a brief but awesome interruption in Malawi stories and life in general

I woke up Tuesday morning believing that my day would consist of teaching two sections of Human Ecology, taking the train into the city to meet up with a few friends from college and possibly have dinner with another friend before heading back to my car at Rutgers and driving home to Toms River.

Shortly after the first section ended, I received a phone call from Taylor. He and Justin had driven up from Virginia late the night before and stayed with our friend Brendan in Ocean Grove. The three were going to see Pavement in Central Park and we were all going to meet up for a while first, as far as I knew. Except Taylor told me they were on the Turnpike, how do they get to my classroom?

Within half an hour they had successfully found parking and navigated the Rutgers bus system and were standing outside of my classroom door. At this point, I learn they have an extra ticket to the concert, so the plans changed to us all going into the city together from New Brunswick. Sweet! As much fun as it would have been to have them sit in on my second class, I sent them over to the grease trucks on College Ave for lunch while I taught. Afterward we met up and got on a train to NY Penn Station.

Once in the city, it should have been easy enough to get to Central Park and find this concert. I had never been to the Rumsey Playfield in the park before but we figured it all out. Someone had been "injured" further up the line from where we needed to go, so there were huge delays and we ended up having to switch trains. Brendan had insisted the concert was at 5.30 which sounded a little strange to me but we went with it. I didn't know better since I hadn't planned on going until it was too late to check the details myself. Doors were 5.30; they were still setting the stage. And we foolishly went in, rather than killing time elsewhere. At least it was good company and a totally gorgeous day.

The concert was great!


group shot waiting for the subway train

We got back to New Brunswick close to 1AM. Justin and Taylor both had work in the morning in Virginia, and Brendan still needed to get home. What am I responsible for on Wednesdays? Little to nothing (besides working on that thesis, of course). And so, after driving 60 miles to Rutgers, teaching, then spending the rest of the day in the city, I drove Justin's car first to drop off Brendan in Ocean Grove (about 40 miles), then to get Taylor and Justin back to VA while they caught a few hours of sleep. It was about 225 miles to Taylor's in Northern Virginia, and I drove all of it, arriving a little before 6AM. We decided it'd be cheaper for me to take a train from Washington, D.C. and Justin was rested enough, so he drove the last two hours to Richmond, practically straight to his office. I took the Metro to Union Station, Amtrak to Philadelphia 30th Street Station, SEPTA to Trenton, NJ Transit back to New Brunswick, Rutgers bus back to the campus where my car was, then drove home a very tired girl. Very tired, but feeling fulfilled by another excellent adventure.