day one of the rest of my life.

after a day of trying to get all the info ready to take on this massive titanic of a blog post (i stretched for this), i am ready. let's go.
let's start with the busride there:

kaarlz & i were packed and set. first thing we notice is this over-talkative lady that we were sitting across from who later on admitted that she was still drunk from a ceremony she attended earlier that night. the lucky person to sit next to this mess? some very attractive and foreign danish scenester who quickly regretted having not lined up earlier. his friends who were spread out through out the bus put no attention to the awkward conversations that these two would share (one of them being about whether or not she wanted quebec to be its own country (which kaarlie and i jumped in on)). as time passed, we laughed awkwardly as our driver mark was shouting information at the passengers, we arrived at the border in very little time. when we got there, the first i noticed (being the girl who had an inaugurration party at a jack astor's to represent the democrats) was the barack obama presidential photo hanging in the building. i knew i was going to love this trip from then on. we lined up, went through customs, i got the NICEST GUARD EVER who was asking me about what i was looking forward to, who i was going with, what we were planning on doing, etc etc, and sent me on my way (where as kaarlie got the guard who gave her a dirty look when she asked "how are you"). we piled onto the bus to notice that our drunk comrad from across the aisle was sitting alone. and so began the search for the danish waldo. sadly, we didn't put all that much attention towards the man until later on in the ride. we distracted ourselves with some office on kaarlie's mac (season 1. the true blue.) as well as different stories of our childhood, mocking kaarlie's inability to blow her nose in public (as seen in picture b) (mhm. your eyes do not deceive you. that is kaarlie under a jacket trying to create a sound proof barrier on the bus so as to not be disgusting. gotta love her.)and leg stacking methods while trying to catch them z's. when we woke up, we found ourselves in albany at four in the morning. this was when we confirmed that the once group of 5 danish (sounds delicious) had been reduced down to four danish (not as delicious). but we digressed in search for coffee. both starbucks lovers and via-haters, we had decided to make this trip a starbucks mission - by both going to at least 20 starbucks in 4 days as well as try and like via. so the via taste challenge began!

we still ended up hating it. when you dilute it with milk and sugar, it's decent. it kept us up and awake so it's job was well done in the end. we spent the rest of our brief stay in albany taking pictures, laughing at my slipper ugg(lie)s, and getting excited.

yes, i wore those in public.

thinking i was a Clever Ann for writing VIA on my styrofoam cup o via.

after this, we passed out. we spent another couple of hours waking up and falling back to sleep before our whack job of a driver had to use the room and didn't want to settle for the one at the back of the bus. so we stopped and were the only ones to mozy around and guess what we find.

our first starbucks of the trip and we didn't even need to try. we freaked out, snuck a gander at their new york merch (soon to come in this blog's line-up), yelled at the barista who was opening a cash register (who ignored us), stole some lemon juice (LEMON JUICE! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?) from the condiment bar, and hopped onto the bus more excited than ever. yet somehow we managed to sleep.

the thing that kaarlie and the rest of you will learn about me is that when left to my own devices,i'd stay up till 3 am spend the day barely awake and then do it all again. (if you didn't catch that, it's a julia nunes reference meant to build up the necessary hype for when i blog about her performance.) so that being said, i slept very little, ened up just staring at the dead-end towns as they passed that were filled with mikey d's and dunkin' donuts as for as the eye could see. all this until my eyes did see what they had been waiting for.

new york city.
kaarlie woke up, showed her the skyline, freaked out, got to the bus terminal, got yelled our final goodbyes by mark, and then headed out.
first challenge: the subway.
granted yes, i have had quite a deal of practice with our metro stations here. but NOTHING LIKE THIS. two floors for four different directions? and 3 different trains can come from one direction leading you in ANOTHER 3 directions? madness. so thank god for this metro hero that came up to us asking if we needed help (i think my oversized luggage might have been the spoiler).

after being led to our home for our stay @ the hostel jazz on the park, we had arrived too early for check-in. so you saw us chillin' on the floor of the lounge area, digging through our luggage to find our day's outfit to do both montreal & new york justice. here are the outfits from our new york city catwalk:

Kaarlz: red boots, black tights, my newspaper tank dress, grey cardigan, amazing chain necklace and homemade other necklace, and adorable grey tuke.

Meez: black flats, white nylons, high-waisted black skirt, loose-fitting striped shirt, black rose pin, leather jacket, and mustard yellow thrift store bag.

WE WERE READY.

after consuming the hall, becoming a burden to this adorable british girl who was just arriving in the hostel trying to put our bags away, we decided to go and put our faces on on the STEPS of central park. and guess what? we did. mascara, foundation, and all.

on those steps, not only did we take in the sights of the streets that reminded me of west side story, but we ran into the adorable british girl from the hostel! as i was putting on my cheeks, she was telling us of her where awbouts: her name (robinn), why she was here, where she was from, music, drug use, etc. within minutes we were invited to stay with her in england next summer to be taken to raves! she then asked if she could tag along for the day. us being the people that we are were thrilled and were all psyched for our british(and slightly canadian) invasion around manhattan. faces in place, we were off.

after getting lost on the subway and almost ending up in the bronx, we tried a second time to arrive to our first destination: nbc studios to pick up our explorer passes.
when we had actually arrived, we picked up our passes and ATTACKED NBC'S MERCHANDISE SECTION.

show them, joe.

meet the cone bone on display.

meet my jimmy by his cups with snl lazer cats in the background.

jimmy's jive apparel.

OFFICE MERCH ATTACK!

MORE MERCH!

BOBBLEHEADS! ALL OF THEM!

HEART ATTACK.

FULL ON FLATLINED.

after those minutes of wishing i had a neverending fountain of schrute bucks, stanley nickles, and jamillion dollar bills, we were on the hunt for a starbucks. asking men in suits and any other type person we could locate, we finally found one hidden to the side and went NUTS.

YOU SEE THIS FOOD CASE?

WE DON'T HAVE THIS STUFF! We don't have cinnamon rolls, pumpkin scones or marble loft! we don't have petite vanilla bean scones or sour cream pumpkin muffins! we don't have packed EGG SANDWICHES or energy drinks or veggies with cheese or those waterbottles! OR DONUTS! WE DO NOT HAVE DONUTS EITHER!

besides freaking out by the food case and dining on some of them:

we talked with the baristas as the warm baristas we are. we asked them about new york, different 24 hour starbucks that they have around there (WHICH, MONTREAL... IS SOMETHING YOU SHOULD LOOK INTO!). i ended up giving one of them the nickname arizona and telling the other one he was a fraud for not liking coffee but made my drink perfectly. we also asked them their opinions of via which the fraud responded with an "i love it" and an "i hate it" face. even the starbucks customers are amazing! one suit was sitting next to us and ended up asking us starbucks trivia questions and we ended up SCHOOLING HIM! (as expected). we also bitched about the at & t wifi leaving me realizing that bringing my laptop to this starbucks was pointless. we had the baristas taste via whip cream, make the new jersey suit late for a meeting, and turned robinn into liking coffee (which she teased us for calling it "cawfee").

next on the itinerary: rock & roll hall of fame.

but before we would get there, we would get morbidly lost. and we did. we ended up in the cuteness of So Ho passing by chanels, louis vuittons, and markets. the only place in the world where those two can collide without questions. we also ended up passing by a loft open house.... and tempted fate by going in. then and there was when we decided there was no choice but to move here.

the brick walls, the gorgeous high ceilings, large windows, creeking stairs, the new york backdrop, it's everything that i have ever dreamed in an apartment.

we left heartbroken and convinced that we found our apartment. but we left there none the less.

when we arrived at the rock & roll museum, we powered up on puddings and kaarlie's elaborate waters for her business (link soon to be posted) and we were on our way in.

it was a really good exhibit. it's one of those doesn't-require-a-lot-of-reading ones which i could not complain against seeing as i love music (if that wasn't painfully obvious) and wasn't really in much of a mood for reading. so we spent about an hour walking by buddy holly's this and elvis presley's that while listening to james brown, madonna, the white stripes, and at one point coldplay. all ending with a room dedicated to john lennon (whom i'm a fan of and saw the exhibit when it came to montreal). the whole thing ended with the enlarged dramatic photo of his glasses taken by yoko herself. it left us all winded when leaving. rockin' robinn shared her experience with death which led us to just feel that much happier to be chillin' with her and in new york city. we crashed for a bit on the steps outside, replaced the faces, and then head out one more time.

we ended up on the streets of manhattan going street vender to street vender, looking at headbands and other treats until we found FOREVER 21.

understand that we only have 1 forever 21 in montreal and it is a constant mosh pit. so the minute we saw this, we ran in. yes it was packed, but it was HUGE. so we filtered through everything fell in love, found some winners, and without wasting any time, went to the cash register (the purchases will be posted over time).

we then decided to head back to the hostel. though we got lost again for the third time that day, we had a chance to learn some british terms from the very bubbly and knowledgable robinn:

that's sexual --------------------------------} nice.

mint -------------------------------} fresh.

shit hot -------------------------} hot shit.

wanker --------------------------} douche bag (something my scottish penpal had taught me a while back that i loved instantly)

taking a mikie -------------------------} peeing.

lorry -----------------------------------} truck.

we are exchanged the prop, exploding prop, and air heart for gestures such as angry pumpkin, clap&snap, the inversed peace sign, (also a penpal lesson) and the richard.
(all of which i would be more than happy to reinact the next time i see you(upon request))

gotta love them foreigners.

when we returned to the hostel, robinn bounced to be with her friend where as kaarlie and i cleaned up at long last! with a clean body, fresh hair, a fresh face and outfit, we decided that it would be best if we stayed low key for the night, chilled at a starbucks, planned out the next two days better so that we wouldn't end up lost, losing time, or anything like that. so once ready, we googled for a starbucks (one of the TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHT IN ALL OF NEW YORK) and left. but google lied! it was not on the street corner they had promised. we changed our minds then and decided to simply take the subway to 60th and broadway to go to the 24 hour starbucks barista arizona had told us about. but kaarlie didn't have her subway pass and by the time we would head back to the hostel, we realized it wouldn't seem worth it. after almost giving up hope, i spot a venti passion tea lemonade walking away from us. i tell kaarlie. and out of despiration kaarlie starts to shout "WHERE'S THE STARBUCKS!?! MISSS! EXCUSE MEEE! WHERE'S THE STARBUCKS!" kaarlie reaches her and she points us to one up the street. we get there and freak out! start pointing at things in the food case like crazy people, get venti waters and everything all ending with ordering vivannos. but. they have no bananas. kaarlie couldn't take no for an answer at this point and WENT ACROSS THE STREET TO A MARKET PLACE TO GET BANANAS. THIS is why i am friends with this girl! we then sit there completely content, get full and hydrated, and head back to the hostel.

on our way back, i see something disturbing involving a man restraining a woman. she is yelling and screaming, slapped him across the face and he still won't let her go. worst of all, there was a child of 3 or 4 standing right next to them helpless. i couldn't take it. they could be morons on their own but NOT with a child there. not on my watch. so i called 911. that's right. the fuzz on my first night. the unit did show up and the mother and son left as soon as my unit pulled up. problem solved. just doin' my job.

when we did get to the hostel, seeing as STUPID AT&T WIRELESS WASN'T WORKING, we used their wifi at the hostel instead. while kaarlie was being useful looking up addresses, i was being a jelly head by being on video call with j talking about kidnapping babies and my day & youtubing julia nunes. but it was great times (at least for me; the bum scribbling down whatever kaarlie told me to.) we then got up to our room, died in bed, and were amazed by all we had done in such a short amount of time.

new york couldn't let down.

(day 2 will be up tomorrow)

mtb.