This semester has already flown by - classes ended on Friday and Reading Week is in full swing. I am currently sitting in the Pierson College Common Room at 2.35am surrounded by Diet Coke and pita chips with the beginning of a paper outline sitting next to me. I find myself here not because my workload is particularly grueling, but because I always do my best work this late at night. Of course, being alone in the middle of the night also means that I feel less guilty procrastinating. Hence, my friends, this post.
My Saturday was basically a quiet celebration for the end of my second-to-last semester. After getting a lot of good work done all week, I was so excited to head down to New York to see a show at HERE, a theatre in SoHo; go out with friends for a little while; and then watch the America’s Next Top Model finale (for the second time) while cuddled up on a couch. My boyfriend and I made late night quesadillas and hot chocolate, too, to escape the biting wind of the city. It was nice and comfortable and warm - a great way to unwind after the last several weeks of appointments and papers.
One of my favorite parts of the day, though, was strolling through the Christmas trees for sale at a small, triangular urban island between Sixth Ave and Spring Street. My boyfriend, actually, was the first to notice it. Hundreds of trees were secured with string and packed together like sardines*, each resting against the wooden trusses, creating a little evergreen fortress. A line of spherical clear bulbs were hung delicately above the perimeter of the area and were made magical by the plumes of steam pouring from the sidewalk grates in the concrete. The night inside the walls was silent and still - the gentleman running the place was near the street corner moving some of his product and talking to a friend. I made myself still, too, to breathe in the fragrant air and enjoy New York in December.
*Check out this video, start at 6:10.