Columbia, Central Park, Actors and Times Square

The first activity of the day included exploring Columbia University. Kelly and I marveled at the actual collegiate looking buildings. BYU has a beautiful campus but it's not what I consider a "real college campus." The only building that comes somewhat close to the beauty of schools like Columbia is the Maeser. It was a perfect day weather-wise and everything on campus looked great.

After a jaunt around campus, Kelly and I headed to Central Park. What a gorgeous place in the middle of a crazy metropolis. Kelly and I hung out at the south part of Central Park but after we ate lunch at a delicious little pizza place called Bella Vita we headed back to I-House to pick up Bev. Then we headed to the north part of Central Park, equally beautiful and less "touristy." People were fishing in a large pond, we saw lots of ducks and it seemed like everyone was out walking their dogs.

Then it was time to head downtown towards Broadway to see the BYU BFA Senior Showcase auditions. My dear Lava Lounge boys Cameron and Eliot (both acting majors) were in New York to perform for agents/talent scouts or whatever they're called. Even though I've known them for almost two years, I'd never seen either of them perform. A group of my friends tagged along and I think they're all glad they did. It was absolutely wonderful. I saw Cameron Saturday night, he was one of the last people I saw in Provo actually, but seeing him today felt fantastic. Even though I'm with people I know and have known for a year or two, seeing someone like Cameron, a person who knows me better than anyone else I'm living with for the next two, is pretty much indescribable. The funniest moment came with Eliot, however. I went up to him after and he gave me a great hug as well. He had no idea I was going to be there, or even in New York for that matter. The look of surprise/happiness/confusion on his face was great.

Following the show, we hit up Dallas BBQ for dinner. And that was certainly an awesome decision. Bev and I saw it as we walked to the showcase and something about it called out to us. I thoroughly enjoyed by pulled pork, french fries and coleslaw. When it comes to coleslaw I'm pretty picky but I loved the stuff they had at Dallas BBQ.

We finally ventured to Times Sqaure to end the night. It's a pretty surreal place. It's basically daylight and people are milling about everywhere. It's kind of a crazy mess. We didn't hang out there long since people were on a mission to get cheesecake.

One cool thing I've decided to do is take a picture every morning from out my window and then at the end of everything I'm going to make a "photo a day video." I'm probably more excited about this than I should be to be completely honest.