It’s Monday morning now (around 1:30 a.m.) and here I am typing away.  I can’t help it.. I’m too much of a night owl.  But my habits are not healthy; I wish I was an early bird like the rest of my family (and almost every productive person in the universe).  I guess I’ll have to work at it slowly and steadily.  In the meantime, I’d like to share a bit of what happened this past week.

On Wednesday (the 10th), my Art History professor decided to have our class in Manhattan (for an educational architectural tour instead of the regular in-class lectures).  As it was planned beforehand, we all met around 6:00 p.m. in front of the Flatiron Building.  I was so glad that I didn’t lose my way in the subway, I actually made it in one piece! (I really don’t know my way around Manhattan that well…even though I’ve been living in NYC my whole life).

I decided to take my camera with me, so that my class trip could be all the more memorable.  The photos I took didn’t come out that well, because (1) for some reason, my camera was giving me a hard time; I wasn’t able to put it to the right settings, (2) it was night-time, so everything around me was dark, and thus everything looks more blurry, and (3) I really am not the best photo-taker out there.  Maybe I should consider taking a Photography class next semester in order to brush-up on my skills (or lack thereof).  So, I apologize beforehand for any eye-squinting or confusion that might follow after viewing these photos.

Well, here are the photos I took in the cold windy weather without any gloves on.

This 1st photo is of the Flatiron Building:

This 2nd building reminds me so much of the Empire State Building.  The name of this building still remains unknown to me; even my Professor blanked out when trying to recognize the building’s name:

This is the Empire State Building, seen from very far away, behind other buildings:

I also took a photo of the moon:

Then we all toured The New York Public Library:

The next 3 photos are of the inside structure of The New York Public Library:

Next, we toured the Grand Central Terminal:

This photo is of the inside of the Grand Central Terminal.  As you may notice, the ceiling is constellation-like :

This is a zoom-in of part of the ceiling.  I think there might be some ancient-Greek characters:

Departure times:

Lighting details of the inside of the Grand Central Terminal:

More of the astronomical ceiling:

This photo is of the outside of the Grand Central Terminal:

There were many other landmarks that my Professor took us to see, but sadly, I wasn’t able to take any more photos due to me fearing frost-bite (it was cold & windy that evening, plus I had forgotten to bring my gloves).

After our architectural tour was over, I tagged along with two of my class buddies, and the three of us took the train to Flushing for some dinner.  We went to a Korean restaurant, and I was excited because this would be the first time I was having real Korean cuisine.  We kept our options contained to either vegetarian or seafood, since I follow a halal diet (and Korean restaurants don’t serve halal meat, & in these restaurants, each dish is shared amongst each-other).  Everything that was ordered was delectable.

This is radish kimchi, a type of fermented Korean food:

This is tuna kimbap, it’s kind of similar to the Japanese sushi:

And this dish is called dduk bok ki, and it is made of sliced rice cakes and vegetables in spicy sauce: