Winter Break!

The weather was a little different in NY than what I had been used to in LA

I was going to write a nice detailed summary of my winter break, but I've kinda run out of time.  I'm flying back to LA tomorrow, and I know things are going to be really, really hectic over the next few weeks with the start of the winter quarter, final preparations for the Career Night I'm organizing, and with (hopefully) the peak of my internship recruiting cycle.

Christmas in the Schaaf household

The shorter summary is that I had a great time in my three weeks back on the east coast (after re-adjusting to the colder weather, of course).  My first week was in DC and was jam-packed with activities every afternoon and evening to make sure I could see everyone I wanted to in a short period of time.  Dan then drove me up to NY and stayed at our house for a few days before I headed to PA for two days to celebrate the holidays with the extended family.  We returned to Long Island just in time for Christmas and a major Long Island blizzard.  That last week in NY was more low key, but was still filled with lots of quality family time and activities with the remaining Long Island crew.

A rough chronological run-down of the winter break activities:

LA
- Post-finals rooftop party with my section
- Santa Monica beach
- Hike of Solstice Canyon in Malibu


DC

At the Beer Exchange

- Lunch w/ Sean and Pete in Ballston
- Return to the office to visit more of the old Cambridge crew
- Wednesday night Ballston Bar Crawl w/ Sean and Pete (Rockbottom, Front Page, Carpool, and First Down)
- Lunch w/ Kyle at Tirolo in Ballston
- DC Improv w/ Jon and Dan
- Brunch and Top Golf w/ Brad
- Drinks w/ Evan, Jeric at Dan's condo and at Carpool (featuring the dramatic return of Jeric to the land of the living and D4 crew)
- Brunch w/ Adrian in DC
- Rock climbing with Brad and his new lady friend, Sara
- 25th Annual International Christmas Beer Exchange!
- Giants game at Carpool (my 3rd trip to Carpool in 5 days, if you're scoring at home)

NY
- Jimmy's diner for lunch
- Happy hour w/ Mike Orzano in NYC
- Knicks-Thunder game w/ Dan
- Eastern PA for 2 days, highlighted by an intense, raucous Taboo game until 1 am
- Christmas!
- Blizzard and snow shoveling

Knicks game at Madison Square Garden

- Family game nights of Upwords and Apples 2 Apples
- Hot tub in the snow
- More HGTV and Food Network than I ever care to watch again
- Rockville Center bar crawl w/ BMP
- Some authentic NY pizza
- Road trip to New Jersey to see Tron in a D-Box theater
- New Years Eve at Hal's