By Madeline Lau
In the grand tradition of students all over the world, or, more literally, the U.S., I enjoyed my Spring Break this past week. This year’s goal was a lofty one: New York for five days to see the sis and various friends, one day back in LA for recuperation followed by a weekend sojourn to Phoenix, Ariz. I had my bags packed, my head on straight (or straighter than usual) and about half-a-dozen magazines to keep me occupied during the 14 total hours of flying time I was about to endure.
First stop: New York. I flew Virgin Airlines and, not to give them free advertising or anything, was rather impressed by how cool it was. The plane had purple lighting and dozens of TV channels streaming in for passengers to peruse. I was seated with only one other person, an Indian health care consultant named Manish, who turned out to be cool and instrumental in my journey through New York’s perilous subway system (he knew what to do, I didn’t). I made my way to my sister Megan’s adorable SoHo apartment where we prepared for a night on the town ala Sex and the City, Lipstick Jungle or The City, whichever you prefer.
Can I just tell you that nightlife in New York is a little overwhelming? In LA at night you just head out with some friends, chill, dance a little and come home by 1-ish. In the Big City you get completely dressed up, start with dinner, go to club A, then club B, clubs C-F are a blur because it all seems the same, you get grabbed by people who want to talk/dance with you, give them an icy glare, keep dancing and call it a night by, say, 4 a.m. I learned pretty fast I wasn’t cut out for this lifestyle, sorry Megan, and chose to instead peruse the city with my best friend, Olivia, who was also in town and staying with us for a couple of nights. We had a great time walking around and feeling metropolitan sans Cosmpolitans, checking out the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Tower then sharing some ice cream in Trump Tower where everything is gold, marble and 100 percent reflective. Didn’t see the Trumpster, but the gelato was good.
One evening we met my sister after work and headed en masse to the Museum of Modern Art where I viewed some of my favorite pieces by Rousseau, Oldenberg and even a stray Picasso (who I normally disdain) that was actually decent. Afterwards we spent relaxing hours at Megan’s friend Sara’s apartment where she cooked a Bangladeshi feast and we watched Dancing with the Stars.
When Olivia sadly went back to Virginia (where she goes to school) I was alone during the day while my sister worked and responsible for keeping an eye on the very lively plumber from Queens who came to clear the shower drain. “You from the West Coast baby?! They’s nothing like New Yaaack!” I laughed and nodded knowing he was right. There isn’t anything like New York.
On my last day in town I took the subway all the way up the island to visit some friends at Columbia University where everyone looks intellectual and busy. The vibe was great: old buildings with famous Romans’ names engraved on them, sculptures of Greek gods, winding pathways and Hungarian delis – I could see intelligence floating in the air. I met my friends for lunch where they talked about various campaigns for student equality and learning new vocabulary in Latin and I felt happily overwhelmed. When it was time to get back on the metro it was with a heavy heart.
The best part of New York is New York itself; living and breathing and walking the city, through all its boroughs and enclaves, to get to the heart of metropolitan understanding. I pondered the difference between the two coasts as I boarded my plane, sans Manish, unfortunately, to LAX.
With one day of rest in between my two very different vacation locales I was fully ready to hit up Arizona with a bounce in my step and fake tan on my skin. Very convincing fake tan if I do say so myself. This time I was going to visit my other best friend, Lauren, and meet her boyfriend, Larry. I have a couple of other pals in the desert state and was hoping to run into them as well.
Let me just tell you about Lauren. This girl is full of fun and hijinks and it was with a bouquet of flowers and a grin on her face that she and Larry picked me up from Sky Harbor airport. We were off! For three days I was on a whirlwind tour of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa and Tempe that involved a lot of ’80s music and driving with the sunroof open. We went mini golfing, ate some seriously delicious food including something called pizza muffins (pizza muffins?!!!), laid out by the pool and had a riotous good time.
But the best two things, in my humble opinion, were the Coyotes Hockey game we went to Saturday night (wearing jerseys nonetheless) and a store called Last Chance that gets everything from Nordstrom that doesn’t sell as quickly as they need it to. We’re talking an arena full of ice hockey fans screaming their lungs out and Michael Stars t-shirts for $10. Arizona is heaven! Mostly though, it was just really wonderful to reunite with some people I haven’t seen in months and make new friends (obviously Larry rocks). On Sunday we lunched with a girlfriend of mine from Scio who also relocated to the sunny South and when it was all said and done I had to catch a plane back to reality. The end of vacation truly and horrendously sucks.
So now I am back in the grind of things (though “the grind” feels less grindy when it’s happening in Southern California with the beach and palm trees) and thinking back on my time away with some observations: While LA is fairly condensed and we have to drive everywhere, it’s oddly right in the middle between New York and Arizona in terms of transport. New York, obviously, is completely condensed, but in a convenient way. You can take the subway, taxi or walk to get anywhere in less than an hour. Arizona, on the other hand, is so spread apart that a car is imperative if you want to get anywhere out of your neighborhood. Thirty minutes to work, 20 minutes to dinner, 40 minutes to the stadium, etc.; but with this distance comes the soothing sensation of being encompassed by wide open spaces all around – worth the drive.
People are different in these three cities as well and I won’t pretend I’m not biased when I admit this. I am a die-hard West Coaster. Holy bananas I love it here. People are chill, fun, happy and carefree. If you’re out at night and you want to check someone out you give them a look and maybe go up and say something coy and clever like “Hey, I was looking at you.” In New York, however, people are blunt as all get out and don’t want to waste two seconds being sneaky and sly. I actually got grabbed by someone in a club who was trying to talk to me. Ew! No thank you. But in Arizona things are so spread out and calm that I didn’t even have the chance to run into anyone. The closest we got to contact with people outside our party was when we were seated communally at one table for breakfast. Shocking! I missed crowded LA just a little bit by then.
With all the differences in these cities it’s so worth it to get out and travel the grand USA. See what and who’s out there and find out what you do and don’t like. For me, being lizard-like in the dessert was a needed respite from being a busy bee in LA but I wasn’t quite up to being a night owl in NYC. Every city has its charms and harms. Next stop Cincinnati in April and then Oregon for the summer; that, I am truly looking forward to.
