Go-Karting in New Roc City

Hey everyone! How is it going? In my previous post I talked about a nice dinner Cristy prepared for my friends and I. We were having a lot of fun, so we decided to continue and we went to New Roc City to have a Go-Karting race. It was a great experience!

Cristy on the wheel, the United Nations went on the road! Again, we had a little bit of everything in that car: Swedish, Dominican, Persian and Spanish.

To be honest, I trusted my friends so much I didn't even know where I was. According to the Dominican driver, it was only 10 minutes away. Now I know how ten minutes feel in Dominican Republic! This is where we went:

We got there at around 9pm. We arrived at New Roc City. It is a shopping mall, like the ones I was expecting to see in America and I never ended up seeing because there are no malls in Manhattan. This one was huge, and it had a lot of games, movie theaters, restaurants... Anyways, no time to waste, it was time to race.

There we were, the sports guys. Ok, lying. I'm the opposite of a sports guy. But there he was, Alex, the sports blogger at Berkeley! Check out his versions of events at: http://berkeleycollegesports.blogspot.com

However, sitting on those tiny cars already feels like you're the star of Fast and Furious 12. At least that's what I had in mind. The reality looked more like this:

We were in a Go-Karts place somewhere far from my place, who cares about how reality looks like!

We all went in on the circuit at once, occupying six cars. I must say I was a little disappointed with how hard it is to turn that wheel (some oil would be awesome people!) But I must also say I had a blast speeding up around that circuit!  It made want to go for more and try the big guys karts! Perhaps for next time.

That was a great activity for a weekend with such bad weather. I totally recommend it. You need to have a car, since I doubt there is any convenient way to get there by train... Thanks Cristy again for such a nice day. Also, thank you for reading! See you soon!

Dominican Dinner at the Bronx

Hey everyone! How is it going? This weekend I had a lot of fun, thanks to my friend from Berkeley, Cristy who invited a bunch of us to her place up in the Bronx for a great Dominican lunch.

I have been here for three years now, and I still find it hard to move from Manhattan. This was the first time I went past the 100's uptown and crossed all the way to the Bronx.

I took the Metro North train at Grand Central and I stopped at Fordham station. I felt like I was in a completely different city! But then again, that happens every time I leave Manhattan, no matter where I go.

I had a lot of fun with fellow Berkeley College students. Alex, another Berkeley blogger, was also there. We called it a "UN dinner" since we had Spanish, Swedish, Dominican and Persian people sitting at the same table!

Cristy was our host, and as Dominican representative, she prepared a great Dominican meal! We had some potato salad, rice and beans...

We also had chicken wings (which were amazing!) and meat...

And as if that wasn't enough, she made Sangria! That's a traditional drink from Spain, so I really felt like home!

Here's the funny thing. Cristy's little son believed that I was Ironman and Alex was Wolverine! Hence Cristy's representation:

Next time I see the kid, I'll have to pull out a trick and get one of those red metallic flying costumes! Anyways, how cute it is that he believed I could be anything close to Ironman! I have to thank him for that.

After believing I was a super hero, he wouldn't deny me playing with his toys. He had a lot of Legos, and I have to admit I had a lot of fun building stuff like I used to a couple years ago. A couple I said.

All in all that was a great afternoon, and it continued with a bigger adventure that I'll share pretty soon. Thanks Cristy for the meal! And thank you for reading!

Tekserve: The Store that Blew my Mind

Hey everyone! This week I found a store in NY that blew my mind! I am one of those people who is easily impressed with technology, gadgets... and I'm always checking new stuff at websites like StumbleUpon.com to see what's new. This time I found a real place where I can go check these items and play around with them!

This place is called Tekserve, and it's located at 119 West 23rd Street in New York City (Manhattan.)

Tekserve is a privately held company with over 200 employees, operating in New York City and serving clients worldwide. Tekserve was founded in 1987 by David Lerner and Dick Demenus to provide service for customers needing Apple computer repairs at reasonable prices. Having met that need, they were encouraged to expand the business to offer Macintosh sales and consulting services as well. 

In 2001, Matthew Cohen joined the company bringing an additional area of expertise to Tekserve: Creative Solutions for Graphic, Audio and Video professionals. Tekserve is able to design, configure and support systems with hardware and software from multiple vendors to meet specific customer needs.

See more about their history here: link

Honestly, I can spend hours walking around that store and I'll go "wow" every other step. It's just like a museum! Check out a couple items that I wish I could buy without looking at the price tag.

 Ok, I know no one really needs a weather station at home or a Click & Grow garden (if you're into this stuff, go check it out here: link,) but if I won the PowerBall next week... someone will be growing plants with batteries!

They have a long history with Apple and providing services for apple users. That's why they have a mini museum in the middle of the store with all Apple products in a timeline. I think that was really cool! I loved the iPods section, since I've seen all of them myself. Some of those computers are older than me...

The real reason why I went to this place was to help a friend get some stuff for his music studio. This place is awesome when it comes to music production. You can build an incredible recording studio with what they have there. These items are also pretty pricey, but for someone whose passion is music production or works on it, this is a great spot.

My favorite thing about the store is how they display their stuff. You can try most of what they sell, and from what I saw it's not too crowded and you don't need to wait too long to play around with a drawing touchscreen, a keyboard or a mic.

If you want to check out what you can find at Tekserve, go to: http://www.tekserve.com. It's also a great place to find gifts for people like me! Thanks for reading and see you soon!

Health Insurance for International Students

Hey everyone! This has been a tough week. It was midterms session at Berkeley College and my body decided to make things more difficult. I got a cold, or the flu, or something ugly that made me stay in bed for longer than I'd have liked to. This is what brought me to talk about health insurances.

I know that many of us international students come from countries where the health system is completely different from the one in the USA. I also know that health issues is not the first thing that comes to your mind when you plan on studying abroad! However, this is one of those situations in which the "what if..." expression makes sense. It is very important that you get a proper insurance while you are in the country.

Why? I found an example to illustrate one of the reasons:

Medical bills can be VERY expensive, and if you don't have any health insurance, you will need to pay out of your pocket. You never know what might happen. Imaging the cost of services such as ambulance, operations, x-rays, etc.

I remember when I had to decide which company to choose I felt somehow frustrated. I didn't understand anything! However, some of the basic things you should be looking at are:

• How much will you pay per month?
• How much would the insurance be paying for your medical bills?
• What does the insurance cover?
• What is the deductible amount?

The term "deductible" in this context was a little difficult to understand for me. I learned that it is simply the amount you have to pay before the insurance company pays anything. For example, my deductible is $90. That means that whenever I go to the doctor, I have to pay $90 at least. If my bill was $200, I would then pay $90 and the insurance company the remaining $110. That means if I have a small consultation which costs about $75, I'll have to pay all of it out of my pocket.

I have to say that in three years I have been living in New York, I have never used my insurance, since I haven't been at the doctor once yet! However, I will keep my insurance for as long as I am here, because one never knows!

I am sharing a list of companies that I got from my advisor at Berkeley back in the day. I can't recommend any company because I feel like that is a personal decision based on different factors.

International Student Organization
www.isoa.org
800-244-1180 

International Student Insurance
www.internationalstudentinsurance.com
877-328-1565 

Wallach & Company
www.walach.com
800-237-6615 

Medex
www.medexassist.com
800-527-0218 

HTH Worldwide
www.hthstudents.com
800-242-4178 

The Harbour Group
www.hginsurance.com
800-252-8160 

Academic Risk Management
www.academichealthplans.com
888-308-7320 

 I have been using the International Student Organization (the first one on the list) and even though I haven't really "used" it (fortunately!) I have no complains about it.

I hope that was helpful for international students. Thanks for reading and see you soon!

Donald Trump Giving Away Cash Today: Fund Anything

Hey everyone! Today I woke up to a stormy weather. As I do every morning, I turn on Good Day New York while I have breakfast and get ready to go to Berkeley. This morning they were talking about Donald Trump. He's giving away cash!

I knew Mr. Trump from all the eccentricities that the media displays. He's quite a character in New York! Whatever his image is, and whatever his reasons are to do this, I still think it can help many people and it's worth a shot!

He has launched this website called Fund Anything, where people can upload their campaigns with a goal dollar amount. Anyone can contribute to your campaign. However, you do not only put your campaign there waiting for your friends to collaborate. You put it there hoping that it will picked by Trump and he'll fund it!

What is it about?

In many ways, FundAnything resembles existing crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. It offers users a way to raise money from other users, and takes a matchmaking commission (5% for fully-funded projects, 9% for projects that don't meet their goal). What's different, however, is that FundAnything neither screens projects nor has any real exclusions. For example, FundAnything projects could include tech inventions, new uniforms for a school sports team, helping out someone with a medical emergency, etc. Link

Here are some examples of campaigns, there are all kinds of stories already up there!

Donald Trump is going to be selecting campaigns at his place (Trump Tower in 5th Avenue.) You can check what he's saying through his Twitter account at @RealDonaldTrump.

If you think about it, you have more chances getting funded by Donald Trump than winning the Power Ball! While it is somewhat like a lottery, if you have a decent campaign it might get noticed and you might get funded. It's worth a shot, isn't it? Imagine having Mr. Trump helping you pay your tuition? It can happen... best luck for all of you who try!

Thanks for reading and see you soon! And, of course, thank you Donald Trump!!

Best Roller Coasters at Six Flags, Great Adventure, New Jersey

Hey everyone! Yesterday I went back to Six Flags, the Great Adventure, at New Jersey. I had a blast!! I'm a big fan of roller coasters, and this is my second time at this theme park, so this time I already knew exactly what I wanted! Let me share with you my favorite 4 roller coasters of the park.

Kinga Ka

This one is my absolute favorite. It is also the shortest one, but I think it has the highest intensity from all the rides I tried. You are pushed at 128 miles per hour, hoping it will be enough to climb that vertical  track. This is so impressive I can't even put it into words, but the sensations I experienced are beyond awesomeness!




El Toro

This is a classic roller coaster. It's made of wood, which already gives that feeling, but it's also one of the most powerful I've ever tried! It's pretty long, which makes the long line worth it, but it maintains the intensity throughout the whole trip. There are many "drop" moments that took my breath away! Check it out:



Green Lantern

While this might seem pretty standard, the particular thing about this one is that you ride it standing up. No siting! The experience of standing up while being turned upside down is crazy! You don't have to worry about safety, since you won't be standing there like you would on the subway. You're well stuck to the wagon. However, you do need to make sure your head is against the back of the "seat" or else it might hurt!



Superman

Finally, I chose the Superman also because of the way you ride it. When you get on, you seat with your feet hanging above the floor. Before it starts, the thing tilts a little and you end up laying there. You're positioned horizontally, which makes you feel you're flying just like Superman! I tried it from the front seat and it was incredible!



While I completely lost my voice at the park, I'm really glad I went. My friends and I had a blast and the adrenaline rush left me really relaxed. I definitely recommend the experience to all of you! For more information check link. Thanks for reading and see you soon!

Chobani SoHo: Mediterranean Yogurt Bar

Hey everyone! My friend Ernesto took me to this Mediterranean yogurt bar at SoHo called Chobani. I had tried that brand of yogurt before, but I had no clue they had a bar. I loved the place, the idea and their meals! Don't think of plain yogurt... these are great combinations of mediterranean elements which make you feel like you're eating home made ice cream.

From http://chobanisoho.com:

Yogurt was meant to be simple — just milk and cultures. And, we believe that everyone deserves to experience it this way. With our one-of-a-kind Mediterranean yogurt bar, Chobani SoHo lets one of nature’s simplest foods take center stage. Our carefully selected menu features yogurt creations made from hand-selected, artisanal ingredients. It’s Chobani like you’ve never had it before.

This is the one I ordered. It has fresh oranges, dark chocolate, pistachios and olive oil. It tasted just as good as it looks!

They  have a great menu, offering small portions for under $5 and full portions for about $5.50. You can check their menu here: link. I am having trouble deciding if this is better as desert or as an actual meal, or even a snack. However, if you like Greek yogurt, you'll definitely enjoy it.

Moreover, the place is great and it's a nice experience. You can watch while they prepare your order through the windows, and it feels great to see how good all the ingredients look. Everything looks fresh and has that home-made touch that makes it so great!

The location is also great, since it's around SoHo and it's one of my favorite spots for weekend walks. It's located at 150 Prince Street, and it is very easy to reach. While it was somehow crowded when we went in, we got our order pretty quick. There are no tables there, but you can sit on the benches if you want to stay. However, when it's nice outside it is probably a better idea to eat it while walking around.

Another thing I liked is the glass packaging. You can keep the glass bowl and use it at home. I have a couple now and actually I'm using them to eat yogurt! Yes, now I'm trying to make my own yogurt snacks look as good as theirs.

I hope you like the place if you have a chance to try it! Thanks for reading and see you soon!

Spring Day at Washington Square Park

Hey everyone! What a wonderful weekend we've had in New York City! I think this is the first time this year the city looked like that on a weekend. There were people everywhere, and it almost smelled like Summer! With a day like that, you just can't stay in. That's when I knew it was time to hit the West Village!

Washington Square Park is located right at the South end of 5th Avenue, which actually starts through the Washington Square Arch you see on the picture above. The closest subway stop is West 4.

This is one of my favorite spots to hang out, because the atmosphere is great. It's always packed up with all kinds of people, but you can expect to share it with mostly young students. One of the reasons could be that NYU has buildings all around the park.

The atmosphere is even better when the weather is like this. However, this time was a little too much. I'm sure many people couldn't wait any longer for a day like this, and they all had the same idea I did. 

This is also a great place and time for picnics! I'm saying that because at this park you can actually sit on the grass, which doesn't happen at all of them! You can't go on the green lanes at Union Square nor Madison Square Park for instance.

While you won't find many restaurants or bar surrounding the park (since most of the buildings are NYU), there are countless places around each corner. My pick would be Bleecker Street. That street has lots of bars and restaurants that are a lot of fun and might have great deals depending on the day.

People go to this park to hang out, and it is fun to see how people go there to do stuff. I've seen a musician play beautiful tunes with a saw, hip hop dancers, guitar players, pianists... You can expect to find an improvised show anytime there! 

By looking at the pictures, you might have noticed how beautiful the park looks and that the city definitely takes care of this spot. However, anyone can contribute at making the park look this nice!

On May 18th there will be an event at the park that will encourage New Yorkers to do some spring cleaning:

It's My Park Day at Washington Square Park

Saturday, May 18, 2013

1:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m.

On It's My Park Day, neighborhood residents will be coming out to do a spring clean and do some planting.

Check it out at this link.

All in all, walking around that area when it's that nice outside is always a great idea. I hope you enjoyed the weekend as much as I did! Thanks for reading and see you soon!

Citi Bike: Bike Sharing System in NYC

Hi everyone! Would you use a bike to move around NY if you could get one at the corner and then leave it at your destination without worrying about it? That's what we will be able to do in the city when the bike sharing system "Citi Bike" launches!

I'm very excited about this service! This has been available in several cities in Europe. Barcelona also has it, and it's called "Bicing." It is very convenient and it's an extremely green transportation alternative.

Website: http://citibikenyc.com

A convenient solution for quick trips around New York City.

The Citi Bike^SM system, operated by NYC Bike Share will feature thousands of bikes at hundreds of stations around New York. Citi Bikes are available 24/7, 365 days a year. Station locations are based on population and transit needs, and were selected through a participatory public input process. Each station has a touchscreen kiosk, a map of the service area and surrounding neighborhood, and a docking system that releases bikes for rental with a card or key. You must be 16 or older to ride a Citi Bike.

How does the service work?

1) Unlock.

In order to use the service, you need a pass. There will be different options: an annual membership or a daily/weekly pass.

1 year pass: $95
24 hour pass: $9.95
7 day pass: $25

Once you have it, you just need to swipe your card at one of these stations you'll see below and get a bike unlocked. Right now, the stations have no bikes yet. It looks like the launch in Manhattan will take place around May.

I had a walk around SoHo, and I found a couple stations. There will be a lot of them when this service is up and running. The one above is right by Washington Square Park. You can check the map here: http://citibikenyc.com/stations

2) Ride wherever you want.

Once you unlock a bike, you can use it for 30 minutes without additional charging. If you ever need it for more than 30 mins, you'll need to pay extra, but seriously... get a cab if that's the case!

That means that the point of this service is not to enjoy a bike ride around NY. There are bike rentals for that. This is a means of transportation, it should be used just as we use the subway. The maps are pretty clear, and you can see that circle in the picture above. It tells you that you can get at any point within that radius in 5 minutes.

3) Return.

When you planned your trip, you should have identified what station was closer to your destination. Once you get there, you just need to insert the bike in the docks and you'll be good to go!

I think this is a great innovation for the city, and I'm sure many of us will enjoy this service!

I'm also very happy that this is not only a project, but it's happening soon. I can tell because I've already seen many stations around Manhattan... I can't wait to see those blue bikes there and start saving energy and money!

Thanks for reading and see you soon!