Favorite Grey's Anatomy quote!

"A couple of hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin shared with the world the secret of his success. Never leave that till tomorrow, he said, which you can do today. This is the man who discovered electricity. You think more people would listen to what he had to say. I don't know why we put things off, but if I had to guess, I'd have to say it has a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, sometimes the fear is just of making a decision, because what if you're wrong? What if you're making a mistake you can't undo? The early bird catches the worm. A stitch in time saves nine. He who hesitates is lost. We can't pretend we hadn't been told. We've all heard the proverbs, heard the philosophers, heard our grandparents warning us about wasted time, heard the damn poets urging us to seize the day. Still sometimes we have to see for ourselves. We have to make our own mistakes. We have to learn our own lessons. We have to sweep today's possibility under tomorrow's rug until we can't anymore. Until we finally understand for ourselves what Benjamin Franklin really meant. That knowing is better than wondering, that waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beat the hell out of never trying."

Summer 2011 in NYC

Sometimes we think that if we prepare ourselves psychologically, we would be ready for what is coming up next... whether it's a moment of happiness or sadness. Some people think that when a loved one is about to leave... they would be ready to say good-bye. But truth be told, we never are. 

We are never ready to say good-bye to the people that we love. You may get used to having people coming in and out of your lives. There is that saying "people come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime." I have met so many people that have made an impact in my life, specially since I came to study to New York. And this is how I will get to my point of how this summer began. 

In the fall 2006 when I first came to NY as an exchage student, I had the blessing of meeting an amazing group of people who eventually turned into my family during that semester and we are still in touch. I have met with few of them recently in NY and last Thursday one of them came to Manhattan. She was one of my best friends and she still is, even thought we don't talk too often. She is the type of friend that no matter what, when you see her it is like the time never passed by and everything is the same. 

Deborah, my brazilean friend, who lives and works in London, came to NY for vacations with other friends of her from Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. After spending two days with her, walking through Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum, Upper East Side, Soho, South Street Seaport, West Village, and Time Square, I realized I wanted to become fluent in Portuguese so I could visit her after she goes back to Brazil and be able to hang out with her exactly like we did in NY. This time when I said bye to her on Memorial Day at the Seaport, for the first time I wasn't sad. I was actually very excited because I got this feeling that I would see her very soon, whether it is in NY, London, Rio de Janeiro, or Guayaquil. 

At the same time, during that weekend I spent all Friday and Sunday night with Elin. She is my friend from Malmo - Sweden and she came to NY this semester for an exchange program called the International Institute of Business (IIB). She is two years older than me but has the energy of someone so much younger than me. It's funny because she is always complimenting me and telling me that I am an amazing girl who is always happy and with a lot of energy. What she doesn't realize is that she's the one who gives me all this energy. She's a party girl and a trooper! I came to love all the IIB students from Mexico and Sweden so much, and thank God for technology because now I know I won't lose contact with them. On Sunday night when Elin and other friends were with me at the 230 fifth avenue rooftop, I got a little bit emotional, I was about to cry when I hugged her to say good-bye. But then I stopped myself from crying and told her not to cry because we would be roomates in NYC after I finish my MBA and she comes back to work. So at the end, this was not a good-bye but a see you soon!

This is how I spent my Memorial Day holiday in the city that never sleeps. I love New York Ciry so much, and I love all the great people I have met so far in New Paltz and NY in general. There is so much history; and there are so many stories and memories that I will always keep in my heart. Forever.