Blue Bottle Coffee on 257 Park Ave S, New York, NY 10010
Other locations on W 40th, Clinton St, University Pl, Chelsea, and many more.
*This review is not sponsored or in collaboration with any affiliation. All opinions are my own. Due to COVID-19 and most locations being shut down or only service Delivery or Curbside, I will not be reviewing Atmosphere, Quality of Service or Aesthetics unless applicable*
Ordered: Caffe Mocha ($5)
Favorite Features: In a perfect world, this would be one of my favorite study locations. It’s clean, its pristine, the baristas are kind and the ambiance is simple.
Other: This location in Flatiron offered limited outdoor seating just outside the doors and on the sidewalk closest to the street.
Student Discount? None
Hi y’all, how are you this morning??
Let’s talk brunch.
Now normally, I’m a person who doesn’t like to consume her Sunday’s with homework and other people. Although I love other people, and I love good conversation and catching up with people I love, I also love spending Sunday’s alone. Those are my days to reconvene, learn, and heal.
But this day in particular an old friend, one of my first friends at NYU asked me to hang out and of course, I said yes! I hadn’t seen in her in a minute because of the pandemic and even before that, we both got so caught up in school and our respective social circles that schedules never aligned. So, I thought hey, what the heck. I’ll give up a Sunday because I love brunch food and catching up with friends.
Although I don’t do brunch reviews on this blog (maybe I should?), I’ll just say that we went to Ruby’s in East Village and that banana bread with passionfruit butter was to die for. I had the sweet corn fritters and my friend had the avocado toast (both are obviously staples in the trendy NYC scene). I also had a chai latte with oat milk, simply incredible.
While we brunched over coffee, fritters and avocado toast, we talked about life and the craziness this world has turned into. When you look back at your life 6 months ago, did you think we’d be here? Now I’ll be totally honest, I hate talking about this damn pandemic. It’s depressing, it’s draining, it's hard. And while we’re far from over it (now is a good time to say wear your damn mask), I can’t help but think about what life could be like after this. Oh, the “what if’s”.
In Spring 2021, I was supposed to study abroad in Florence, Italy.
R.I.P. that dream.
Ever since I found out I got into NYU, I couldn’t wait to frolic around the Italian countryside and drink an abundance of wine and eat all the pasta the country had to offer. Oh and of course, take classes....duh. Things have changed, my plans have changed. I can’t go abroad, and even though there’s still the inkling of a possibility to go over the summer, I feel as though it won’t have the same impact on me that I would’ve liked it to have.
“But Piper, why don’t you just go the next Fall or Spring semester instead??”
Yeah okay, I know that’s a thing..but like no.
According to my Long Term Plan (us Steinhardt kids know it as the infamous LTP from New Student Seminar), I would be abroad in Florence in Spring 2021, London in Fall 2021, and the LA Program Fall 2022. But like I said, things change.
After a year at NYU (and a semester and a half in person), I’ve seen all the things going on at the University that I do/don’t want to be a part of. I don’t want to miss another V100, or Strawberry Festival, or Spring Fashion Week. And yet I’m also currently rushing a sorority, and don’t want to miss out on those Fall/Spring events either now that I’ve missed a year of them. It’s a major toss-up.
I just want to be traveling again. Seeing something. Literally anything.
But along with this, I know there’s impending issues for those countries I plan to eventually travel to. After the way the United States has not only dealt with COVID-19, but also the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery (among many others), Americans are going to be looked at differently. Travel is not going to be the same as it once was. I don’t know bout y’all, but I plan to wear a mask every time I’m in an airport, pandemic or not. And to avoid locals in other countries being scared of me, I plan to tell them I’m from literally any other country.
Listen, I know these are such first-world problems and in the long run does anything really matter? No. But I’m still going to be mad about them in the present because I simply, can.
And yeah, all of this was going on in my head during brunch. I don’t think Marilyn noticed though. Moving on.
Post-brunch, Marilyn and I parted ways and both went off to study. To be honest, I didn’t have a plan and that’s very unlike me. Yes, even on weekends I like to know what I'm doing ahead of time. For weeks now, I’ve felt lost and I don’t know why. I just kept walking, towards Madison Square Park, with the intention of going to Seven Grams, but I never made it that far. On FaceTime with my mom and sister, I found that I was starting to miss home just a little bit. Not because I miss my hometown, but because I was missing out on events in my family’s life that I considered significant. Here I was, in a big city, with no one to consider family, just flying by the seat of my pants trying to keep up with everyone around me. Pardon my language but it’s fucking hard.
This is getting a little long and a little sad so I’ll stop here.
In summary, it’s hard out here.
After coffee and rushing through a pre-session assignment for Marketing, I picked up a few things at Walgreens and walked home. Since I'm writing this a little later than September 13th, I honestly can't remember what I ate or if I ate that day.
Anyways, Dad, what’d you drink this morning?
Piper Page
Sunday Morning Coffee