Travel with me to Governors Island, NYC

This past Saturday, Alex and I adventured to Governors Island, a 172-acre island in the middle of New York Harbor. For $3, you can spend the whole day on this beautiful little island.

 

I wore this cute J.Crew animal print dress (can’t decide if it is cheetah, leopard or Dalmatian print) but it is super cute, and it has POCKETS! (You can shop my look at the bottom of this post).

I paired it with my J.Crew white leather tennis shoes, which are super comfortable once broken in (and now Alex and I have matching sneaks)!

I carried my big tote bag; Alex brought a backpack and we were all set to go!

 

A couple of days before we wanted to go, I reserved our $3 round-trip ferry tickets on the Governors Island website.

We took the 12:40 pm ferry from lower Manhattan to the island, which was all of a 5-minute ride, and disembarked from the island on the 5 pm ferry, back to Manhattan.

On the weekends there is also a ferry that goes from Brooklyn to the island and back.

When we got off the ferry we walked around and explored.

I learned that most of the park is a NYC park but the two forts that are on the island are national monuments.

One of the forts was built in 1811.

For a time, the island was used as a military base for the US Army, then the Coast Guard and as a prison.

In 2014, Governors Island opened to the public.

From the research I’ve done, no one lives on the island except the park rangers, and the only people there year-round are the students at the specialized public high school on the island that focuses on marine life.

We walked inside the forts and then continued to walk around the island.

We brought picnic materials from Trader Joe’s from off the island, but there are little food trucks and grub spots all over the island.

We sat on the grass near some of the old barracks, under the trees.

We ate loads of cheese, with crackers, a baguette and grapes. Very French of us.

 

We then wanted to walk off all the cheese. We walked around and saw all the military barracks and other homes of the commanders.

They are all still standing and in beautiful condition.

Some of them are being renovated, so I wonder what they are turning them into. I don’t think they will be houses or condos, but maybe gallery space and little shops.

 

Alex kept saying that he felt like he was in an episode of the Walking Dead. I kind of agree. It felt kind of weird and eerie seeing all of these old buildings still standing, but with no one living in them.

 

We walked around the whole parameter of the island. We tried to grab some Citi Bikes, but they were all gone!
They were hot commodities.

You can also bring your own bike or rent other bikes from another vendor on the island.

 

We couldn’t bike, so we walked. We passed the little chapel and this cool playground that looks like it was a junk yard turned into a playground.

It was so odd, but my mom, who is a teacher, told me that playgrounds like that, where the children literally get to build it, is very similar to the types of playgrounds they have in Germany. It was very interesting. We watched children use hammers and build their own playground.

We passed big playing fields and then walked towards the center of the island.

We found more barracks and all the food trucks in a big courtyard.

We also found a traditional looking playground and more jungle gym equipment. Governors Island was a child’s paradise!

I would have had so much fun here as a little kid.

We then passed another big field with big red Adirondack chairs, a baseball field and Lady Liberty shining in the background.

We then walked to the tip of the island, which had great views of Staten Island and Lady Liberty.

There is an even a high point at the end of the island where you can see the entire island with amazing views. 

This was the “money shot,” as Alex and I like to say.

 

When we headed back to the ferry, we saw these metal slides built into the rock that kids were sliding down.

We also stopped and get an ice pop at one of the food trucks, because you know how much I LOVE ice cream.

And then we headed home!

 

I am so glad we went. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in New York.

I cannot recommend visiting Governors Island enough.

I will 100% be back in the near future.

 

Alex and I always have fun exploring new places and things. 

He is my exploring buddy.

We had so much fun on Saturday and were blessed with beautiful weather.

Until the next adventure!

 

Short-term and Long-term Goals

My biggest goal in life was to go to law school. And now that I’m here, let’s talk about my short-term goals for the fall semester and my long-term goals! 

Short-term:

1.          Pass my first semester of law school and keep my scholarship.

2.          Get a job this summer working at a law firm in NYC.

3.          Make lasting friendships at law school.

4.          Keep my college friends close.

 

Long-term:

1.          After I graduate law school, I want to work as a fashion lawyer. I would love to work for a fashion corporation in their legal department. (I would definitely wear this dress to work. I customized this dress from eShakti. eShakti and I partnered up to show you their company. eShakti is such a cool concept. I picked out the dress I liked and then I was able to customize it to my liking. I changed the sleeve length and the hem of this dress. eShakti also asks for your exact bust, hip, waist, height and weight measurements so the the clothes are customized just for you! This is such a great concept! Talk about size inclusivity! This dress was actually made perfectly for me. I love it, and can't wait to wear it to work, one day).

2.          Study abroad in France again and this time study law in Paris. My law school has a program to study law abroad. I’m thinking about studying abroad again. It would be so cool!

3.          Move to NYC. After I graduate, I want to get an apartment and live in the city! I’ve always wanted to live in New York City.

4.          Go to fashion week. This would be a dream come true. I’ve always wanted to go.

How I’m Transitioning from Undergrad to Law School: Classes, Socialization and Living at Home

Fortunately, the transition hasn’t been too awful.

But I do see similarities in myself from when I transitioned from high school to undergrad. My first semester of undergrad, I loved it one day and hated it the next.

Those very same feelings are summing up my semester right now.

But I know that that is just part of the adjustment phase.

I have been blessed (and definitely cursed) that my undergraduate institution was extremely rigorous, and I was forced to work 7 days a week, 10 hours a day.

Law school and Wake are very similar in workload, except law school feels more like a job and is way less social. I’m not really struggling with the workload transition, but I am struggling with the socialization transition.

I am a very social and outgoing person, so I have been struggling with the idea of only doing schoolwork all day, every day. I have a couple of classmates that I am friendly with, but that’s about it. We talk before and after class and that’s kind of it. We did go out to lunch once, and I hosted a beach picnic and we are planning to go out to dinner this week. But my friends from law school feel more like colleagues right now then friends from college.

So, to help transition from the relationships that I am used to, to these new ones and the new type of school I am in, I am keeping a schedule like I would at Wake. I have a weekly schedule of calling my friends, working out, and blogging.

Honestly, I just pretend that I’m back in my dorm room in Winston-Salem.

Change is super hard for me, so that’s why routine is so important.

I know, it’s silly to pretend that I’m back at Wake doing my homework, when really I am sitting in my childhood bedroom. But for the past four years I’ve lived and gone to school in Winston, and that’s all I know. So, by keeping some things constant in my life, like working out before dinner, like I did at Wake, and calling my friends at lunchtime instead of seeing them in person to grab a meal is really helpful.

Transitioning physically from one school to the next is tough. But so is transitioning back to living at home.

For the past four years I have lived with friends, without home cooked meals or any relatives nearby. I was in my own little paradise.

But now I am living back at home. Don’t get me wrong, I am so happy that I can hug my parents every day and have delicious home cooked meals every night at dinner, but it is definitely not easy.

I went from being able to do pretty much anything I wanted, to now having to follow my parents’ house rules again.

Luckily, my parents aren’t too strict and understand this weird transition, from little girl to college student to now graduate student and are being flexible and working with me.

But honestly, after four years of living independently from my parents, it’s weird and hard to be back at home.

My parents and I have had open communication about all these changes and are giving me my space when I need it, like right now, when I am sitting in my room, at my desk, with the door closed.

My biggest tip is to communication with your parents if you are living at home as an adult.

If you’re moving home after graduation or at any point in your life, communicate with them!

Any transitions are hard, probably the hardest one for me right now is living at home after four years away, but I am figuring it out!

If you’re in a tough transition, remember, that the rough part will pass, and you will adjust after it is more familiar to you. It’s hard at first because it is new, but it will get easier over time.

Labor Day in NYC

I spent Labor Day, in NYC! I have not been to the city since Christmas time! I usually go when I get back from school in the spring, but for obvious reasons, I thought it was best not to. Labor Day was my first time back and it was so nice.

I played tour guide on Monday. I showed a new New Yorker the lay of the land.

We started at Grand Central Station and slowly made our way uptown.

We walked to Rockefeller, past Saks, prayed in St. Patrick’s and walked through Central Park. We went to Bethesda Fountain, Bow Bridge and explored some new trails we stumbled upon.

We exited on the Upper West Side by the Museum of Natural History (which just reopened) and grabbed a late lunch outside.

I thought it was going to be a bit more eerie in the city because everyone keeps saying “NYC is dead...” Lemme tell ya, it is certainly not dead nor anywhere close to being extinct. The only thing that is extinct in NY are the dinosaurs in the Museum of Natural History. The city is a little bit quieter, but very alive and well!

My feet and legs are still KILLING me from walking 20,000 steps… I know, I wore the wrong shoes, but I was rushing out of the house.

Thanks to your suggestions on my Instagram stories, I ordered a cute pair of white sneakers for walking.

I loved seeing EVERYONE wearing their masks and socially distancing in the city. My guests were shocked by how many people were wearing their masks and abiding by the rules. 

After lunch we took the subway downtown to Meatpacking to pick up the Highline. There is only one entrance and a couple of exits. It’s free to go, like always, but you have to reserve a time and you are only allowed to walk in one direction in the park.

So, we walked from 12^th Street to 30th Street, got off, turned around and walked back to 12th Street hoping to find some ice cream!

But we didn’t find ice cream. Instead, we found gelato at Chelsea Market, which has been moved outside.

I 100% deserved that gelato.

I was exhausted at the end of the day. I hopped on the train home with my feet throbbing. This was the most fun Labor Day I’ve ever had. For the past 4 years I’ve had class on Labor Day, so this was a nice treat.

Cold Calling in Law School

This week marks my fifth week as a law student.

Within the past four weeks I have been cold called on three times in the same class.

Cold calling or the Socratic Method is a law school tradition where law professors can call on you at any time throughout the class and ask you to present a case that you read for homework to the class.

In my civil procedure class, I have been called on to present three cases to the class.

Three cases! Two in one day.

I did one case one week and joked with my classmates that I wouldn’t be called on again in that class, and five minutes later, class started, and I got called on to go over a case. I laughed to myself and all my friends laughed with me. We were shocked that I got called on again.

After my case, we took a 10-minute class break and I took a sigh of relief and joked to my friends that, no way am I’m ever getting called on again in this class. Well again I spoke too soon and had to do another case.

So that Friday, I spoke the entire class and taught the class allll about World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson.

So now it is safe to say, the entire class knows my name now, I am no longer a fan of that professor and I will no longer be speaking in that class.

Kidding!