Here's How Much It Costs to Live Like Gossip Girl's Blair Waldorf for a Week

When I visited Yale, finding a secret society proved much more difficult. What with finals coming up, students were less than eager to talk to me.

Me: Hi, are you a member of Skull and Bones?

Student: What? No, I'm not.

Me: But that's what a member of a secret society would say...

Student:

Me:

Student:

Me:

Student:

Me: Hey, I didn't get into Harvard either.

Student: OK, bye.

I drained my phone battery on the train so I couldn't take pictures of the Yale campus. But here's Grand Central!

Friday night I went to my friend's thesis play reading at Tisch, the arts school at NYU. At one point, Blair, Vanessa, and Dan were all competing for the attention of the Tisch kids, and Blair, in typical fashion, impressed them by arranging for Lady Gaga to perform for the gang (there's also a fairytale musical/Hilary Duff subplot here, but it's really not worth getting into). My friend's play was good but unfortunately neither Gaga nor Duff were present. Afterward, we went to a dive bar where I decided to "act like Blair" and stand in the corner shopping for tiaras on my phone, waiting for people to talk to me. I left after 15 minutes. This felt accurate.

Expenses:

• $35 for 2 tickets: to New Haven and back.
• $0 for the (free) shuttle from the train station to Yale and back to the train station. Un-Blair, I know, but so convenient! And she did take the Jitney that one time with Lord Marcus.
• $11 for 1 sandwich and 1 tea at Starbucks
• $3 for 1 beer at dive bar. Again, breaking my cardinal rule about potentially unclean bars. But I was very tired.
• $29 for 1 new cable to connect my phone to my computer to charge it. Did you know there's an Apple store at Grand Central? There is.

Saturday

My roommates and I threw a small party where I tried to get everyone into an intoxicated game of truth or dare à la the sleepover shenanigans from season 1 that ended with Jenny, whom the Constance Billard mean girls were hazing, stealing a jacket from Blair's mom's store. But it was snowing out, so we ended up playing charades. That was fine because I am great at charades.