End of BEA and Beginning of the Weekend

Friday, May 29

Today we got up early again for the author breakfast event. There was more work to do today because each author brought a book for each of the seats and there were a lot more seats. The four authors who spoke today were Nathan Lane, Oliver Jeffers, Rainbow Rowell, and James Patterson (all children's/young adult authors).

The quality of the photo isn't great since I was sitting in the back and just used my phone to take a picture.

After the breakfast I walked around and got some more free books. I sat in some panel sessions: YA (young adult novels) authors talked about their upcoming books in one session and mystery writers talked about their process of writing and their upcoming novels as well in another session. I got a few books signed by the author. I stood in line for an hour and a half with a few other SPI (summer publishing institute) volunteers to get Mindy Kaling's signature. By the time we were done it was around three in the afternoon and we were exhausted since we had been there since 5:40am. 

We took Uber, which is a car service, back to the dorm because we were too tired to walk all the way to the subway station. When we got back, we just relaxed, and I worked on some of the pre-homework assignments. We sat around the kitchen table and talked about books and movies and 90s music; you know, the usual. Sam (my other roommate) made us pesto chicken and pasta for dinner and we had some wine with it. We also came up with lists of things we want to do while we are in NYC and hung them on the kitchen wall. All of our walls are white and boring so we are planning on decorating them some more with pictures and things we get from each of the places we go to.

Our lists so far. And we taped buttons and bookmarks we got for free at BEA

Saturday, May 30

Today is a pretty chill day because the program hasn't started and BEA is done so I actually got to sleep in this morning! Yay! I did some more research homework for SPI, which starts on Monday. Sam and I walked to Trader Joe's to buy some more groceries since we don't have much. After we got back to the apartment and put everything away, Sam, Giana and I walked to Barnes and Noble, which is in Union Square, and we looked at some magazines in the genres that we are doing our project on. There wasn't much seating and most seating was already taken so we just stood at a counter that they had in the coffee shop area. Then we walked over to Strand Book Store, which is awesome but also super busy and we bought a Benedict Cumberbatch coloring book to decorate our walls with. The weather has been nice: a little hot in the sun but there's a nice breeze at times. Tonight we are going out for drinks with some other SPI students, but that is it. Today wasn't very exciting, but it was nice and relaxing which I've needed since last weekend!

The Start of NYC Adventures!

So for the past few years I have just been finishing up my undergrad at Augustana College. Graduation was on Sunday, May 24; I moved all of my stuff back to my parents house on Monday, May 25; and then on Tuesday, May 26 I flew out to New York City to attend NYU's Summer Publishing Institute. I am living in one of NYU's apartment style dorms, which is tiny; I share the apartment with three other girls who are also attending SPI (Summer Publishing Institute). They were all here when I arrived; Sam and Giana had arrived on Monday, and Elise arrived just half an hour before me. We sat around our kitchen table and talked for a while before Elise and I unpacked. Then around 7pm we walked over to Madison Square and there were many different food stands and we each bought different things and sat in Madison Square Park and ate. I had a Thai Chicken Coconut Curry that was pretty good. Then we walked to Union Square Park and walked around there for a little bit before returning to our dorm.

Wednesday, May 27

Today, Elise and I went out to get our Metro pass and NYU ID cards. We easily made it to the metro and bought our passes before taking the subway to NYU. After we got our IDs we walked over to Washington Square Park.

Washington Square Park

Washington Square Park

We decided to walk back to the dorm and stop in Trader Joe's to buy some basic groceries just to get us started. It was a long, hot, humid walk but we eventually made it back. We just sat and ate for a while before Sam, Elise, and I headed out to Book Expo of America (BEA), which we get in for free because we are volunteering there tomorrow and Friday. It was a bit of an adventure getting to the Javits Center where BEA is held. We had to walk from 24th Street to 34th Street and wait for the bus to come, and when the right bus finally came, we found out that we had to swipe our metro cards on the machine on the the sidewalk instead of inside the bus so we missed that bus and had to walk twenty minutes or so until the next bus, which was jam packed. The busy was pretty empty by the end of the ride. There are so many exhibits from so many publishing companies both big and small, as well as authors; there are book signings, speakers, panels, etc. It was a little overwhelming the amount of things to see. We got some free books and bookmarks; it was amazing! Here are some pictures so you can see who all was there...

Javits Center in NYC

Scholastic was there

Penguin Random House was there

Even Tyndale was there!

Tonight we are meeting up with other people in the program for dinner at Vapiano in Union Square. It should be fun! 

Thursday, May 28

Last night was fun meeting many other people from the program. Unfortunately it was raining when we left the restaurant and I didn't have my umbrella, but we took the subway which kept us out of the rain for a little while.

This morning, Elise and I got up a 4am in order to get to BEA to volunteer at 5:45am. A group of us met in the lobby of our dorm and split a taxi. We were helping with the Author Breakfast event, which was really cool. We just had to set a little flyer about each of their books at each of the seats and then we had people get in line. It was probably the easiest volunteer job, but it was hard getting up that early in the morning. We were able to sit in the back and listen to each of the writers promote their books. The four authors were Kunal Nayyar (Yes, My Accent is Real), Lee Child (Make Me), Diana Nyad (Find a Way), and Brandon Stanton (Humans of New York). 

The authors at the Author Breakfast

Then other volunteers and I walked around BEA and picked up some more free books. We listened to a thirty minute talk from three cookbook authors and editors, which was interesting but they were mostly just promoting their books rather than talking about the industry. After walking around a little bit more, Elise, Haley (another girl from SPI) and I took the subway back to our dorm. We relaxed and rejuvenated for several hours since I hadn't done that since before graduation. Then Elise, Sam (one of my other roommates), and I walked around outside looking for a coffee shop that wasn't Starbucks. It took us about 20 minutes, but we eventually found a place right by our dorm that had pretty cheap coffee and delicious looking pastries! After about an hour we went back to our dorm and just relaxed. I worked on some of the SPI pre-assignments of looking up information about the magazine industry. Now I am going to bed because I have to get up at 4am tomorrow to do the same thing. Good thing it'll be Friday!