Hoboking Around

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As we drift further away from our college years, it becomes harder and harder to stay in touch with one another. Especially if you are long-distance. Jobs, family, new friends all keep us busy. The schedule of our daily lives fills up with bills, errands, emails. All these things to distract us. I think our generation is probably the “busiest” generation. We are just wired that way now (no pun intended). If I have a free moment, it’s time to scroll through social media, read a blog, check the weather or the news. There isn’t any time to just be. But when you get together with friends you haven’t seen in awhile, there is that time. I genuinely want to know how my friends have been, what’s new in their lives, and reminiscence on the good ol’ days. Okay, it was only three years ago, but still…

Last weekend, I took a bus ride up to New York to meet up with three good friends I studied abroad with. There were two girls missing from our “group” so I am sad to have missed them, but it was still good catching up with the others. We stayed with one of my friends in Hoboken, NJ, which is an adorable city across the Hudson from NYC with spectacular views of the city.

The weekend went by quickly, we were only there for about 30 hours or so, but it was enough time to catch up with one another in person. My friend Eva, her boyfriend and a few of his friends arrived in the city about the same time I did on Saturday morning, so we went off to have a nutritious lunch at Shake Shack. (Yes, I got the burger, french fries AND a shake). After catching up for a bit with everyone, Eva and I took the path train to our friend’s house that we were to stay at for the weekend.

The four of us on Mary Evans' porch. Excuse my lazy eyes.

The four of us on Mary Evans’ porch. Excuse my lazy eyes.

We spent the afternoon lounging on Mary Evans’ sunny deck overlooking a courtyard where our friend, Mel, met up with us. Lucky for us it was “dog day”, so we got to see a bunch of adorable dogs running around with each other. And the weather was spectacular! I even got to catch the end of the Caps hockey game because, apparently, I am now a huge hockey fan–more on that in another post. It was so nice sitting on her back porch swapping stories and sharing our lives.

That evening we ventured into the city to meet up with a few guys to watch the Kentucky Derby at a bar called Tonic. It was exciting because the whole bar became filled with bright screens showing the derby. Although it only lasts a minute, we were all on the edge of our seats cheering for the horses. We went out for pizza afterwards. Eva, Mary Evans, her boyfriend, Mel, and I stumbled across a beautiful bar on our way home called Seven. So we decided to stay there for a bit and made friends with the bartender. We had a LOT of laughs there before saying goodbye to Melly and heading back to Hoboken.

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The three of us outside Tea and Sypmathy

The next morning was the highlight of the trip. Mary Evans, Eva and I headed into the city for our traditional British experience at a place called Tea and Sympathy. We all studied in London together, so it was only fitting that we have English tea and scones. We were sat at the same table we had sat the first time. It was perfect. We each ordered our own pot of tea, scones, clotted cream, and jam. We stayed there for a long time, sipping our tea and reminiscing about our adventures in Europe together.

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The people who run the store are from England and the place is tiny, only 23 seats total. They even had a banner hung above the bar saying “It’s a Girl!” to celebrate the new princess, Charlotte. Tea and Sympathy is an authentic British experience, and if you are ever in NYC I highly recommend checking it out.

After tea, we walked to Washington Square Park and met up with another girl from JMU. We ate lunch in the park, people watched (which is always the best in NYC) and relaxed in the sunshine together. Then Eva and I said our goodbyes to everyone and went our separate ways.

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Making time to visit friends is so important in life, in my opinion. It helps give you a pause from your daily routine and go back in time with your friends. I hope to plan more trips soon to see these girls! Luckily, we already have our BIG trip (mostly) planned for September. I can’t wait to traipse around London and Prague with you ladies!

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