Atlantic City, Independence Day and Kayaking on the Hudson With a Wet Bum!!!
So as Independence Day fell on a Saturday, a lot of people had the Friday off work. I didn’t as at JPMorgan we get a floating holiday, which basically means I have gained another vacation day to take off whenever I want, so now I have 11 days vacation day left to take. I haven’t had a day off since being here so I’m going to start using those from next month probably. Anyway, Friday was like a ghost town in downtown Manhattan and I got to go home at 3! After work I went to the east coast equivalent of Las Vegas known as “Atlantic City”. It’s an interesting place two hours away from New York. Other than the casinos and piers on the beach front there is nothing else going on in Atlantic City. The beach is nice, the casinos are big but it wasn’t as sleazy as I thought it would be. I didn’t do any gambling other than the $25 they give you when you arrive to force you to start gambling. I did do some go-karting there which was fun, but they weren’t powerful enough for me to be able to overtake people!!! Whilst I was in AC I decided to get my palm read. She said I’ve got a long life ahead of me, I won’t meet my soul mate for another four years, I am a creative person and I should follow that more so than my career in IT and that my year in the US is a life changing one! Anyway, I will take all of this with a pinch of salt but it was another interesting to hear. After all this fun I went home. Didn’t get back to my apartment until 730 Saturday morning. That is because of waiting for buses that didn’t arrive then going to pick hte bus up from somewhere else where it was full and eventually finding a bus where there was just about enough space for me to get on! Fun fun fun!!!
So Saturday during the day was wasted with resting and relaxing and Saturday night I watched the Independence Day fireworks on the Hudson from where I live, Jersey City. The fireworks looked a bit crap from where I was but apparently they looked better from a certain angle. Anyway at least I was there that is all that matters. After this I went to a apartment party until the small hours of the morning. The party was great fun. Plenty of people there and security didn’t mind the noise for once because it was Independence Day. Good stuff!
Sunday was another restful day except for the free kayaking on the Hudson. I’ve never been kayking before so this was a totally new experience for me. I was on the river for over an hour in the sun, paddling around having a good time, getting myself a bit of a tan and working my arm muscles at the same time. I will definitely do this again because it is really relaxing. After getting out of the boat my legs were like jelly. I guess my sea legs aren’t there yet but they soon will be. On Monday for some reason I still felt like I was floating even though I was at work sitting at my desk for no reason. Anyway I can safely say that I am no longer floating and have found my land legs!
