So back in January I decided I was going to back to Scotland. It was a rash decision, brought about by the most recent anger from not doing something challenging in my life and the fact that I had decided to apply for grad school and I thought: YOLO. And yes, I actually thought YOLO at the time. I do it a lot, actually. As a person who almost never makes spontaneous decisions, it's a good phrase for me to keep in mind, as silly as it is. Sue me.
Anyway, I found a great flight for a great price that included a 13 hour layover in New York. At the time, I had just gotten back from a job interview in New York (if you didn't know, I want to get a job in publishing and New York is where it's at) and I had navigated New York by subway without getting too lost and so I thought, why not, I'll spend 13 hours in New York.
Well, I didn't get the job. But on the day of my interview, I was only in the city for 6 or so hours. I didn't get to do a lot of stuff, like go to some semi-famous eateries, like Momofuku Milk Bar and Absolute Bagels. So after my dad dropped me off at San Francisco International Airport (thanks dad!) I got on one of the nicest planes ever (it had the fancy first class seats that were full sized!) watched Arrival even though I was already tired (I like that movie a lot), and then slept for a couple hours.
So after I charged my various electronics in the airport (and waited for it to get light outside, since I landed at 5:45 AM), I went to find bagels. I walked to Central Park and ate my breakfast, watching jogger after jogger run by. So. Many. Runners. The bagels were delicious, though I decided I like West coast bagels more *ducks from flying objects*.
I walked to Momofuku Milk Bar, where I really wanted to try the birthday cake but was not about to buy/eat an entire 6" cake by myself so I went with the cake truffles, which were delicious (and so, SO sugary). I went back to Central Park (many, many blocks farther south) and sat by the Reservoir and watched the world go by. The nice thing about a place like New York (and Edinburgh, for that matter) is that there are so many tourists that are more tourist-y than you, so even though I had my giant backpack and looked a little haggard after a redeye cross-country flight, I stuck out less than some.
At this point I had walked almost 10 miles and had been up since 8 AM the day before with 2 hours of sleep on a plane (a very nice plane but I was a plebeian in economy so not too comfortable) and my back was dying from my backpack so I decided to kill time at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I had been there once before, when I was in the seventh grade, but I wanted to check my bag and I love museums so I thought, why not? I loved it, though I was so exhausted I found myself spacing out quite often and, quite literally, falling asleep when I sat down to rest my feet.
In the Japanese Art exhibit.
(It's the year of the Rooster, my sign!)
Taxidermic deer, covered in fancy technology-created plastic pixel balls. I don't know.
One thing I noticed was that these stairs smell like the stairs outside. Like, New York City has a particular smell to me (if you've been there, you probably know). It's like a mix between wet stone and, often times, urine or dirt. It's not particularly bad (seriously, it's not worse than any other large city) but for some reason these stairs smelled that way, even though they were inside. I kind of liked it - a touch of the outside in an otherwise pristine interior.
So I called it quits and went back to the airport early, which didn't end up being that early at all. I waited about an hour by the time I went through security and found my gate. At this point I was trying to stay awake so I didn't miss my flight and once we where on the plane, where I was horrified there was no TV (#firstworldproblems), but did manage to get a whole row to myself, I only waited long enough to shovel my dinner down my throat before I passed out. Like, for the whole 7 hour flight. Except once when I got too cold, got a blanket, and shifted around to get comfy. I woke up an hour away from a different continent. What the heck.
Feeling refreshed I managed to get a ticket for the shuttle to the city center on my phone and I was on my way! It was cold and old and lovely. And here is where I'll leave off before my next installment.
Happy travels!
Jasmine
