NYC Living

So today the Columbia library (Butler Library) had a wine & cheese reception for PhD students.  It wasn't as lame as it sounds.  They had candy corn, wine, cheese, crackers, cookies, and brownies. And it was great to meet other non-engineering students.  After that, there was a happy hour at Covo Lounge (135th St) for Women in Science at Columbia (WiSC). I took the 1 subway up to the 137th st stop, and then walked a block and then walked down a ton of stairs, because there's basically a huge cliff on the western side of Manhattan.  Anyway, Covo had great brick oven pizza and we had tons of tickets for free drinks so it was a good time.  Some guys even came out to support WiSC (aka get free pizza and drinks).  But I'm still learning the ropes of the subway system -- a couple weeks ago, I was taking the 2 uptown, and since there's been a ton of construction, the 2 and 3 have been making 1 local stops.  So I figured the 2 would stop at 116th St - Columbia University.  Not so.  The 2 line has a 116th St stop -- but at Malcolm X Blvd.  Let me tell you, a white girl should never be on a Malcolm X Blvd after dark, no matter what city it is.  So while I was waiting for a taxi, which apparently are very rare in Harlem, this guy comes up to me and tries to tell me that it's not a bad walk back to 122nd and Amsterdam.  Yeah, right, buddy.  He even offers to be my 'escort'.  Haha, um, no thanks.  I get in a taxi and and get dropped off at my door -- that $10 was definitely worth it to not have to walk through Harlem alone late at night.  Anyway, that was my first subway mistake, and today at 137th St., I walked down the stairs, swiped my MetroCard, and then realized that I was on the uptown platform -- and I wanted to go downtown -- and there was no way to get between the two without paying again.  Uggh!!  So I took the uptown train to 168th, where there was a free transfer.  Not too bad, but annoying.