The Tourist

Three years ago, after being informed that budget cuts would prevent me from returning to my summer internship, I decided on a whim to enroll in a summer session at Columbia University in New York. The justification to my parents? Columbia was a possible grad school destination for me and having first-hand experience would help with my decision. My real reason for going, however, was because nothing could be more dreadful than summer classes at Northern fucking Illinois fucking University, in a ghost town called Dekalb.

I remember what my dad said to me the morning he drove me to the airport for my flight to New York. "Learn something at Columbia. I not paying five thousand dollar for you to be tourist. Understand?"

But I was a tourist. Totally a tourist. I needed the excitement, the change in pace. And if that meant that my dad would have to be the one to foot the tuition bill in order for me to enjoy a self-serving, two-month lifestyle of adventure, exploration, and debauchery, well then, so be it. Because there was just no way I could spend an idle summer in Dekalb, listening to the buzz of cicadas.

It turned out to be, in my eyes at least, money well spent, because the two brief months I spent living in Manhattan were the best times of my life. By far. I couldn't have been more pleased by how diverse and interesting the people were there, and subsequently I made friends at a rapid rate. There was Catriona, the backpacker from Ireland. There was Jon, the aspiring filmmaker from Syracuse. There was Keesha, the law professor from Kansas. Cole, the real estate broker from Portland. Tabitha, the criminal justice major from Texas.

I'm still reasonably good friends with all of these people, and even while everyone continues to move forward with their lives, I absolutely refuse to lose touch with any of them because then that would mean that a part of that summer that meant so much to me would disappear as well.

Tomorrow, because I'm taking advantage of the cheap airfare offered by JetBlue Airlines, I'm flying out to New York for the weekend with my good friend Julie. All of the old friends that I made in New York three summers ago won't be there, but that's never stopped me from getting into adventures.

And I'll be back on Sunday to blog all about my trip, so calm down.