (later changed to "one of the first", because, um, it could be a pack of lies), well, you can read that little gem here.
Other news: I got an internship with Forbes.com! It starts next week. It was one of those interviews that starts well, with you in your crisp smart suit feeling confident and selling yourself impeccably, but then descends into a sweatbox panic mode where your suit becomes more limp and ill-fitting with each passing moment. By the end of it I looked like one of the Three Tenors after an encore. But it seems that I did enough to convince them that I could work on Fifth Avenue, and so hopefully I will have something to strive for outside of the tedious world of schoolwork.
A bientot, mes amis.
posted by L.R.A. Laurent at 5:49 PM
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