Vignettes from Visits (Part Duex): Just like London, except for Funner!

So, about a month after my delightful visit from N, I had another fabulous visit, this time from a very dear college friend. I know vaguely that JL and I met during Freshman Orientation at our beloved alma mater, but my first real memory is of her coming to my dorm room one night in November to study for a psychology test with my crazy freshman roommate. Unfortunately for them, it was also election night, so I refused to be dislodged from my station in front of our 13 inch TV, holding the rabbit eared antenna out the window so I could get a fuzzy NBC and excitedly watch election results to learn the new composition of the US Congress. Somehow, my bizarro-ness didn't scare her away. We went on to become close friends, roommates, traveling buddies, and general partners-in-crime. JL is probably the only person I was friends with freshman year who I am still close with today. She's seen me at my absolute worst, and yet is still willing to come visit me.

We had so much fun being tourists in the city! We ate fro-yo, strolled the UWS, explored Central Park, rode the Staten Island ferry, went out in the East Village, walked through Chinatown, ate pizza at Lombardi's in Soho, drank wine in Little Italy, went to the Met, and finished the weekend with Tasti D-lite and a mad dash to Penn Station praying that she would be able to catch her bus back to DC.

It was so great to have a long weekend to catch up (She had that Monday off, and I took a day off of work) and to feel like we were traveling through Europe again (JL had the pleasure of accompanying me all around the continent, making sure I never walked in front of a bus or was put in charge of reading the map. I firmly believe that it is thanks to her diligent tutelage that I have so far been able to survive living in the city on my own without succumbing to my severe lack of common sense and any sense of direction.)

I love, love, love having my own studio so people can come to visit me. No worrying about roommates, or bathroom schedules, or whether an air mattress in the common space is an inconvenience. Yes, JL had to sleep on the air mattress in the kitchen area, but that is just one of those delightful eccentricities of the NYC studio. She said she didn't mind. The great thing is, I've known her long enough to know that she's telling the truth.