Man-hat-tan

Manhattan: (n) an island in New York City surrounded by the Hudson, East, and Harlem rivers. 13 1/2 miles long; 2 1/2 miles greatest width; 22 1/4 sq. mi.

The rain continued strong into Thursday at which point I packed my bags, stopped by the campground to say goodbye to Brandon, and drove to the Poughkeepsie Amtrak station to catch the afternoon train into New York City. The drive may as well have been through a hurricane. Wind and rain blew fast and hard enough to eliminate visibility completely, which of course resulted in all vehicles moving at a crawling pace on the highway. Strategic planning and the delay of my train left me a comfortable time window to check in and board without a problem. Penn station could not have been busier when I arrived in the city. Overwhelmed by the crowd of rush hour commuters, I frantically pushed my way to the edge of the chaos to phone Mike. Aside from our college graduation at the Big House, the last time I had seen Mike, also known as Schemo, was partying at a bar in downtown Ann Arbor. So I was quite surprised to recognize that the man in the business suit and tie, carrying a shoulder bag, and walking toward me was indeed my friend. After a quick embrace, he took my duffel bag and navigated the two of us out of the unusually chaotic train station. He explained to me once we were above ground that a lightning strike only a few hours prior to my arrival had caused some of the rails to shut down, delaying thousands of travelers who had since accumulated into the mess of people which we had just emerged from. Our breath of air in the open of the city did not last long before we were descending again into the subway. Mike attempted to explain to me the intricacies of the New York subway system during our short underground ride. Unfortunately I was already on sensory overload and absorbed very little of the information he was sharing. Wall Street was our exit; that was the only thing I retained. Due to the "Occupy Wall Street" protests, the street itself was barricaded off and guarded by police and only the sidewalks were passable. We turned into the lobby of Mike's apartment building, an old bank skyscraper converted to residential tower, where my name was already on the list to allow me to enter and exit the building at my leisure during my stay. After a few minutes of decompression time, we were back out in the city for an evening tour and dinner. The only other time I had been to New York City was when I was 15. My high school choir traveled to the Big Apple to perform in Carnegie Hall. During that visit I was able to do most of the New York touristy activities like the Empire State Building, Central Park, Times Square, Ground Zero, etc. and appreciated none of it. Funny thing about 15-year-olds, they tend to be angry about everything for no reason at all. Fortunately this time around I was far beyond my rebellious teenage years and able to view the city with fresh eyes and by way of a "local."

As I suppose a day in the life of a New York City business man goes, Mike had a golf outing with colleagues all day Friday, which left me with a morning to sleep in and an entire day to explore. Originally my goal had been to visit Ellis Island, a very important place of history to me which I have never been to before, however my evening orientation of the city was not enough for me to be able to navigate New York successfully on my own. Getting lost and found and lost again was a good way to explore though. Unfortunately by the time I actually made it to the ferry dock, the day's tickets to the island were already sold out. Not to worry, I was having plenty of fun wandering about. From the very end of lower Manhattan, I decided to try to make my way to Central Park. This I knew would require a trip on the subway, which I successfully rode and never missed a stop. The day was nearly over when I finally heard from Mike, and I was somewhere in the middle of Central Park. Not knowing how exactly I had gotten to where I was or how to get back, I sent him a picture message of a nearby land mark and stayed put. We spent a few more hours in the park once Mike found me, before another city tour during which we took a moment to "sit on the steps of St. Patrick's" to "watch the world go by;" a song lyric by Jason Lavasseur and my entire reasoning for visiting the church. Dark had long set in on the city and both of us were utterly exhausted. Exhausted enough to skip the bar and go for pizza and beer at home during the Tigers vs. Yankees game. Well, the game never made it past the second inning on account of rain, and neither did we.

The early night served us well the next day though. College Football Saturday! Mike and I often spent these days together, along with several of our friends, back in Ann Arbor. Though this was most certainly NOT Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan Alumni Association of New York City provided an excellent venue for game watching. They had reserved an entire bar for the alumni that day, so when we walked in off the street we found ourselves in a sea of maize. It was a small feeling of home. Mike and I joined up with Marissa and another group of her friends at the bar for the game. Michigan shut out Minnesota the entire game bringing victory and the "Little Brown Jug" to the Maize and Blue. Unfortunately I was not able to stay and celebrate after the game; it was time for me to continue on my way.