Sofia Somewhere

I've been living in Valladolid for two months (round two of my  auxiliar de conversación  stint) and finally(!) got around to updating my blog. To get me back in the groove, here's a quick post of my New York trip. I'd only been in Spain for two weeks, when I set off. (In fairness, I had this trip planned months ago, and had asked permission from my school to take the week off). My cousin was getting married and Angela had the marvellous idea of all three of us sisters attending, so we did. That was probably the best part of the trip for me - all three of us together again. :) (The last time we were all together was probably a year and a half ago). Sisters reunited  ♥ Naturally, us being together again meant many crazy moments throughout the week. At the High Line At the High Line At the High Line Walking down the streets  It was a jam-packed week of good company, good food, and good times. First up was the wedding of my cousin Pilar to Gabe....

I've been back home for a few days, but busy getting my documents ready for my Spanish visa application (more on that later!). Just a few more pictures of the last stretch of my trip. Monday was our shopping day! We started out with lunch (Japanese for my forever craving)... Then drove to two shopping centers. Since it was Labor Day (September 1) a lot of stores still had their Labor Day weekend sale going on. We ended the night at The Cheesecake Factory where we shared the huge servings of food and a delicious Oreo chocolate cheesecake.

From L.A. it was off to San Francisco! We had an early 8am flight, though we had to leave at around 5:30 since we were coming from Anaheim. Our flight ended up being delayed, but we made it okay to San Francisco (and took a nap the rest of the morning). We had a late lunch at In-N-Out Burgers ! And then spent the rest of the afternoon shopping at Target. :) The next day we drove to Tracy which was quite far (a little over an hour without traffic) to surprise Tisha for her birthday.

The morning before I left for Los Angeles, Tita Susan took me out to breakfast for some really good eggs benedict . Then she dropped me off at the airport and I was off to L.A. In L.A., Ange and our friend Tasha picked me up at the airport. From the airport we drove to Downtown and chilled there for a while. For dinner, I met up with Tita Louele who was my adult leader when I went to CISV in 2001! It was so nice to see her, catch up, and make kwento. We ate at a really good hand roll sushi bar, KazuNori .

Spent the next two days touring Downtown Chicago. On Monday afternoon Tita Isa dropped me off at the Art Institute of Chicago  (General admission $23, Students $17) since she had to go see patients. Art Institute of Chicago One of the two famous lions that guard the entrance

On Friday morning, I left New York for Chicago! I was actually flying out of Newark Airport in New Jersey so I took the train from Penn Station to the airport. The train was quick, about 25 minutes (and then another 12 minute air train from the train station to my terminal at the airport). I had a pretty uneventful flight with a stopover in Boston, and even landed early in Chicago. But we were made to wait in the plane, and ended up waiting for almost an hour. My Tita Isa picked me up in the airport and then we drove their home in the suburbs, in the north of Chicago.

I started off my last full day in New York with an early lunch at Eataly , an Italian market and food place in Madison Square Park. The place was incredible. They sell all kinds of Italian products - from pasta to chocolate to sauces to coffee, and many more. The set up is also really interesting. Aside from the open market, they also have restaurants. So they sell the meat beside the meat restaurant, the pasta beside the pasta restaurant, so and so forth. Fruits Fresh pasta Focacia