soy in apple.

It's been one hell of a summer. Moving cross country immediately after graduation, I didn't expect that I would adjust to New York so well. The subway system's pretty great (overall), I've done more walking in 6 weeks than I did in college, and I've (unfortunately) increased my alcohol tolerance over the course of the last month.

This is the last week of the program, and finally, I can start wandering around aimlessly to get to know the streets a little better. Except for when I go to the Bronx and out to a bar with my friends in the program, I almost never go above 20th St. I only go up to 20th because that's where I'm currently living. Next week, I'll be living in the East Village in my very own apartment. I'm excited to decorate and furnish my place with non-dorm furniture. In my current sublet, I'm using NYU's old dorm furniture. Though the apartment itself is spacious, I constantly feel as though I'm back at Caltech with this ugly furniture.

While I'm enjoying the city, the fast-paced nature of it is definitely exhausting at times. I often find myself rushing from place to place even though I don't have anywhere I need to be. Maybe it's because I don't like to waste the little leisure time by walking around too slowly or waiting an inconvenient amount of time between trains. Whatever it is, my favorite part of the day is just getting home, changing into my pajamas, and crashing on my bed for 10 minutes before I do anything else.

I miss California a lot, especially recently. I definitely do not miss the inhuman temperatures during this time of summer in Southern California, but I miss the dry heat and the more relaxed nature of home in general. The humidity here is awful! I feel like I'm walking into a sauna sometimes. I've gotten caught in the rain several times without an umbrella, and just yesterday we started having thunderstorms. The unpredictable nature of East Coast weather is something I love and hate compared with the constancy of California weather.

I wish I could go home in August for at least a week, but I swore I would not let myself do so until I find a permanent teaching position. I'll be flying down to Florida for a friend's wedding, so that'll be 4-5 days of nothing but parties, food, and the beach! I'm definitely grateful, because that will be extremely relaxing--I haven't seen a beach in so long! I regret not taking advantage of California's coast more when I was living there. At least now I'll appreciate it more when I go back for my winter vacation.