Aida
October 13th, 2003And life as a college student goes on. Isn’t it amazing how much stuff happens around here?
Shortly after the exhausting chem midterm (which was easy, entirely from the lecture notes, and yet very badly completed) and classes, I went to judge for the debate tournament at Harvard (apparently the largest nationwide) that brought Sihong over from Stanford. I also hosted three students from Bowdoin College in Maine, which was interesting.
After writing my expos paper between rounds and judging another couple of rounds on Saturday, I left for NYC on the famed ten-dollar Chinatown bus with Xin Wei. It was quite an experience to be expelled, half-asleep, from the warm bus at just before 1am onto the windy, chilly streets of Chinatown, NYC. We stayed with Michelle, who was more than convivial in accommodating two late (we missed two buses), last-minute guests. I’m so glad the Manhattan subway is 24-hours.
Taken in front of the amazing Hershey’s building just off Times Square, the night we saw "Aida". Xin Wei & Jason in NYC (12 Oct 2003)“>
We saw Elton John and Tim Rice’s Disney-backed retelling of Aida, which I’ve wanted to see since it opened on Broadway in 2000. Although it was not bad, I recommend seeing, say, Miss Saigon or The Lion King instead. I thought of the last time I saw a show on Broadway – Rent, last April, with Terence, who was in Montreal over the weekend. (We should meet up soon, Terence!)
And how much shopping did we do? Not much. Moving along Fifth Avenue was slow because (pedestrian) traffic was severely affected by the fascinating Columbus Day parade (I suppose I will eventually post a picture or two), and there really isn’t very much I need right now. I did, however, buy a pair of cross-trainers to replace the falling-apart pair of New Balance shoes I brought with me (hey, they did run a half-marathon).
I suppose it bears mentioning that I have a cold. I simply woke up on Saturday morning and realised I was unwell. Admittedly it was 5am, and I’d only been asleep for an hour or so (in an attempt to finish my expos paper), hence the reasons for my ailing health are not hard to discover.
October 14th, 2003 at 10:23 pm
Hi Jason! Seems like you had a great time in NYC! I so want to visit it too… really liked the place the last time we went. Will probably be there coming Dec say.. 18-22. perhaps we could meet up then? In the meantime, Montreal was a nice trip, it is so FRENCH. Most of the signs were in french though most service personnel can speak decent english. In fact, I only tried speaking french once, and I did not understand her reply. Hahaha.. Any mishaps along the way? Well, besides the fact that I felt myself dozing off while driving back this afternoon, everything was fine. Ok, take care in Boston and hope to cya soon. Time to catch up on all the undone work.