Posts filed under Flashback Friday

In The Rearview Mirror 2019 pt. 2

Flashback Friday

Memories

Second Quarter of 2019, and it dawned on me how different my life looks now, compared to when I still lived in Alaska. Life back then, in Alaska, was all about snow, skiing, camping, fieldwork and the deep deep boreal forest. 40 below in the wintertime, smoke from wildfires mixed with mosquitos from hell in the summertime. Quite the contrast from big city life in New York City and Manhattan. If you are interested in seeing the contrast between life in Alaska, transitioning into life in Wisconsin before continuing with the rearview mirror of 2019 you can check out these posts below!

Rearview Mirror 2016:

Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror

In the Rearview Mirror pt.4

In The Rearview Mirror pt.3

Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror

The great wide open, Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror

In The Rearview Mirror pt.2

The great wide open, Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror

Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror

In The Rearview Mirror pt.1

Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror

April

April came with Cherry blossoms in Central Park, and I went down there the day before we flew to Denver, Colorado. I reflected over the fact that spring is so different in different parts of the US, April in Alaska is very different compared to Wisconsin and New York. In Denver, we saw some good friends and their kitty cat. Denver has a lot of nice graffiti almost everywhere, so I might do a separate blog post highlighting that at a later stage. We, of course, went to a few breweries, bars and managed to get a hike in before it was time to get back to NYC. In NYC I had a day or so before a friend from Stockholm arrived. We did a couple of touristy things, Chinatown, the Highline and Columbia University. At the end of April Spring was definitely full-on. I got a couple of walks in Central Park, W and I went to East Broadway mall in Chinatown again for some seafood so we could cook a nice dinner. Also, at the end of April, I finally got a job!!

May

May in NYC definitely mean summertime. I explored the area around my new workplace, which is about 40 minutes north of the city. We went to a Yankees baseball game in the Bronx one evening, our first real baseball game together, since the last one (in Minneapolis) turned into a non-baseball baseball game. We also did a short trip up to the Catskills, and I made more no-knead bread. Basically the best and easiest bread you can make. Garvey just keeps getting larger and larger, and even now in 2020 he is still growing. I saw some wildlife in Morningside park one afternoon, a raccoon. They are usually nocturnal so don’t really know what was up with that fella. We hosted a taco evening at our apartment, a good excuse to clean the whole place! W’s brother and girlfriend came to visit us too for about a week, and we had some picnics in the park, of course, managed to squeeze in a Broadway show and some bar excursions in East village. W and I went to see the goats in Riverside park and then May turned into June.

June

We again went down to the East Village, but this time we walked a fair bit beforehand. We followed Riverside Park and then took the train south. Another evening we bought some food at an Italian deli and went to Central Park. We also went to one of our favorite bars, Mess Hall. More explorations in the city, especially now that we got a second income. Another picnic in the park and I also went down to Battery Park for the last beer with a friend before she moved to San Fran! I spotted a deer outside the window of my lab and W and I had an after-work beer one evening.

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In the rearview mirror 2018:

In The Rearview Mirror 2018 pt. 4

In The Rearview Mirror 2018 pt. 3

In The Rearview Mirror 2018 pt. 2

In The Rearview Mirror 2018 pt. 1

Posted on January 10, 2020 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror, Life in New York and tagged rearviewmirror New York New York City Spring Summer Big City Life New York Life Catskills East Village Riverside Park Denver Colorado Hiking Columbia University High Line Central Park Gotham City rearviewmirror2019 2020 Park Life in NYC.

In The Rearview Mirror 2019 pt. 1

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Flashback Friday

Memories

First-quarter of 2019

2020 and a new decade. How crazy is it that I have spent a decade in this country now? We have now lived in NYC for more than a year, which also feels crazy. But here is what happened that last year of the decade, 2019. I spent the first quarter of 2019 searching for a specific job. There are a lot of jobs in NYC, but unfortunately, I am picky. Dad was still visiting in January, he had come for Christmas 2018. In February nothing new really happened, I got some short term job opportunities that carried over into March and later April.

January

We celebrated our first Christmas and New Year in NYC together with my dad who was visiting for almost a month. Back in the day when my brother did spend a year in the US for high school, we had all visited and also spent some time in New York, so it wasn’t my dad’s first trip here. The lack of snow was pretty obvious, and for us who used to have a lot of snow, it was pretty miserable. This was the first winter I didn’t do any cross country skiing since I moved to the US. My dad and I went to Brooklyn Bridge and walked around along the shoreline before we headed back to Manhattan. Another day the three of us went out to Cold Spring with Metro-North and walked through the old foundry. Today all that is left are the old brick houses and some leftover iron slag here and there. My dad and i also took advantage of the free admission to the 9/11 museum, which they have on Thursdays. I was actually surprised how much that visit affected me. It is definitely worth going there if you are ever in NYC. After my dad left W and I ventured out to Chinatown for an outing.

February

We went to H-Mart, a Korean market that sells sushi-grade salmon and tuna so that we could make sushi. I went north to Van Cortland Park to meet another Swede who lives in NYC. Another day I went down towards the Battery Park to meet another Swedish friend. W and I went on many walks in Central Park, which has also become a favorite spot for us here in NYC. We got some light snow dustings, that did not last long. Another weekend we also went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We only spent a couple of hours, and probably only saw about 10% of the whole place. But, as NYC residents you can pay what you wish in admission, so it’s not too expensive to come back.

March

In March I went out to Coney Island because I had an interview at the New York Aquarium. I also made another batch of my favorite no-knead bread. W and I ventured out to various neighborhoods and bars in March. By the end of March, you could definitely tell that Spring was on its way. Daffodils in Morningside Park and pretty flowers in Central Park. In March it also finally struck me that if I can make it in NYC, I can make it anywhere. March Went by so fast and before we knew it April had arrived.

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In the rearview mirror 2018:

In The Rearview Mirror 2018 pt. 4

In The Rearview Mirror 2018 pt. 3

In The Rearview Mirror 2018 pt. 2

In The Rearview Mirror 2018 pt. 1

Posted on January 3, 2020 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror and tagged rearviewmirror Spring rearviewmirror2019 2020 NYC Cold Spring Big City Life snow turtle flowers Central Park Dive Bars Bars Baking Life in NYC.

Among Towers and Castles - Quaint Princeton University

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Flashback Friday

A trip to Princeton

A couple of years ago we visited NYC, that was before we knew we were moving here of course. During that trip, we also went to Princeton. Since then we have been to Princeton at least one more time. If you are spending some time in NYC I can definitely recommend going to Princeton for the day or even spending one night there. We spent the night in a cozy little bed and breakfast walking distance from Princeton University.

It’s easy to get to Princeton (just under 2 hrs), NJ transit from Penn station takes you to Princeton Junction, and from there you take the “Dinky” to the university and town. It is important that you ask for a ticket to Princeton Station since they often otherwise just give you a ticket to Princeton Junction, which is a walk from Princeton. It is also important that you make sure you get to keep the ticket from when you get off at Princeton Junction because you have to show it again on the Dinky. The Dinky does not run that often, so you have to plan accordingly. The total price to get here is about 17.75$ one-way.

Princeton is a cute little university town, and I like to compare it to any cute little town you find in England because just like those little towns Princeton is full of history and culture. The campus itself looks like something taken from a book. When we went there fall had just started to get its grip on the east coast and the area around NYC, about the same time as we are in now.

The university stems from 1746 (but the first building in Princeton wasn’t built until 1956) and the campus itself is so beautiful. All the castle-like buildings, and the gorgeous chapel. You can also find one of the largest university libraries in the world here, the Firestone Library.

The Chapel and Firestone Library in the background

There is a lot of history between all of these walls, and I can’t imagine what it would be like to live here, in some of these buildings which many students do!

We spent a couple of days in Princeton, and while W was in meetings I had plenty of time to explore the campus. Once he was done we walked around some more. Two US presidents have attended this university, and 12 supreme court justices. Not completely surprising the university did not open up for women until 1960’s, 200 years after the first building was built.

Not your average Dormitory

We walked over to yet another castle-like building, Cleveland Tower and the old Graduate College, that today functions as a dormitory. Can you imagine living here?? Cleveland Tower was built in the early 1900s, and the architecture style is called Collegiate Gothic. This style was very common to use for a lot of university buildings throughout the US during this time. The website describes the housing facilities like this:

Popular features of the Old Graduate College include a common room with a fireplace and reading room; a coffee house; a game room and vending café; an exercise room; a projector room with a large projector screen, TV, and DVD player; and the D-Bar, a private club managed by the Graduate College House Committee.

Old meets New

We continued our walk around Princeton. We even walked by Albert Einsteins old house. It’s privately owned now so you can’t really walk inside. I did snag a photo of it though, I couldn’t resist. After that we did a quick stroll around the outside of the campus and through a part of Princeton before we headed for the park area. There are a few new structures that peek out here and there, a new bridge for instance that provide a sharp but nice contrast between the old and the new.

I haven’t shown you many photos of Princeton, the town itself. Princeton is also very attractive and there are tons of little shops with knick-knacks around here. There is even a brewery in town so it is definitely worth exploring the actual town too. A bonus on campus is the art museum where you can always find a couple of Monet’s if you are into that jam. Last year when I went they also had some Andy Warhol on display. The museum is not open every day so it’s worth checking the hours before coming out.