Katz's, Boxing, the Met, and Macaroons

I went on a little adventure with a friend of mine named Shea who was in the city, and we went to the Met, and explored the lower east side.

At the Met, we paid a dollar each and wandered around the galleries. I particularly liked the exhibit that was made up of old pictures of murderers (scary and well curated) and Shea liked a photography and video exhibit (pictured above) about dreams.

We got hungry and a little bored of the museum so we headed down to the lower east side, where Shea came across a boxing studio called Overthrow that was designed beautifully. It smelled like sweat and had red lights everywhere. Shea, who is a real photographer with a camera that isn't an iPhone took a bunch of pictures, but here is one I took that I particularly liked. It was in a secret room that I am pretty sure used to be a speakeasy.

After our mini photo shoot we were really hungry, so we headed to Kats's Delicatessen, famous for almost everything, including for being the place where Harry and Sally (in When Harry Met Sally) eat lunch, and where the line "I'll have what she's having" originated. These sandwiches were huge, delicious and expensive. We should have only bought one, but they did wrap up the rest of it for us.

We ended our day with macaroons in the neighborhood and we chatted about the future, and graduating, and jammed to the music that was playing. (from left to right: Pistachio, Hazelnut, Peanut Butter Banana and Earl Grey).

It was nice to explore the city through someone else's eyes. I felt a little cold and stagnant compared to Shea, who was making small talk with everyone that she met. In NYC, your safety often depends on the poker face you have on. Situations can change quickly and in order to not be a target for whatever strangeness is happening, you have to appear unfazed. I consider myself a warm, trusting person, but in the face of my friend, I felt quiet and unfriendly. I have never considered moving out of NY until that moment when I saw a glimpse of how easy it was for me to ignore strangers.