No Sleep Til Brooklyn

‘COLLEGE, NO PARENTS!’

45 upperclassmen must have cheered this at me during Opening Convocation, but it took a while for the concept of no parental supervision to take root in my head.  You are the master of your own fate in college, and the way you regulate your time determines the results you yield (academically, socially, etc.).  I’d say most W&M students achieve a pretty healthy balance between work and play. There are some times, e.g. during mid-term or final exams, when the work can outweigh the play. So every once in a while, I like to tip the balance the other way.

The week after midterms, my friend Sam had tickets to see The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. As dutiful W&M students, we thought it proper to make a pilgrimate to see the show, and walk the hallowed ground of a W&M alum who made it big.  Sam, Carrie, and I woke up at 5:30 in the morning and got on the road out of Williamsburg by 6 am.   One McDonald’s pit stop, several CDs, and 6 and 1/2 hours later, we were squeezing through the Lincoln Tunnel into Manhattan!  Carrie’s Kentucky license plate alerted the impatient city drivers around us to the presence of out-of-towners, and we eventually made it to a parking garage, only having been flicked off about 14 times. We then spent another half hour tracking down a tiny crack-in-the-wall restaurant called “Burrito Box,” which Sam had sworn she’d seen somewhere in the scores of blocks we’d cruised looking for parking.  Full from our authentic city meal, we strolled to a public library to use the bathroom, where we were accosted in line by a curious and possibly intoxicated local who wanted to know where we were from.  We then left the public library.

After waiting in line at the corner of 11th and 52nd for 2.5ish hours to guarantee our spots in the audience, we were ushered out of the frigid NYC air and into The Daily Show studio. It was much smaller than we’d imagined, and we waited eagerly until Jon Stewart (also much smaller than we’d imagined) came out for a Q&A with the audience! Carrie, Sam, and I were too shy to ask him a question, but we enjoyed hearing him roast any audience member brave enough to try until the beginning of the actual live show. The show itself (which featured special guest John Meacham, editor of Newsweek) only took about 45 minutes to tape, and then we were out into the cold NYC night air. We let Sam (who, being from D.C., is a much more gutsy city driver) take us up to midtown to see another alum, a friend who works at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He gave us some cookies and cans of raspberry soda to sustain us for the rest of the drive, and regretfully, we said goodbye and started our drive out of New York City.

A lot of students from more metropolitan areas wonder if they’ll be able to handle 4 years in the City of Williamsburg, better known for its colonial charm than fast-paced nightlife.  I’ve found that Williamsburg’s atmosphere makes it easier to focus on studies and friends, and in turn, makes adventures into big cities more thrilling when they happen.  Driving windows-down with friends through Times Square, hundreds of miles from home, on a school night, was an experience I’m not likely to forget soon.
We even sort of made it back in time for class the next day.