the window for check-in at columbia was from 11:00 till 4 in the afternoon. i figured that meant we had a good chunk of the day to squeeze in some more NYC fun, and so after we got ready and the bean’s suitcase was reorganized and packed we summoned an uber to take us into the city.
i’d seen posts about pop up bagel online, so that’s where we stopped for breakfast.
their bagels are meant for the “rip and dip” method, so we picked a couple of flavored schmears and happily dug right in. the bagels were fresh and warm and delicious, although i’m pretty sure that the bean still preferred their mr. nova lova from ess-a-bagel.
i’d seen something online that i knew the bean would love, so i’d booked us a couple of tickets timed so that we’d still have time to grab a late lunch before heading back to the hotel to grab the suitcase and head to columbia. it was about a 10-minute walk from pop up bagels to sloomoo institute.
yup - that is, indeed, a slime museum. the bean still loves the stuff and i knew that they’d love it. as we walked in we grabbed name tags and read all about the history of slime as we made our way down the hall.
i’ll bet you didn’t know that there were so many different kinds of slime, did you?
there were giant tubs of slime that are remade every morning before they open for the day, and i have to admit that it was pretty fun testing them all out.
there was an interactive room that we didn’t really understand, but went in and giggled at anyway.
there were ASMR rooms too, and each one offered a different kind of noise to enjoy. we liked the sounds of crackly plastic and keyboard tapping.
here you could pay an upcharge to don a poncho and get slimed from head to toe (we did not do this).
the next room was very obviously meant for little kids, but we stood in line and smirked at the shirt the security guard was wearing.
there was a huge glob of slime to walk through and a pile of squishies to step on. i know we probably should have been grossed out by all of this, but we went in and played for a few minutes anyway.
the last activity was the make-your-own-slime station. there was a display of all the different types of slime so you could choose your “slime starter.”
and then you could choose your scent after sniffing the samples mounted on the wall.
and here’s our finished product.
of course, there was a gift shop at the exit.
just a couple of doors down from sloomoo institute was a poléne shop, which i’d been wanting to check out for awhile. it’s a fairly new handbag brand out of france, and the one day i’d had to visit the tokyo shop was one of the days they were closed. and since the bean was happily playing with their slime, i got to go inside and take a look at the goods.
this is my favorite style - the numero neuf mini.
and then we had just enough time to have lunch, and just across the street we found a favorite: eataly.
we had a really lovely lunch, and then as i summoned the uber to take us back to the hotel i realized that i hadn’t factored in something really important: rush hour traffic. by the time we retrieved the luggage and called for another uber we had exactly zero minutes to spare before check-in ended. yikes.
i breathed a huge sigh of relief when we finally approached the check-in desk. i peeked over and saw that there were a decent number of student badges still left to be picked up, and the staffer assured me that we were good to go. i got to stay long enough to walk the bean to their room, meet their roommate for the week and watch as they unpacked and got settled.
and then it was time for me to leave. orientation was beginning and the bean was all set to start a week of theater tech, and all of a sudden i was on my own.
as i headed out of there, i spotted something fun across the street:
i browsed through the store for a few minutes before deciding that i didn’t need to spend any more money, nor did i have room in my luggage to cram anything in. and so i hopped into another uber and went back to the hotel to hunker down for the evening.
based on recommendations from my friends back hom, i hit up uber eats for some chicken and waffles from sylvia’s in harlem, which i enjoyed over another episode of “selling sunset.”
it was really weird to be all by myself for the first time in weeks, and i found myself struggling to fall asleep (and stay that way). i typically don’t sleep well without the hub, which i know sounds kinda lame, and i knew i had a long day of travel ahead of me so i forced myself to just lie there and not pick up my phone or turn the tv on.
i am such a wuss.
