last week in NYC

My bedroom wall is already empty.

One more week.

what I will miss (and not) about NY

With just a few days to go, I have to make a list (I love lists... :) ) about what I am going to miss about this amazing city and what I will be glad to not have anymore. I know I will be adding and editing the list these upcoming days, but let's start!

I will miss:

The smiles and friendliness on the streets
The community gardens
The warm nights
The 24h subway
The food carts
The restaurants
The free pools
The rooftops
The street markets
The free concerts and cinema
The cultural offer
The delis
The street performers
The bargains
The bagels and pretzels
The take-away drinks and doggy bags


I will not miss:

The tips
The mice
The garbage bags on the street at night
The housing and grocery prices (with a few exceptions)
The brutal heat on the subway platform
The taxes not being on the tag

Anything you think I am missing here?

Florida

Hello!

Remember I told you I had gone to Florida? Finally, I am showing you some photos.
We flied to Orlando, rented a car (it was a pain but we got it after half an hour of discussing with the salesmen that we indeed had money on our cards, his boss coming over and solving it in 30 seconds...), and drove to Clearwater. We couchsurfed at a lovely lady's house, we talked with her for hours and, I think, we made her want to visit Portugal and eat tons of Pastéis de Nata :-). The next day we went to Clearwater beach, a lovely white sanded beach with water at just the right temperature. What is it about the first dive of the year? So refreshing to the mind.
We continued to Sarasota and ended up in Fort Myers on yet another couchsurfing experience with a great couple.
Next day was all about The Everglades, one amazing natural park where we got to see some alligators. Not so many because it was too hot and they prefer to stay in the water. Nevertheless, I loved it :) In the afternoon we headed to Miami where we met and stayed with other portuguese that are doing the same programme as I am - Inov Contacto. We enjoyed Miami beach on a weekday and then parted to Key West, which is beautiful. Not only the beaches but also the little town. I forgot I was closer to the equator line than normal and got my bum and legs sunburnt because "it was already 5 p.m., no need to put sunscreen on the legs..." -.-'
We left the paradise for another day in Miami and Fort Lauderdale and back to Orlando and back to NY.

Florida is so different from the other parts of the US that I visited that I felt I was in another country. I heard more spanish and portuguese than english and you can see they have a lot of space as the construction is very low.

The bad side: it rained EVERY SINGLE DAY. Oh my. But we enjoyed it anyway :-)

Kiss

Maria Ana

my last few weeks :)

Hello everyone! I have been terrible with the blog... The time is going by so fast and my boyfriend is visiting so I just go home to sleep and take showers.
The summer weather has been here for a few weeks now so mostly what we do is hang outdoors.
The pools opened yesterday, I have to try them out :) (Have you ever been to a public NYC pool? If so please let me know how it went!)

My birthday is around the corner and so is the end of my time here in NYC (any employers out there? blink, blink...) so my motto is: I can sleep in August in Portugal.

So here are some parts of the last two weeks :)

Bedford Av, Brooklyn - I loved the concept. Closed road, music and real grass.

The must-do Smorgasburg (food fair) in Brooklyn.

The view from Brooklyn. 

The Portugal day run in Central Park was great. To run in such a beautiful place, to run 5miles / 8km for the first time, no stops and to do so well :)

After the run we had a bbq on our rooftop! :)

My favourite building in NYC - The Chrysler

The view from our rooftop

A friend had posted this on my fb wall so it was funny to see it physically.

There is life on the other side of the river too. Hoboken, NJ.

Harlem

Central Park

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

The view from Le Bain

Amateur Night, Harlem

P.S. Google friend connect is ending, so do not forget to follow on bloglovin! :)
All the best!

boats & buildings

New York is a city of contrasts. I love how it mixes things up and it all ends up making sense. As an island, Manhattan is full of piers and the view of the bridges and the river is amazing, especially by the end of the day.

I love to see the mix between the materials and lines of the boats against the ones from the buildings. I find it interesting and kind of romantic, I don't know why.

The 4-month thoughts

Hello everyone!
I cannot believe 4 months have passed... Now I can see the end and it is scary. I am doing everything I can to enjoy every minute I have left in this amazing place but my mind is already wandering some place else sometimes.

I have a lot of things that bring me back to Lisbon but I don't want to have crisis and unemployment as being two of them...

I know I will have with me this amazing experience for the rest of my life but I wanted it to be longer. Not only because of the amazing place and great quality of life you have here but also because there are not great perspectives where I am headed.

Anyway, I will continue to do as much as I can to enjoy myself here :) Sorry for the scarcity of posts but I really really don't have much time left.

Kisses :)
Maria Ana

Roosevelt Island

The Roosevelt Island is a strip of land between Manhattan and Queens (and technically part of Manhattan) that was once home to prisons and asylums. Today, it is a residential island and it has a great view of downtown Manhattan. You can get there by subway but the best way is to catch the elevated tram so you get a different perspective of both Manhattan and Roosevelt islands.

We grabbed some food at Whole Foods and went there to have dinner on sunset on a bench overlooking the skyline. Simple things are the best, aren't they?

Kiss

Maria Ana

Mary in Wonderland

Comptoir des Cotonniers Trench

Zara Boots