The Surprising Unexpected

Walking through Coney Island

First things first, happy birthday, America! *insert freedom and a soaring bald-eagle here*

I was on my way to the Subway this morning with my cohort, when I realized that I had forgotten my subway pass. By this time, we were by the subway stairs, which meant I had to run all the way around campus to retrieve my card. Due to my shame, I ran in sandals and dressy shorts, and since my building's elevator was broken down, I had to climb a hefty 13-flights of stairs. I returned back to the subway within 10 minutes, when we soon realized that the passes had already expired. My heavy breathing and judgement from onlookers was for naught. We bought new cards, and met up with our chaperon Ms. Thrift.

Since the voyage was an hour-and-a-half, we left uptown immediately and headed straight for Coney Island. We were able to observe the annual "hot-dog eating contest", which I found to be rather strange, but still wildly entertaining. The new champion finished 60 hot dogs in 10 minutes--THAT'S CRAZY! I ate one of these hot-dogs myself, and came to the conclusion that I could probably finish 2 per every half hour, respectively.
After watching the contest, we voyaged through the Island and found a spot at the beach. Getting to walk barefoot in the sand is an amazing feeling; my toes just felt so free! My cohort and I had a crazy great time at the beach, since we all had the opportunities to bury one another and do the "who can go farther into the ocean with their clothes still on" dare. However, we had to leave around 8 after considering how hectic the crowd was going to be after the fireworks. After a 26-spot train ride, we arrived in Battery Park to observe the fireworks across the Atlantic Ocean.

Fireworks near Battery Park!

The fireworks were astounding. I feel like no special occasion is complete now without them (it'd be great to have fireworks on my birthday, someday. Highly unlikely, but a girl can dream.) I actually haven't seen fireworks in real life since 3 years ago on my birthday, so it was really nice to get to see them in person. I got to see them glitter and glow and sparkle, and hear the explosion of the powder that the firework comes from. Just like the museum from yesterday, seeing an object in a photo is absolutely nothing like what it feels like to see and feel it in person.

After the fireworks, we all headed back to our respective sleeping destinations. My cohort and I wanted to hang out for a bit, so we visited Mark's dorm where we embarked a serious no-laughing staring contest. I was the first one to lose. After about 15 minutes, I returned to my cozy dorm and showered, and to my surprised I could still hear fireworks! As I am typing this blog, I can still get a pretty nice view of some fireworks from my dorm window!