NYC was fantastic!

Man, what a great time! (Following paragraphs contain little to no editing so take their English with a grain of salt)Friday:I missed Shabbat with Greg and Julie unfortunately (I wasn't sure of the ride situation with Nate) but I got some books and enjoyed my first 10 hour reading session in a LONG time. Talked with dad a bit about nonsense (which is pretty usual) and found out that my stepfather was in the hospital. Apparently he had a bone lodged in his small intestine and needed surgery (he's ok). I'm not sure if my motorcycle will be done on time this summer especially since he's working so hard now that my mother is preparing for her board certification exams. I guess it's time to buy a CT-allowable car on my own.Saturday: Woke up around noon to a phone call from Nate, apparently he wasn't coming down for quite some time so I tuck in and get some breakfast (or was it lunch?) and read some more while waiting for his phone call. Whilst sitting on the couch I received about 6 different calls from as many people. Which leaves me to wonder; when did I get so popular? I've not had this many people actually wanting to talk and hang out with me since California. I must say it's a nice feeling. I really hope things continue on this path, if they do I may stay in New England.So, Nate gives me the call that he's in West Hartford and I meet up with him and his friends in the car. This is where I meet Ron and Aviva who are two of the coolest random people I've ever met. Not going to go too much into it but I hope they regard me well considering how much I like both of them. After some introductions we drive down to NYC and ended up waiting in Spanish Harlem (YU) for a dude who never shows, apparently their friend is a huge flake so we just shoot the shit in the street while eating sunflower seeds and watching Hispanic dudes popping wheelies on motorcycles.After 3 hours of that we head downtown to meet with more friends (Ari who's freaking cool and Akiba who may or may not be). Get some Grey Goose and start celebrating Nate's 21st birthday. After a good buzz we hit some club that I can't remember the name of and drink and dance with random Rutgers chicks until 4 am where we go back to the apartment and drunken drama ensued. I'm not going to go into it but suffice it to say that I was uninvolved and half of us slept there while the other half met up with the dude who flaked earlier and slept there.Sunday:Get up around noon and take a cab over to where Nate and Aviva (who aren't talking to each other) are staying. After some quick cleaning up Nate and Ron treat me to my first Schwarma (which was fantastic) and we went to meet the Hillel people at the Israel day parade. After some parking mishaps we split up leaving Nate and I to march with Greg while the rest went to a concert or some such. The parade was fun as was the afterparty. I managed to meet and see every single Jew I know in New York and elsewhere on the way and hang out with Greg and Julie who are, as always, fantastic.After the afterparty (JZ sucks and so does that English) we headed to Georgies and had an overpriced meal with a pretty shitty waiter then drove home. Obviously a lot more happened but I'm not going to type up 5 pages when this will remind me of the entire time easily enough. Suffice it to say that I left New York with a whole new level of respect for it. I've never felt so included in any community and some of these people were welcoming to the point of absurdity. I may end up staying at Ari's place a bunch of times this summer and I know this isn't going to be my last trip out there.To do's next time:Hang with the frenchmen as they're out there and I now have their cellnumber.Meet up with Kas and have a few drinks.Contact Naima and see if she doesn't want to join the frenchmen and I out on a fun-filled clubbing evening.GO TO THE MET (I've been to NYC a bunch and have NEVER seen the Met)Catch some broadway musicals company or no.See the statue of liberty.Stay frostyRegards,Josh "" Weinstein