My NYC Spring Break Trip Recap

Originally I was supposed to go to Cancun with 30+ brothers in my fraternity, but sadly I wasn’t able to afford the trip from my semester expenses. In pursuit of doing something fun for the break, me and my best friend/roommate Khiem booked bus tickets, airbnb and hotel for the weekend in NYC. Luckily, one of my best friends from high school goes to NYU, so we were able to make plans easily with him and his friend group. On Friday, our first night in NYC, we started the evening at a sports bar having burgers and watching NBA and tennis games. After, we went on a liquor run to bring to our friends apartment to pregame and socialize. At the pregame, I met a person named Stephen wearing the exact same but different color varsity jacket as me and we instantly connected. Chatting about things from career goals to hip hop dance in NYC, we dove into many different subjects, but one topic he spoke most passionately about was the freestyle hip dance class he attends on a daily basis after getting off work from Mercer. At first I doubted his dance moves and thought he was all talk, but when we went to the Loreley’s Beer Garden, he dominated the dance floor. To my surprise, Stephen even bought me a drink despite the outrageous prices (a gin and tonic was $15). 

I highly recommend Loreley’s Beer Garden if you want a chill vibe, drink and watch sports, chat with friends, and have an option to be on the dance floor. The venue has dim lighting, which makes it perfect to unwind and relax. Luckily for me and Khiem, one of our NYU friends rented out the entire venue for the night so we were able to play whatever music we wanted and have fun with the friend group. 

On Saturday night, me and Khiem got lunch at Obao, which is a Vietnamese restaurant and one that I highly recommend. In fact, Khiem commended the rich broth of the pho that I ordered, which says a lot about the dish because Khiem knows good pho being a Vietnamese native himself. Later that night, we went to a bar called the Rum House to pregame for the clubs. The bar was packed and all the seats at the bar were filled up so we had to stand. One of the big perks about this bar is that it’s a jazz bar with live performances, and most of the people that go to this bar have music backgrounds. Afterwards, we went to the Den Social night club, which I only recommend going before 11:00PM to get into the club. Me and Khiem arrived at the club at 11:30PM and had to wait an hour just to get in as part of their business scheme to make their club seem prestigious. However, waiting that long in line was a blessing for us because we got to meet and talk to a number of cool people. Furthermore, the club is dominated by east asians and they play a ton of rave music, kpop, and party songs catered to young asian adults, so if that is your vibe then this place is great for you!