10 Days in New York City

I spent ten days in New York.

This post is over a month late, but I have good reasons for that! I started graduate school and working a job at my campus as soon as I got back from New York, so my days have been full of driving, reading, studying, and working. It’s been a bit of a learning curve, but so far all is well.

Anyways, this New York trip I anticipated being my last big one for awhile, especially since I think I’m going to go to India all next summer instead of the city. However, the carpet got pulled out from underneath me and I was assigned to the New York Film Festival for work, so, as it turns out, I am going back for another week in September 2022. Lots of Broadway to come from that trip.

I did a lot this trip, and on a budget. Once you learn the ins and outs of getting into Broadway and theater for cheap, it’s so nice to simply go to a ton of shows. This time I saw thirteen different productions for a grand total of $280. Most people pay that much for a single seat on Broadway. Did some shopping, ate good food, and, somehow, I was still under-budget for all of this.

Let’s go through what I did this trip.

I saw 13 theater shows: Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway.

This was clearly the highlight of my ten days in New York. I bought a TDF membership before this trip, so some of these shows were purchased through TDF, which I ended up with absolutely incredible seats every time. My friend and I were absolutely blown away by our Come From Away seats—we were Row J in the orchestra right, which meant the stage was literally right there in front of us with no obstructions. Those were the best seats I’ve ever had.

I work at New Perspectives Theatre Company, which was why I was in New York to begin with. We run six short plays as a part of our summer festival programming, so I got to see all of those multiple times as I was working.

But my first production I saw while I was here was Robert Icke’s Oresteia at the Park Avenue Armory. I previously saw the version of Hamlet he had put on in the same space, as the two plays were running in tandem, and I really liked Oresteia outside of his ending.

The next day, I saw A Strange Loop in the partial view balcony seat. It was a matinee, so Jaquel was not performing, but I absolutely loved Kyle as Usher. People complain about that partial view seat and the balcony, but I thought that the view was very, very nice if you were tall enough to lean forward while watching. After ASL, on the same day, I watched The Nosebleed at Lincoln Centre, which ended up being my favorite show this trip.

On Tuesday, my boss gave me a free ticket to POTUS, and I ended up showing up at the show thirty minutes later. I had a center mezzanine seat, was clearly able to see everything.

I didn’t really like POTUS because I thought that it wasn’t my style of humor and played too much into the hype of certain movements, but the audience around me loved it. The next day, I volunteered as an usher at the Hayes and got to see The Kite Runner for free in exchange. Had a nice center orchestra seat, but I have very mixed feelings about that show.

Later that night, I caught a performance of Into the Woods with its star-studded cast. My dream in 2013 was to see Patina Miller in Pippin, and now, nine years later as an adult, I saw her in Into the Woods. See the show for the cast.

That segwayed into my final show on Saturday night: Come From Away. CFA was my second favorite show of this trip, and third all-time Broadway favorite. It’s just a special show, and it’s closing on October 2. I wish I could see it again, truly, but tickets will be sold out in its final days.

Catching up with friends and family.

Every time I come up to New York, it means that I have to visit so many people and friends who live here. I went to undergrad in the city, and no one really leaves when they’re at this age. New York is largely for younger people trying to make it here, and so all my friends stayed behind.

Salam, one of my closest friends from school, and I make a point of meeting up every time I come, and this time we attempted to get croissants at the Tik-Tok famous Lafayette Bakery. We failed in our quest, as they sell out by 10 am every day, but the sympathetic worker took one look at Salam’s hijab and told her that there’s pork in the croissant. They use pig fat to make their pastries. Defeated, we walked to Kolkata Chai and ordered a samosa chaat, mint lemonade, and dirty Chai.

The samosa chaat was cold, but fine anyways, but Salam’s dirty Chai literally did not taste good. It was so bitter. We then walked to another social media famous place and ordered a bear shaped like a cake, which was perfect to split because it was heavy. Then we walked up St. Marks, headed to the Union Square Barnes & Nobles, I bought Chloe Gong’s book, and we parted ways because we both had to go to work.

Some other notable places I went with my mom and sister, because they came up for a day, was Carmine’s in Times Square and then Levain. We all hated Levain, which explains our taste in desserts.

My coworkers and I headed to a Peruvian spot on 34th Street, right next to Penn Station, called Chirp that had really good food. We also ended up at Grace Street in Koreatown after CFA to get dessert, which felt like a blast from college all over again.

I also took the hour and a half journey one day to Flushing to meet Sarah, my CLS RA. We’re both major foodies and she was the one I first tried Bengali food with, so this trip we mapped out several places to eat at.

First we met at Nurlan in Flushing to try Chinese Uighur food, which was delicious. Then we went to a teahouse for cake and tea, then Jackson Heights. Jackson Heights is the Pakistani and Bangladeshi neighborhood in Queens, and everything is in Bangla.

We go for the fuchka carts, ordered one each, then went and got Himalayan food at a joint nearby. We finished our day together with going to one of the only Bengali bookstores in the country, where the owners were so confused I spoke Bangla and I coughed up $150 for Bangla poetry books.

Museum of Modern Art, MET, Brooklyn Museum, Guggenheim

I decided to go to the Guggenheim because I had never been there before, and because I took my mom and sister to the Levain Bakery that was on the Upper East Side where the Guggenheim is. The architecture of it, which is one of the most famous parts of the building, is interesting.

The entire museum is one massive spiral ramp with art scattered about it. The Kadinsky exhibit was going on when I was there, but I honestly wasn’t into this concept. It was a disappointing experience because I didn’t like what they had on display, and the Guggenheim was the most expensive admission fee ($17) I paid out of all the museums.

Because I wrapped up there early, I walked fifteen minutes south and went to the MET. I had never actually been to the MET in its entirety, but I claimed I was a student (I did have my ID on me), paid my $5, and then speed walked the entire thing in two hours. I saw the Costume Institute exhibit, gawked over Washington’s torn coat, and then basically walked in a massive circle very quickly.

The MET is an all-day affair, and even then you won’t see everything. I took pictures of the images’ plates I would like to look up later, and spent the most time in the Iranian artifacts section.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is something I’ve done many, many times before. I showed my FIT ID for free admission, then booked it through the museum because I was on limited time.

They don’t change out the masters much, so I basically skipped through the Van Gogh and Picasso paintings and went for what I hadn’t seen before. Some interesting Mexican surrealists were out while I was there—including NMWA’s Kahlo portrait, which I saw was on loan here—but it was annoying because this was the Van Gogh section, which is where the tourists head to immediately. It was so crowded the guard yelled at me because I had a backpack. My main objective, though, was the feminist art they had put out, and I gleefully spent quite. a bit of time there.

My final museum visit was a brief one, too, because I had seen a lot of it before. The Brooklyn Museum was having their Virgil Abloh exhibit at this time, but I didn’t feel like paying for it, so I headed up to the Egyptian wing, which was closed the last time I was there.

They have a massive collection of Egyptian artifacts, just like the MET, which is sus in the long run how they acquired it but nice to look at. My main objective here was the European impressionist art on the top floor, as I wanted to see some artistic renderings of daily life centuries ago.

Asian-American International Film Festival

AAIFF was another one of my main objectives while I was here. I had a press pass to the festival, so the day I covered in-person I was also seeing ASL and The Nosebleed. I got to go to the Asia Society, where the festival was being held, and see A Night of Knowing Nothing by Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia and Dawning, which is a film by an emerging filmmaker.

All in all, I really enjoyed my time at AAIFF and believe in its messaging. I watched a total of six screeners for them, which was a great experience because I got to see some movies outside of the mainstream norm.

Yes, I did some shopping.

I usually limit myself when I go to NYC. NYC is extremely expensive for those who never go, and when I went there was a big heatwave. I didn’t bring a reusable water bottle, which was a last minute decision, and so I had to constantly buy waters. I spent like $70 on waters and drinks alone.

But to avoid being outside, I was constantly going into stores and places, which means I was spending more than usual. My suitcase ended up being full by the time I packed everything up to go home.

I bought two plays at The Drama Bookshop, and Chloe Gong’s book at the Union Square Barnes & Nobles. Then, at the Bengali bookstore, I bought another five books, some of which were thick.

At every museum I go to, minus the Brooklyn Museum because their prints suck, I buy prints as a little memento of my time there. Those prints live on my bedroom wall with the other prints I’ve bought around the world at museums, like from the Bishop Museum in Hawai’i. I also picked some books up at New Perspectives on theatre history, which is a little tradition of mine for whenever I go up to the city.

At Broadway and theater shows, they also give you free playbills and goodies. I had an entire stack of playbills I had to cram into my bag, which then had to go on the bus back home.

I neatly folded in my other other random goodies, like my AAIFF press pass and buttons I’d been given throughout the week, into the last space my bag could hold. I also ate a lot of really good food this trip, and somehow didn’t break the bank in the process. At the end of the day, I was very under-budget for all of this.

And that’s this trip! Will update in September for my New York Film Festival recap.