Skip to content

Month: April 2013

Published on

By amrawi

If there is one word that describes my weekend, its definitely reunion! With my pink polka dot bag wrapped around my shoulders and my pre-paid bus tickets in hand, I was ready for a road trip down memory lane; first stop Newark Penn Station, New Jersey.Coffee Counter

My 14-year-old self  (with my pigtails in place and my obsession for Hillary Duff growing at an unexceptional rate) would have never imagined returning to New Jersey six years later. Memories started flashing by as my childhood best friend Shereen, came beeping by! “We are going to the luncheonette” she called out (The luncheonette: is their family restaurant). Walking in I was greeted by my second family; the Elkhazendar family. Everything seemed and felt the exact same way, except from the fact that  we were no longer kids spinning around on the chairs on the counter or collecting stickers from the booth. We were in fact adults ready to graduate from college.

After meeting up with the family and having some of the Luncheonettes specialty Greek wrap we headed for some adventure.  Shereen wasn’t my only childhood best friend I was reuniting with; next comes Yaseen, flying all the way from Louisiana for a reunion on the east coast. With the three of us back together it just felt so different, memories of Egypt and our high school came flashing by, again wake up call, we have all grown up and we have all moved on with our separate lives. After way too much talking and catching up we decide to head over to the Melting Pot. On our way there we saw the most beautiful view of the New York skyline, we couldn’t help ourselves and had to stop over for some pictures.

mekltingpotcheeseI bet you have had chocolate fondue! But have you ever had cheese fondue? How about meat fondue? I really have never been to a place like the Melting Pot! I took way to many pictures and was way too excited that the staff gave me a balloon with chocolates so that I would calm down. But can you blame me? This awesome feast started off with a spinach and cheese fondue, where you can dip biscuits and different bread assortments in it. Then came a fine cut salad, Caesar or house, your choice, followed by a few pieces of raw meat, chicken and shrimp. No its not sushi, you get to cook it in the fondue in front of you. After battering your meat and shrimp with various dips you are now ready for the chocolate fondue. Correction, Oreo cookie, double chocolate fondue, it was hMeltingPoteaven. With our stomachs satisfied and an update on each other’s lives, we were satisfied.

Next Stop; Penn Station. New York City. I never knew New Jersey was that close to New York until I took a 10-minute NJ transit train that takes you directly to Penn Station, New York. There I took 5 subway stops and voila I was waiting outside one of the top schools in the country, Columbia University, for my friend, tennis champion, Nada to come out! Making too many noises and squeals as the excitement kicked in of finally reuniting, we put down my pink polka dot bag and rushed to catch up while indulging in some frozen yogurt (Have you ever heard of green apple flavored frozen yogurt? Got to try it!) After our yogurt and some catching up we were ready to explore the city! Times Square you never fail to amaze me. No matter how many times I have walked around this world-renowned area I always find something new! My heart really is in New York!. After walking down times square and again taking a whole lot of pictures, we made it to 5th avenue just in time for the Easter parade!Rabbit Bunnies passing by and women dressed in Easter bonnets and funky seasonal outfits; we soon added about 100 more pictures to our reunion album. However, our day was definitely not over yet, you can’t come to New York City and not go to a Broadway show, Mamma Mia was definitely on the list.  With most of the songs memorized, you bet Nada and me were singing our lungs out to Abba’s top hits! It was such a spectacular show, that we were thinking of going again, but then realized we would just be plain stupid and plus we were extremely hungry so we decided to go for dinner at Mel’s burger, definitely a good choice! I must say the burgers there beat GWU's very own BTS. Tough competition though!

Even though it was two very hectic days it was great meeting up with some of my favorite people! With some recharged energy and some time away from DC, I’m now ready for  this weeks study mode!Easter

Published on

By claudiadev

I’ve only this week started to feel any pangs of homesickness. My little sister turned 16, and it’s hard not to want to be at home, celebrating her day with family. Thankfully, we have so many ways of staying in contact with home these days, and so I could contact home and still feel a part of the birthday celebrations.

T-Mobile Phone Plan

I have a pay by the month plan with T-Mobile for my iPhone, and for $10 extra a month I get free texts messages to international mobiles and free calls to landlines. There is a limit for how many, but for the occasional text or short call back to Australia it has been working really well. I have a feeling AT&T has a similar plan available, and it’s definitely worth asking about.

Viber

Viber is a phone app, available on nearly every phone platform that allows you to send free texts and call via wifi. Unlike iMessage, which requires other users to also be using an iPhone, it doesn’t matter what you have - the message will be free. You can also send pictures. If you don’t have wifi I believe the calls are made through your 3G/4G network, so you will be charged a little, but it’s still a great nearly free option for staying in contact with friends and family wherever they are.

Whatsapp

Whatsapp is similar to Viber, except you can’t make calls. Again, it’s available on a variety of platforms. I don’t use it much, but you can send videos with it, and also group text – great if you have a group of people to stay in contact with (even if it’s just your parents and siblings).

Skype

Ahhh, Skype. As well as being perfect for making video calls between computers (regardless of which platform you use), you can also Skype call with your phone. Be careful if you’re not on a wifi network though, because the video can suck your data allowance. Skype also allowed you to charge money to your account, and then make calls to international landlines for far cheaper than from a real phone. There’s something wonderful about seeing people’s faces too, as well as the environs of home. My sister’s toured her clean bedroom with me, and dragged the cats meowing onto screen to say hello.

Facetime

Facetime is an app on iPhones, but you can also install it on iPads and Apple computers. So, theoretically, you could be walking back from class and get a Facetime call on your phone from home, and say hi then and there with video in the street. I don’t use it an awful lot, as I’m pretty good with Skype, but an exchange friend of mine loves it, as her mother always has her iPad around, and it’s a very easy app to use.

Finally, a website great for checking time differences and coordinating all these phone and video calls: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html

Though the world is incredibly large, and the distance between home and DC may seem intimidating, technology does help make you feel just that little bit closer.

Unless otherwise indicated, the content and opinions expressed on this web site are those of the author(s). They are not endorsed by and do not necessarily reflect the views of the George Washington University.
Viewing Message: 1 of 1.
 Notice

This site uses cookies to offer you a better browsing experience. Visit GW’s Website Privacy Notice to learn more about how GW uses cookies.