Blog 6- Jesse's Visit

Jesse visited me September 10-12. It has been a very busy week, so I'm only now getting this online.

On Friday I picked Jesse up at the airport around 2:00pm. We checked into his hotel, and then I took him to see my apartment and studio space. Below is a picture of the Empire State Building as seen from my studio window. We ordered Chinese food for supper, which we ate in my apartment. We went to bed early that night, since Jesse was exhausted from the travel.

Saturday we went to Central Park. We took a walk and had a hot dog for lunch. We walked from there along Broadway to Times Square. We visited souvenir shops and enjoyed eachother's company. Jesse was able to see the home of David Letterman's Late Show, which he was very excited about.  For second lunch (one hot dog isn't too filling), we went to an Irish pub/restaurant called The Playwright and had the most amazing hamburgers. The burgers were juicy, the bun was toasted, and EVERY french fry was crispy. I highly recommend Irish Pubs for hamburgers, as I had an amazing hamburger at another one when I was here for spring break. This was September 11, and a Saturday, so Times Square was packed. We hurried through it because I had a migraine, and it was too busy for us. Our personal bubbles are too large for crowds. ;) Since I had a migraine, we laid low the rest of that afternoon and evening. I took a nap, and then we ordered pizza in and watched the 1970s version of King Kong.

Sunday was Jesse's last day here. We visited the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) so that I could show him some of the famous artwork that was there. I had just discovered this on a field trip on Friday before Jesse arrived. Lunch was at Mickey Mantle's Restaurant & Bar. The food was good, and Jesse got a chance to see some of the football games, since it was opening Sunday. We went to the roof of my building to look around at the city a bit, and then we headed off to the airport. Unfortunately, Jesse's flight was delayed several times, so instead of arriving back in Minnesota at 9:30 pm, he didn't get in until after 3 am Monday morning. We were disappointed that we could have spend more time together, but we were also glad that Jesse made it back.

Blog 5- Internet!

On Tuesday, we finally got our internet in our apartment working. The cable company was supposed to come three times previously to install it, but they only finally made it on Tuesday. My roomates and I are ecstatic that we don't have to lug our computers downstairs or to the studio to use the internet anymore.

I've been desperately needing to go to the grocery store lately (I have oatmeal and Pringles, and not much else) but haven't had time yet. I am so tired by the time that I get back to my apartment that I can't bring myself to go out. I'm hoping that I'll finally get around to it this weekend when Jesse is visiting me. I am so excited to see him again I'm about ready to pop :).

Blog 4-Mail

Just a short note for anyone who may want to send me mail:

If you are sending a card, letter, etc., send it to:

Sarah Joy Stegeman
C/O NYCAMS/Bethel University
4134 Crescent St., 5A
L.I.C., NY 11101

If you are sending packages or something not personal (i.e. magazine subscriptions or bills, not that that applies to anyone, but just FYI), send it to:

Sarah Joy Stegeman
C/O NYCAMS/Bethel University
44 W 28th St., 7th Floor
New York, NY 10001

Praise:
My roommates were very understanding when I approached them about issues.

Prayer Requests:
That I will continue recovering from my cold.
That I won't get a migraine tomorrow so that I can make it to church.
That I will work on my artwork diligently.

Blog 3- Roomates

An introduction to my roomates. Photos are from their facebook pages.

Candice Nagel:

My direct roomate, who shares a room with me. She is very outgoing and likes to chat.
Instant bond: Her ringtone is the theme from Star Wars

Sarah Lillenberg:

Sleeps in the other room of our apartment. She is outgoing and goofy, a fun person to be around. It was hard to find a relatively serious photo of her.
Instant bond: She also gets migraines.

Marissa Roco:

Sleeps in the other bedroom with Sarah. She is beautiful and fashionable and amusing to listen to.
Instant bond: She's my only roomate who is also in a (now) long-distance relationship.

Prayer requests: These girls aren't too into obeying the Bethel Covenant, and I'm pretty legalistic. Pray that they won't do anything that will get them into trouble. Pray that I will have the courage to do the right thing if necessary.

Blog 2- Subways

Monday, August 30th was the first day that I rode the subay by myself in New York. Thanks to a  Moleskine notebook that I burchased at Dick Blick, I've found my way around rather successfully since then. It contains both street and subway maps. After an overloaded trip home from Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I have learned to make shopping trips small and frequent. I'm not usually out at night, and when I have been, I've ridden the trains with friends. As our professor told us, "New Yorkers aren't rude, they live with a mission and you are not their mission." I'm not terribly concerned about my safety, as everyone minds their own business, but it doesn't hurt to be safe, especially at night.

We have our first "working" critique on Monday, Sepember 5th, so I'll be very busy working on artwork this semester. I'm looking forward to it, but still a little overwhelmed. A working critique means that we should have a project started for the professor and other students to look at and discuss. Critiques allow me to get in-progress feedback on what I'm working on so that I can continue to improve my work.

I've recieved several questions about the "Jesse" part of this blog name. Here's the scoop: I plan to use this as my "New York" blog while I'm here. Once I return, it will be come a family blog, like that of my brothers' and sisters'-in-law. This will include updates on how and what we're doing.

Praise: I got an internship with Denise Green and start on Tuesday, September 6th.

Prayer Requests: I have a cold. Pray that I get better quickly and that it doesn't slow me down too much. Also, pray that I don't get migraines, and that I continue to have opportunities to hang out with people from the program.