Tiresome Traveling

Well we had one of our busiest weeks, followed by an even busier weekend... Monday and Tuesday were much like Mondays and Tuesdays always are, with a little added calamity finalizing hotel and travel plans for our coming weekend. Wednesday we stacked a 4 hour moving session on top of our kitchen cleaning which brought us well into the morning. However, we had plenty to talk about given an exciting day on the town! Sean had reluctantly woken at 7am, which is a feat in itself, to run with me to the Washington Monument, where we got in line to receive tickets to go to the top - only a limited amount of people make it up each day. The tickets sold out in the first half hour, and we hear the online tickets, which cost money, are now booked through July! Concluding, the trip to the top was remarkable, and we finally understand the 'smallness' of DC, as we got to see Reagan National Airport and the Pentagon, as well as where the waterways run. DC truly is a beautiful city!
Thursday we learned of two papers that were due Monday night... not a problem unless you're leaving for New York on Friday for the weekend! So we rushed to get a start on those, which didn't end up happening because we still had to throw some clothes together, work full days, and lift weights. Thankfully we managed to have a spell of free time on Monday night to complete the two - although fellow students continue to question us as we always seem to take less time - but receive decent grades none-the-less. All due to a Dordt education we tell them.
On Friday evening we stepped aboard a bus enroute to Chinatwon NYC! The bus smelled bad... extremely bad. But we managed to complete the four and a half hour trek, only to find ourselves lost in a whole new country! Literally, Chinatown NYC is 10 times that of DC. But we followed a kind couple for a 15 minute stroll to the subway. We found New Yorkers to be among the nicest people we have met in our entire lives! Virtually everyone we asked went out of their way to show us how to get places - I guess we got lucky?
Well we found our hotel, got a good night's rest, and woke around 9:00 for breakfast. Our parents would be ashamed to hear we ate pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday, but it was well worth it (in addition, we ordered delivery Friday night at midnight). NY pizza is like nothing else! We went on our tour of the city, catching Madison Square Garden, the Empire State Building, The Late Show, Central Park, plenty of monuments, the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center site, many cathedrals, Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange and Bank, Staten Island (momentarily), and plenty more. I know you're thinking of something I missed, but believe me, we probably made it there! We've been exercising for this vacation every week in DC so we were eager to save a little money and walk rather than ride the subway too much, although we did experience it plenty still!
All in all, we were thrilled to get back to nice, little, quiet Washington DC. Odd that when we left DC was a place we'd never live because of its fast-paced lifestyle, we now have a COMPLETELY different opinion of it. NYC was something completely out of the ordinary for us. However, we will be stopping there on our way to Boston next week. Wednesday we take off for Philadelphia, then leave Thursday afternoon for New York (QUICK stop) then Boston through Sunday. Should be another unforgettable weekend!
Tomorrow we have another day off so the plan is to knock off our last two museums, which we have already completed in part, make a stop at the bank, and enjoy the weather. Hope you are all doing well. Remember us in your prayers as we head into the final leg! Are we supposed to be having this much fun because it seems as though the rest of the ASP students are missing out! We're killing ourselves non-stop, but it's all worth it. See you all soon!