As a first semester student, I used my weekends mostly to decompress from the busy school weeks. This meant a lot of lounging around, hanging out with friends, and a face mask or two. Heading into my second semester, I decided to take advantage of the location and get into the city more often.
Friday afternoon, I headed to Brooklyn with a friend to explore the DUMBO area. We started in Empire Fulton Ferry Park. This is, by far, one of the best places to view the Brooklyn Bridge. It has a 360 view of the Brooklyn Bridge on one side and the Manhattan Bridge on the other, with the East River in between. The park is located in the center of the DUMBO area. After we explored the park and, of course, had a mini photoshoot along the way, we decided to find a place to snack. Lucky for us, Empire Stores was less than a minute’s walk away. The mini-mall featured several stores along with Time Out Market, a warehouse-type eatery similar to Baltimore’s own, Mt. Vernon Marketplace. The market was mostly a maze of restaurants placed in one large room – a classy food court if you will.
Saturday, I took time in the morning to review the week and analyze the homework situation. While I had a few assignments to complete for the following week, I still wanted to get into the city. I decided I would pick a coffee shop in the town to use as a workspace for the day. Of course, there are probably thousands of coffee shops in New York; I came prepared. Before coming to school here, I cultivated a list of must-try coffee shops in the city, so when it came to it, I chose the cafe that seemed to promote productivity the most. I ended up at the Greenwich Village location of Stumptown Coffee Roasters. This location is conveniently placed a short walk from Washington Square Park, so if the weather permits, a walk through the park may be an excellent addition to the day.
Of course, Saturday, I didn’t finish all my work as I anticipated, so I decided to have another coffee shop day. This time, I didn’t feel like taking the train, so I decided to head to a coffee shop close to campus called White Noise, located in Flushing, Queens. I spent the day here, finalizing my class schedule and working on some writing.
The following weekend I spent Saturday doing some chores and running errands. Sunday, however, I decided to head into the city to check out a vintage shop called Spark Pretty, in the Lower East Side, with my friends. The store is a unique one. It featured uniquely designed clothes such as custom painted jean jackets, a purse with a built-in clock and jumpsuits bedazzled from top to bottom. After browsing the shop, we decided to head to a tea shop nearby. On the way, we stopped at a street taco shop called Taqueria Diana.
