Presidents Day Weekend

This past weekend turned out to be quite an eventful one. Some of my activities even seemed to reflect the holidays of the earlier part of this week.

After work on Friday, I met up with other UNL alumni, professors, and students at the Irish Rogue Pub. Apparently, that is the bar that many New Yorkers who are fans of the Huskers meet at to watch the football games every fall. The professors and students were in town for a few days last week to attend a journalism conference. It was nice seeing some familiar faces. It also proved to be an excellent opportunity for networking. I met several UNL alumni who are living in the city and we exchanged contact information. Some of them are very well connected and may prove to be valuable resources as I may turn to them for career advice. There are also some current UNL students working on internships in the city this semester like me, so we plan to meet up and hang out some time soon.

On Saturday, I had a history-filled afternoon. I have wanted to visit Theodore Roosevelt's birthplace on 20th street since I got here so I figured that Presidents Day weekend was as good of a time as any. What a great way of honoring our presidents: by learning about them. Let me tell you, the visit was worth the wait. I had a great time. First off, the house and tour were run by the National Park System and we all know how highly I think of them! One of the coolest parts of the tour was a “great hall” area with lots of memorabilia and artifacts. Probably some of my favorite things were the dead animals (sorry PETA members) he brought back from hunting trips. He actually went on a couple of African safaris in his lifetime. They had a dead lion, bear head, rams, elephant feet, heyena skins, and zebra skins displayed, among others. It was pretty cool to see the animals that he actually hunted. I also learned a pretty neat saying for remembering the significant years and events of the Civil War years. In ’61, war begun; in ’62, it’s halfway through; in ’63, slaves are free; in ’64, war no more; in ’65, Lincoln died. I was really excited to learn that! Anyways, Teddy's house was a hit. He just seems like such an interesting man. Afterwards, I walked down to Union Square, then past NYU, into SOHO, then over to Greenwich Village.

On Sunday, I found a new Lutheran church that I really liked. While there, I met a couple of ladies from Iowa and we talked about how awesome the Midwest is. We came to the consensus that on a scale from lame to awesome it ranks as "very awesome." So that's pretty good. I then celebrated Chinese New Year by enjoying a lunch of orange chicken, rice, and a Cherry Dr. Pepper prepared at the local Chinese Restaurant. I wanted to tell my cashier/cook "Gung Hay Fat Choy!" which means "Happy New Year!" but I was afraid I would say it wrong...and then he'd look at me thinking "Silly white boy." So, I refrained. I planned to visit Chinatown Sunday afternoon, but got far too busy relaxing. Oh well, I think it was a fair trade off. I guess I'll just save that for another time. Maybe I can even learn some more Chinese phrases by then.