New York and so much more

I am finally back from New York and settled back into a new work routine (that is, where I actually do some). I really, really loved everything that New York had to offer including the Big Conference and some pretty interesting internship interviews. For example, one particularly interesting one went a little like this:

Interviewer: Oh hey...are you Psych-O? I am so sorry I am late (20 min. I sat waiting) last night was a big night (*wink*). Come with me.

So we sit at a table and the interview goes a little like this.

Interviewer: Do you have an questions about our company? (Even though I already had a phone interview with a different guy I'll call Steve, where we took care of all of this).

Psych-O: (Basically I asked all the same questions that I did on the phone)

Interviewer: Oh well...Steve would really be better able to answer these.

Psych-O: Okay... What is the work environment like?

Interviewer: I don't know what that means, can you be more specific?

Psych-O: (Flabbergasted...that is a pretty standard question)

Interviewer: Can you explain your CV to me in great detail?

Psych-O: (a little stunned to say the least)

Now as much as I now really want to intern with this company I turned them down based on their interviewer. I had a few other interviews that went a lot better.

I loved New York but there were definitely a few highlights:

1. Taking the Sex and the City tour (it was so much fun and you get a delicious cupcake and a cosmopolitan).
2. Yankees Game (where we actually ended up getting spit on as a result of cheering for the Toronto Blue Jays - likely we deserved it for being obnoxious since the Blue Jays were winning)
3. Downtown city tour - where we made a stop in Chinatown for some knock-offs (this is a great story I will elaborate on in a moment) and saw Kelly Ripa at a Starbucks in Soho.
4. Seeing Chicago and A Moon for the Misbegotten (staring Kevin Spacey) on Broadway.
5. Taking a 3 hour harbour tour (I would highly recommend this as it was really very interesting)
6. Central Park for some ultimate Frisbee
7. Time Square (both for the Naked Cowboy and for seeing Cory from Boy Meets World) at night in the pouring rain.
8. Staying in an apartment around W 55th and Broadway with all of my close friends from school (even though there was only one shower).

How to buy a knock-off bag in Chinatown (as told by many New Yorkers and experienced by me).

1. Find a small Asian man holding a post card in Chinatown.
2. Say "bag"
3. He will lead you at least four blocks away down some really dark alleys.
4. When you find the building he will lead you through a locked gate and ask if you are cops, if no, you will then proceed to the next step.
5. Go up nine flight of dark, metal stairs.
6. Arrive in a sweatshop filled with women and children making clothes.
7. Go to back room filled with replica bags.
8. Pick what you want and negotiate with a number of scary looking men (using a calculator).
9. Pay and get chased back down different stairs and into a different alley.

You really would think that a bunch of graduate students would be smarter that to get into this type of situation...wouldn't you?

Now I must get to work!!