Is This Really My Life?

These past few days have been one amazing adventure after another.  I've been meaning to post blog entries every evening, but I keep finding myself falling asleep before I can complete them.  So I just decided to stick them all together and create one massive "I really can't believe my life's been so great" posting:

It all started Friday morning.  I was supposed to have an 8am French class, but thanks to my broken alarm clock, that was a no go.  Instead, I spent the extra time primping and preparing for my upcoming story.  My original plan for the week was to shoot a profile on the Big Gay Ice Cream franchise.  They'd just left the food truck business behind for a stationary alternative, and I thought a Q-and-A with the owners might be fun.  Originally, they said sure no problem, but after they found out I was going to be filming their store, I was turned away.  Basically, it was Thursday night, and I was scrambling for a story.  Thankfully, my professor emailed the class the AP daybook just as I was in the middle of my panic attack.  I saw that he official opening of "Education Nation Experience" was to be held on Friday morning at Rockefeller Center.  The tiny snippet describing the event promised children, so I figured closeups would be plentiful.  Anyways, come Friday morning, I waltz over to where other cameras are set up.  Mind you now, I'm definitely the only student there.  Everyone else is national news (not even the local stations) and here I am with my baby canon camera.  But, I set up my tripod and act like I belong.  The real excitement though happened after the speeches were made, and the ribbon was cut...Ann Curry (the co-hot of The Today Show) was one of the speakers at the event.  She gave a heartwarming talk about her father teaching elementary school, and she stressed the importance of every child having access to the internet regardless of their parent's pay check.  All of it was quite sweet.  So, I just sauntered over to the stage when everyone else was packing up and started asking her clarifying questions.  Here I am, a 20 year old NYU student interviewing Ann Curry.  I'm sure she was thinking "Who is this little twit?", but she answered all my questions and was very nice about it.  Even after her personal assistant said it was time to go she made sure all my questions were answered.  After that, I took the 6 train down to Grand Central Station where I filmed a sneak-peek of the World's Oyster Shucking Competition.

Saturday morning, I decided my footage from the 9th Annual Oyster Frenzy Preview turned out so good that I'd turn it into my story for the week.  So again, I took the 6th train to Grand Central and set up shop.   Twenty-eight competitors from across the globe came to Manhattan's Oyster Bar for a chance at the $3,000 prize.  In two minutes, they had to shuck as many oysters as they possibly could.  Following each round, top chefs held cooking demonstrations, and New York City's own Naked Cowboy would serenade the audience.  But the professional shuckers weren't the only ones competing.  Spectators raced to see who could eat 12 oysters the fastest.  This years winner slurped down his dozen in less than 10 seconds.

With the smell of sea salt covering my clothes, I left the restaurant around 3:00pm and headed back to Lafayette for the day's top festivity...The Alabama vs. Arkansas Game.  Because NYU's lacking in the football department, tailgating isn't really a Saturday tradition on our campus.  But, with it being the first real SEC matchup for Alabama this season, I felt like it needed to be celebrated.  Plus, one of my fellow Southern Laf RA's is a Razorback fan, so I wanted to be there to rub it in his face with they lost.  For my game day cuisine, I paired a few of my mom's favorite recipes along with my own specialties.  And if you ask me, I'd say we ate quite well:  100 pigs in a blanket, chocolate-chip  dip, Roll Tide cupcakes, chicken wings and spinach artichoke dip.  Adorned in my crimson and white U of A dress, I cheered for the elephants just as loud as if I were actually at the game.  The game's final score stood at 38-14; it was a good day for any Alabama fan.  

Just Some of Our Food

On Sunday morning, I had my first building wide event.  For the Arts Collateral's September event, we planned a trip to the Guggenheim Museum.  I'd never been there before, and I must admit I was rather impressed.  Works by Picasso, Monet, and Cezanne hung on the walls, but it was the special exhibits that really caught my attention.  The winner of the 2010 Hugo Boss Prize covered his entire space with 100,000 $1 bills.  If you haven't seen it, please make a special trip!

Money, Money Money...Money!

Following my museum visit, I edited some video footage then made my way back to Lafayette for our third floor event.  We've been feeling a little bad about all the junk food we'v been feeding our residents, so instead of your typical sweet, we made 100 smoothies.  Of course they weren't all finished, so I probably drank 5 or 6 banana-strawberry soy smoothies while my Co-RA downed 10 whole milk variations.