Chloe Saddler

Hi everyone!! I’m currently hopping around Chinatown enjoying the morning walk to work. I am certainly excited to fill my Beijing nostalgia by eating lost of dim sum, or what one of my friends refers to as her love of “squishy food.”

A few things have changed since graduating and moving to a new city. The frantic face-paced walk of students to class have been replaced by commuters on their way to work. I always feel the jolt of NY life whenever I start walking and attempt to make my way through large crowds and avoid tourists, even though I technically am one too. Despite the fact that my old dorm Pierce was torn down, I have managed to procure a new ID for work and I there is a dining hall in the building. I guess college life has still made its way with me here.

Some Highlights of My Adventures This Week

I had a chance to walk around some evenings after work and orient myself as I walked through the streets of Soho and Tribeca. I found an essential new tea shop location to continue to fuel my obsession and a new yarn store. I went to my first sample sale and it was almost as hectic as that scene from the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic.

My coworkers and fellow Interns are really nice and I got to meet a few more of them throughout the week and discovering the new departments at work. The craziest thing I did my first day of work was order half of a Valencia Orange refresher and half a Passion Iced tea combo. Yes, that is a thing. I was inspired after reading an article on Pinterest and tried to pick the least high maintenance drink combination from the suggested page.

Sunday: Historical Transport, Church and Icons

Sunday was probably the most memorable day I had and it truly felt like I was traveling through time. I visited the church where my sister and I were baptized and where my parents got married about 24 years ago. The reverend who officiated their wedding was still there!!! and I got to talk to him after the service.

After church I made my way through Central Park and headed to a few galleries and museums. My first stop was the Neue Gallery, famous for its German and Austrian art collection. My desire to go there was fueled by my movie choice the night before. I watched the movie the Woman in Gold, starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds. The movie was based on the true story of Maria Altmann, the niece of Adele Bloch-Bauer. Her aunt, Adele was painted by Gustav Klimt (photo of the painting is at the top of the post). The portrait of her aunt was stripped of her identity and was renamed Woman in Gold after the Nazis raided the family’s house because of their Jewish heritage. Maria Altmann was able to retrieve the painting of her aunt after the Austrian government requisitioned the artwork back to Jewish-Austrian families. It touched me not only because of the powerful story line and the pain of her family’s tragedy, but also because it reminded me of the debate our country is currently having about past imagery and symbols of hatred. The present has created two conflicting memories and analyses of our history that have made the conversation difficult. It is extremely hard to reopen a wound that people have made efforts to sew up repeatedly, and returning to dark, tragic and painful memories of a horrific past is not an easy task. But we must examine and remember what happened in the past so that it may never happen again and so that we may commend and appreciate the long and hard journeys people have taken since then to promote freedom, peace, justice, forgiveness, and love.

After I made my way through some of the rooms displaying Russian Modernism and Tubism, including Kandinsky, I headed next door to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While I was there only for a short visit, I felt like I was in a mix of awe surrounded by beautiful Byzantine chalices and then visiting what appeared to be the likeness of Mr. Darcy’s home.

While I certainly miss my lovely friends and the captivating and invigorating history lectures, I hope my transition into “actual-adulthood” will be a smooth one.

Featured Image by freeparking 😐