Go Congress 2014 - Day 7

Prelude - I - II - III - IV - V - VI - VII - Conclusion

When I woke up, I realized that today was the last day of Congress. Man, where had all the time gone? It seemed like just yesterday I boarded the train with my brother to embark on an epic journey to New York.

The morning consisted of grabbing breakfast and checking out this cool place called The High Line that Anders recommended the night before. Luckily for us, it was still beautiful weather so we had a great time exploring the sights.

Around lunch, I got a call from Myung letting me know that Jung, Evan, Mark, and him wanted to try a steakhouse in NY before they left. So after meeting up with them at the hotel, we went off to look for one. We found one not too far: Wolfgang Steakhouse.

One of the items that caught my eye on the menu was a $200 steak (to be shared by 4 people). We had five people though, so I didn’t suggest it. Instead everyone went with their Wolfgang’s Steakhouse from their lunch menu.

Look at the size of that thing! And they really got the medium rare down perfectly!

To be honest, I was expecting to get a small piece of steak for the $30 we were paying, but it was HUGE! And though you don’t see any sides in this picture, there was large sides of mashed potatoes and spinach for everyone to share. To say the least, everyone was very satisfied with lunch. Haha.

After being stuffed with a delicious lunch, Myung had to go attend to some matters; so I was left in charge of helping to guide the rest of the group around New York. So for the rest of the afternoon, we explored Time Square and had a lot of fun seeing all the fun things going on in the city.

Soon it was time for us to return for the awards banquet though. And when we arrived, everyone went to their respective rooms to get ready (except for me). As I looked around for everyone, I noticed that Satoru wasn’t present. Unfortunately, I found out that he had already left and thus we would be unable to say goodbye in person. Nonetheless, it was great seeing him and I certainly hope to see him again in the near future!

Finally it was time for us to enter the banquet hall.

The menu consisted of pasta with cheese and tomato sauce, chicken fingers, cookies, brownies, bread and drinks. Considering the places I had been eating the entire week, I have to admit I was a little disappointed. However, I just want to stress that I understand that we were primarily paying for the space and not for a top notch meal. So while I was a little disappointed, it was just a personal feeling at the time and not some reflection on the event itself.

The awards ceremony was fun though. For a summary of friends who placed:

  • Diego and Terri both placed second in their respective divisions!
  • Mark Lee went undefeated and won 1st place!
    A huge congratulations to them on an awesome performance!

Once all the awards had been announced, I realized that this would probably be the last time I would have a chance to talk to the professionals and went to say my final goodbyes and get some pictures taken with them.

Dahye (4p)

Myung (9p) [left] and Jungsang (9p) [right]

Francis Meyers (1p)

Evan [left], me, Myung (9p), Mark Lee, and Jungsang (9p)

And with that, my first Go Congress came to a close. While I was sad that it flew by so quickly, I was happy to be able to experience the trip in the best way I could possibly have: great food, great company, and tons of go!

Prelude - I - II - III - IV - V - VI - VII - Conclusion