I am actually home now but thought I should still update what I did on the last few days in New York :)
Tuesday was fairly uneventful, it was nice to have a lie in then just potter into White Plains for the final present/myself shopping. We were supposed to be going to the Yankees game that evening, we all got dressed up in our jerseys with the little NY logo eye linered on our cheeks..but in true New York fashion the game was rained off :( Luckily for us it was rescheduled for the next day at 1pm and as we had little planned for Wednesday we could still go :) It probably turned out better for us actually as Wednesday was a beautiful sunny day (as my sunburn proved!).
The Yankees game was one of my favourite experiences from the whole trip! It took me a while to figure out what was going on, with a lot of help from our American lecturer Davis who was explaining the rules to me as it went along and looked at me with a very confused expression when I finally said "oh, so it's basically like rounders and cricket"! Anyway, the Yankees won, we all cheered and then we went and had a pretty average and overpriced meal at Dominick's (the restaurant from the Godfather movie).
Thursday was a bit of a roller-coaster day, we were all starting to get a bit sad as it was our last proper day in the city. We went to ground zero to see the 9/11 memorial, there was a question for a while as to whether they were going to rebuild on the site. I'm glad they didn't, the peace garden which is now there is beautiful and it shows that the victims of the attack have not been forgotten. The new world trade centre also stands next to the garden, which will be the tallest building in the skyline when it is complete- it has been built to show that the city can come back stronger. Seeing the thousands of names around the memorial was incredibly sad because it really gave you the scale of how many families were affected by that day, but it was also somehow impersonal, unlike meeting Ben at the fire station- which for me was the strongest experience of 9/11 we had in New York. A few of the names stopped us in our tracks because they had 'and her unborn child' following them, it's inconceivable to think that the actions of a few people meant that those children never even got the chance to be born.
We got the subway from Manhattan to Brooklyn purely to walk back over the Brooklyn Bridge because we kind of needed something to bring us back up after the experience of the memorial. The bridge was another high point of the trip for me, the views are incredible and there's just something amazing but unexplainable about the whole experience.
Thursday evening we had our posh 'Park Ave' party :) We all dressed up and the talented amongst us played piano and sang (I was not amongst them!). We kept it very American themed with a 'most likely to...' Section with categories like 'most accident prone' and 'biggest spender', I got biggest geek for my insanely nerdy film knowledge- it was a proud moment :) For most of the trip we had a secret 'Fred committee' consisting of Emily, Lauren and myself which was in charge of finding out Fred's interests so that we could get him a nice present..he was very happy with his Goldshlager, glasses and engraved platter :) However, as I really didn't help that much with Fred I decided to organise the lecturers presents so I got a contribution from everyone and dragged Steph shopping with me! We had all decided that we needed to get Peter a bow tie as we loved his style, we wanted to get him a Union Jack one but there were none to be found! Trying to stick with the British theme we got a very nice Ben Sherman tie for Davis :) shopping for Darren was more of a treat for me than him as I found a really cool/nerdy shop with comic book stuff that I spent a good hour in, left with an X-Men pint glass for him and Avengers shot glasses for me :D
Soooo..that very briefly sums up the last few days of my trip. Friday was just a rounding off day, although some of the staff did put on a BBQ for us which was very nice of them, and we had a lovely Pagli girls dinner at the coach diner :) I had such an amazing time and met some wonderful people, luckily I will see most of them again- even our All American girl Adrianna is coming to London this summer :) Unfortunately I don't know if/when I will get to see the lovely Clarissa again, so after living with her for three weeks it was pretty hard to say goodbye!
I don't really know how to sign this off! I will always remember my time in the Big Apple and I will upload pictures to share with you soon :) Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
Monday, 17 June 2013
Sunday 16th and monday 17th June
A morning full of temples followed by an afternoon of fun fair fun :)
We went to a very ornate Hindu Temple and watched the bathing of Ganesh ceremony- very bizarre experience in which the statue of the Elephant god (which the Hindus worship as sort of the deity itself) is bathed in milk, yogurt, water, orange juice, oil amongst other unidentifiable things! The day was kind of a rush of temples- another Hindu one, a Sikh one and a Thai Buddhist one- all were incredibly welcoming to us and they all kept trying to feed us..we did have authentic Hindu cuisine for brunch which was very nice :)
The afternoon was spent sitting by the beach at Coney Island- Visited the famous Lunar park and won a Pirate Patrick the starfish and a mini racing driver Roey duck on the arcade machines! We also tried corn dogs from the original Nathan's which were unfortunately kind of disappointing :( The day ended with a visit to café Glechnik in little Russia and tried Russian dumplings which were surprisingly yummy :)
Today is Monday and we started the day with a visit to Amnesty International- I have to admit that I wasn't exactly excited about it because I've never really taken much interest in AI. However, I have realised today that the organisation is not what I thought it was and it is actually a very important body which does amazing work through the sheer power of social pressure. It was hot hot hot today to the point where it was uncomfortable and sticky- jokingly I was walking along saying take me back to the cold and rain... within 5 minutes it was raining and everyone was blaming me haha It was actually quite nice though as the air was still warm and the rain was cool and light so it was refreshing. Plus you can't complain about a little bit of rain when you're walking through Central Park! It was another perfect, authentic, 'New York' moment walking through the trees with a guy playing slow jazz to the side of us and a street dance performance going in up ahead :) We walked a few blocks from the park to the Museum of Natural History- where night at the Museum is based :)The geek in me was satisfied by seeing all the dinosaurs (the girls were actually laughing at how much of an excited child I was when I saw them!) and we spent some time lying under the huge Blue whale suspended from the ceiling, feeling very tiny. To me Central Park followed by the Museum of Natural History was a perfect way to spend the afternoon.
So that's what I've been doing the past couple of days.. sorry it's late and short! Pictures will follow when I have time/energy!
We went to a very ornate Hindu Temple and watched the bathing of Ganesh ceremony- very bizarre experience in which the statue of the Elephant god (which the Hindus worship as sort of the deity itself) is bathed in milk, yogurt, water, orange juice, oil amongst other unidentifiable things! The day was kind of a rush of temples- another Hindu one, a Sikh one and a Thai Buddhist one- all were incredibly welcoming to us and they all kept trying to feed us..we did have authentic Hindu cuisine for brunch which was very nice :)
The afternoon was spent sitting by the beach at Coney Island- Visited the famous Lunar park and won a Pirate Patrick the starfish and a mini racing driver Roey duck on the arcade machines! We also tried corn dogs from the original Nathan's which were unfortunately kind of disappointing :( The day ended with a visit to café Glechnik in little Russia and tried Russian dumplings which were surprisingly yummy :)
Today is Monday and we started the day with a visit to Amnesty International- I have to admit that I wasn't exactly excited about it because I've never really taken much interest in AI. However, I have realised today that the organisation is not what I thought it was and it is actually a very important body which does amazing work through the sheer power of social pressure. It was hot hot hot today to the point where it was uncomfortable and sticky- jokingly I was walking along saying take me back to the cold and rain... within 5 minutes it was raining and everyone was blaming me haha It was actually quite nice though as the air was still warm and the rain was cool and light so it was refreshing. Plus you can't complain about a little bit of rain when you're walking through Central Park! It was another perfect, authentic, 'New York' moment walking through the trees with a guy playing slow jazz to the side of us and a street dance performance going in up ahead :) We walked a few blocks from the park to the Museum of Natural History- where night at the Museum is based :)The geek in me was satisfied by seeing all the dinosaurs (the girls were actually laughing at how much of an excited child I was when I saw them!) and we spent some time lying under the huge Blue whale suspended from the ceiling, feeling very tiny. To me Central Park followed by the Museum of Natural History was a perfect way to spend the afternoon.
So that's what I've been doing the past couple of days.. sorry it's late and short! Pictures will follow when I have time/energy!
Friday 14th and Saturday 15th June
On Friday we went back to the Met as Peter didn't feel we had adequate time there during the Museum Mile festival. We spent a lot of time looking at Islamic art and Far Eastern art, including many versions of the Buddha, one being about 1200 years old and made of wood. We didn't get time to visit the Greek and Roman art though which I was very upset about! We then spent the afternoon learning how to meditate with our eyes open at a Shambhala meditation centre.. it was a very weird experience and I started to see faces in the wooden flooring that I was staring at! We finished the day with the best meal I've had since we've been here- Thai :) Massaman Curry with Thai Ice tea, absolutely beautiful- although my step-mum's comes pretty close to it :)
Saturday was a free day so I used the time to chill out and Skype home before going to Broadway in the evening :) I have to be honest, as much as I love it here, there was a part of me when I was skyping home that felt quite ready to go home! However, when we were on the subway into the city four guys got on who introduced themselves as brothers and then started to dance and flip down the aisle right in front of us- it was like a mini Diversity performance :) It felt so authentically 'New York' and just like that I went back to never wanting to leave! We went to see Mamma Mia- I love the film and the show did not disappoint! I LOVED IT- it was so funny, most of the singing was great and at the end we all got up a clapped and swayed to Waterloo :)
Saturday was a free day so I used the time to chill out and Skype home before going to Broadway in the evening :) I have to be honest, as much as I love it here, there was a part of me when I was skyping home that felt quite ready to go home! However, when we were on the subway into the city four guys got on who introduced themselves as brothers and then started to dance and flip down the aisle right in front of us- it was like a mini Diversity performance :) It felt so authentically 'New York' and just like that I went back to never wanting to leave! We went to see Mamma Mia- I love the film and the show did not disappoint! I LOVED IT- it was so funny, most of the singing was great and at the end we all got up a clapped and swayed to Waterloo :)
Thursday 13th June
Wow.. I did not realise how long it had been since I updated! Apologies folks I am normally just too tired or don't have enough time but we are having a chilled evening at the Pagli house tonight so I will try to write a little bit about what I have been doing for the past 5 days :)
Thursday was a long day with three museum trips- don't get me wrong I love a good museum but after a while you stop taking everything in because it's too overwhelming! The first museum was the Native American Indian museum around Wall St, it had some really cool tools and dresses from various Native American tribes. There was also a section on musicians throughout recent years who have Indian heritages which included Jimi Hendrix' rainbow coat on display and a section of comfy seats to sit and watch old footage of him playing.
The next museum, which should have been the last so we could send more time there, was the Jewish Heritage museum. It has an interesting layout with the origins of the culture leading up to the pre-holocaust years on the first floor, the holocaust on the second and post- holocaust on the third floor so it was like walking though the entire history of the Jewish culture in a couple hours. Of course everyone knows about the holocaust and how awful it was but seeing some of the pictures and artefacts and reading the statistics can still take your breath away. Darren mentioned a famous quote from a philosopher which went something like 'can there be poetry and beauty after the atrocities of Auschwitz?', I can understand what he meant because it's hard to imagine that humans who are capable of such horrendous and disgusting behaviour can then create anything beautiful. However, going up to the third floor of the museum and seeing the many ways in which the Jewish community came together after the holocaust to pull themselves through and rebuild their lives showed, in my eyes, that there can be beauty after Auschwitz.
The last museum of the day was the Brooklyn Museum which had a mixture of exhibits including different calendars throughout history, unfortunately we were mostly too tired and museumed out to take in a whole lot there!
Thursday was a long day with three museum trips- don't get me wrong I love a good museum but after a while you stop taking everything in because it's too overwhelming! The first museum was the Native American Indian museum around Wall St, it had some really cool tools and dresses from various Native American tribes. There was also a section on musicians throughout recent years who have Indian heritages which included Jimi Hendrix' rainbow coat on display and a section of comfy seats to sit and watch old footage of him playing.
The next museum, which should have been the last so we could send more time there, was the Jewish Heritage museum. It has an interesting layout with the origins of the culture leading up to the pre-holocaust years on the first floor, the holocaust on the second and post- holocaust on the third floor so it was like walking though the entire history of the Jewish culture in a couple hours. Of course everyone knows about the holocaust and how awful it was but seeing some of the pictures and artefacts and reading the statistics can still take your breath away. Darren mentioned a famous quote from a philosopher which went something like 'can there be poetry and beauty after the atrocities of Auschwitz?', I can understand what he meant because it's hard to imagine that humans who are capable of such horrendous and disgusting behaviour can then create anything beautiful. However, going up to the third floor of the museum and seeing the many ways in which the Jewish community came together after the holocaust to pull themselves through and rebuild their lives showed, in my eyes, that there can be beauty after Auschwitz.
The last museum of the day was the Brooklyn Museum which had a mixture of exhibits including different calendars throughout history, unfortunately we were mostly too tired and museumed out to take in a whole lot there!
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
Wednesday 12th June
Another day centred around food! Got the subway to Harlem today and had lunch in the famous Sylvia's soul food restaurant. I have to admit it did live up to the hype; they bring out 'bread' for the table to start with which was more like madeira cake and the creamy garlic mash was some of the best mash I've ever had (sorry nan/mum!). We then had a walking tour around Harlem, famous for being a centre of black culture- but not where the Harlem Globetrotters are from! A lot of us were expecting a very run down, unsafe area- which I'm sure some parts of it are but the centre of Harlem is actually a very wealthy area, with architecturally beautiful town houses that can sell for $2-3 million. By then we were supposed to have walked up an appetite so we went to another famous diner, this time Tom's restaurant from the TV show Seinfeld... hardly any of us were actually hungry by that point so we just had a milkshake (amazing) and shared some mozzarella sticks. My favourite part of the day was walking round Columbia University, partly because it's a really nice campus, very historical and prestigious.. but mostly because my inner Gossip Girl geek was thinking 'this is where Nate goes!!' :)
A couple of the many famous names that have won the Apollo's amateur night
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Tuesday 11th June
Woke up feeling all round crappy today so I didn't get into this mornings 'mock security council' as much as I should have, think the next meeting is Friday.. all I can say is that the world is lucky that we are not really in power!
We spent the first part of the afternoon at an Islamic centre- I had to go out yesterday to buy a long skirt, scarf and shirt as I had nothing appropriate to wear, apparently trousers are still too risqué! The Imam spent a lot of time with us talking about the Muslim religion in general and also the community projects that the centre is involved in. The centre opens at 3am so that the local Muslim community can go there for their first prayer of the day at 4:15am.. don't think I'll be signing up!
The late afternoon and evening was so enjoyable and I feel a lot better now that I did this morning. We walked across Park Ave and Madison Ave (very nice area!) to get to Fifth Avenue- or 'Museum Mile' as there is currently a festival going on that means that between 6-9pm you can enter any of the museums and galleries for free. They also shut off the street and there are various street performers and DJs playing, more hot dog stands than you've ever seen and lots of chalk lying around for everyone to draw on the street. The whole atmosphere was amazing and we spent quite a lot of time just siting on a bench eating ice cream and people watching :)
We visited two museums, the Met and the Jewish Heritage Museum. Unfortunately a lot of the Met was closed off but we did get into the Punk exhibition, which was a celebration of the fashion and culture of the punk era- including a recreation of the graffiti covered bathroom of the CGBG club! I actually knew more names than I thought I would, most of the t-shirts on display were designed by Vivienne Westward and worn by Adam Ant. The designs were so 'in your face' and it knocked the idea that we have that punk was/is all about black pvc and studs and chains- originally punk fashion was as simple as a t-shirt was a couple of words or a picture that pushed boundaries and shocked the mainstream. The whole exhibit had low music playing and it heightened the experience to walk around bobbing my head to the Sex Pistols' 'Pretty Vacant' :)
The Jewish Heritage Museum told the Jewish history from its conception to its modern place in the world. Peter was telling us all about the artefacts we were looking at but he kept getting interrupted by members of the public asking him questions, I'm pretty sure they thought he was actually a tour guide, especially when they started following us round to the next floor! They actually had an anti-Semitic section with paraphernalia from around the world, including America- some of it quite recent. I thought it was cool that the Jewish people could show that they excepted this hate as a part of their history as it has clearly helped shape the modern generations of Jews.
We spent the first part of the afternoon at an Islamic centre- I had to go out yesterday to buy a long skirt, scarf and shirt as I had nothing appropriate to wear, apparently trousers are still too risqué! The Imam spent a lot of time with us talking about the Muslim religion in general and also the community projects that the centre is involved in. The centre opens at 3am so that the local Muslim community can go there for their first prayer of the day at 4:15am.. don't think I'll be signing up!
The late afternoon and evening was so enjoyable and I feel a lot better now that I did this morning. We walked across Park Ave and Madison Ave (very nice area!) to get to Fifth Avenue- or 'Museum Mile' as there is currently a festival going on that means that between 6-9pm you can enter any of the museums and galleries for free. They also shut off the street and there are various street performers and DJs playing, more hot dog stands than you've ever seen and lots of chalk lying around for everyone to draw on the street. The whole atmosphere was amazing and we spent quite a lot of time just siting on a bench eating ice cream and people watching :)
We visited two museums, the Met and the Jewish Heritage Museum. Unfortunately a lot of the Met was closed off but we did get into the Punk exhibition, which was a celebration of the fashion and culture of the punk era- including a recreation of the graffiti covered bathroom of the CGBG club! I actually knew more names than I thought I would, most of the t-shirts on display were designed by Vivienne Westward and worn by Adam Ant. The designs were so 'in your face' and it knocked the idea that we have that punk was/is all about black pvc and studs and chains- originally punk fashion was as simple as a t-shirt was a couple of words or a picture that pushed boundaries and shocked the mainstream. The whole exhibit had low music playing and it heightened the experience to walk around bobbing my head to the Sex Pistols' 'Pretty Vacant' :)
The Jewish Heritage Museum told the Jewish history from its conception to its modern place in the world. Peter was telling us all about the artefacts we were looking at but he kept getting interrupted by members of the public asking him questions, I'm pretty sure they thought he was actually a tour guide, especially when they started following us round to the next floor! They actually had an anti-Semitic section with paraphernalia from around the world, including America- some of it quite recent. I thought it was cool that the Jewish people could show that they excepted this hate as a part of their history as it has clearly helped shape the modern generations of Jews.
I've left my mark on NYC
Fifth Avenue chalk work
One for the Roehampton students- see, Lions and Zebras can get along!
Steps of the Met (one for the Gossip Girl fans)
Monday, 10 June 2013
Monday 10th June
Free day today so we had brunch at IHOP- International house of pancakes! If the Americans have only gotten one thing right over the span of human history it is that pancakes and bacon are a bloody good combination! Some people have gone into the city to shop but there is only a certain amount of shopping I can stand in one trip.. instead Darren and I decided we would see if we could make our way to Salem. Not the witch hunt Salem as that is in Massachusetts but Salem, Westchester County- supposed home of Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters! Unfortunately it would have taken 2 buses and a train so we may try and bribe Davis into driving us another day :)
Not really a lot else to say about today, except that we are going for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory :) I am hoping to see Penny, if not I am still going to ask the waitress who gets the other half of my 'soup and a half sandwich'.
I forgot to write about something quite important in yesterday's blog. On our way back through Chinatown we passed an open Firehouse and stopped to take pictures with the fire trucks with their gold dragons on the front. Shortly after a man called Ben came and started talking to us, answering all our questions and taking pictures with us. He then started telling us some of the stories from that particular fire house's experience of 9/11. Ben was grateful that 8 of their men/women who went into the building nearest to them came out again, only because a woman had started to freak out on/under a stairwell and they had agreed to stay with her to calm her down. When the building collapsed that stairwell was one of the only places that remained in tact and so they were all saved. But not all of their colleagues were as lucky. Ben was training two very new recruits that day and because of that one of his friends who he had known and worked with since kindergarten had ran ahead to get into the building whilst he was still trying to talk the new guys into it. He finally managed to do so but when they were on their way towards the building it collapsed, killing nearly everyone that was still inside.
For people of my generation 9/11 is probably one of the first major world events that we remember, we have grown up in the aftermath of it and have heard countless stories about the devastation it caused. But hearing it first hand when we were not expecting it made it feel so much more real to me and showed how after all these years it is still affecting lives here, it is still very much at the forefront of people's minds. I don't think that in other parts of the world we have forgotten about it but neither do we remember it as people do here. Meeting Ben was an incredibly humbling experience and I imagine that Thursday 20th when we go to the Ground Zero memorial will be emotionally draining but I think we owe it to the people who lost their lives to remember them, even for a day, as the New Yorkers do every single day.
Not really a lot else to say about today, except that we are going for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory :) I am hoping to see Penny, if not I am still going to ask the waitress who gets the other half of my 'soup and a half sandwich'.
I forgot to write about something quite important in yesterday's blog. On our way back through Chinatown we passed an open Firehouse and stopped to take pictures with the fire trucks with their gold dragons on the front. Shortly after a man called Ben came and started talking to us, answering all our questions and taking pictures with us. He then started telling us some of the stories from that particular fire house's experience of 9/11. Ben was grateful that 8 of their men/women who went into the building nearest to them came out again, only because a woman had started to freak out on/under a stairwell and they had agreed to stay with her to calm her down. When the building collapsed that stairwell was one of the only places that remained in tact and so they were all saved. But not all of their colleagues were as lucky. Ben was training two very new recruits that day and because of that one of his friends who he had known and worked with since kindergarten had ran ahead to get into the building whilst he was still trying to talk the new guys into it. He finally managed to do so but when they were on their way towards the building it collapsed, killing nearly everyone that was still inside.
For people of my generation 9/11 is probably one of the first major world events that we remember, we have grown up in the aftermath of it and have heard countless stories about the devastation it caused. But hearing it first hand when we were not expecting it made it feel so much more real to me and showed how after all these years it is still affecting lives here, it is still very much at the forefront of people's minds. I don't think that in other parts of the world we have forgotten about it but neither do we remember it as people do here. Meeting Ben was an incredibly humbling experience and I imagine that Thursday 20th when we go to the Ground Zero memorial will be emotionally draining but I think we owe it to the people who lost their lives to remember them, even for a day, as the New Yorkers do every single day.
Sunday, 9 June 2013
Sunday 9th June
Awesome day today :)
Started off with a 2 hour service at the Greater Allen African Methodist Episcopal Cathedral in Jamaica, Queens- yes that is a gospel church..it was like a concert at points! It's unbelievable how much energy and enthusiasm these people have every single week. As with the Jewish service we attended, everyone was very welcoming and there was even a bit where all guests and first-timers had to stand up and everybody near us came and shook our hands to welcome us and just make us feel more included and less like spectators. To top it off Jahmene Douglas was there too!! We were sitting on the balcony part of the church and I was looking at this guy near the alter before the service started and I started casually mentioning to a few people that he looked a lot like Jahmene but I couldn't think why he would be at a random church in Queens. Then I got more and more confident it was him until I was 100% adamant, but nobody else was very convinced so I didn't go down to talk to him. They mentioned during the service that it was him (also saying that he WON the X factor!) and I could see him every time I stood up- which was most of the service! I was going to go and talk to him and maybe get a cheeky picture at the end of the service but he and his 2 man entourage left just before the end.. gutted :(
The rest of the day was spent in Chinatown :) There was a festival on today to celebrate the Chinese and Jewish communities' friendship which was called 'Egg rolls and Egg cream'- Egg rolls being what we call Spring rolls and Egg cream being a traditional Jewish drink. A few of us were brave enough to order the 'combo' of both delicacies! The egg roll was realllllllly good and the egg cream, well, it was chocolate sauce, milk and soda water- bizarre but surprisingly good..it definitely grew on me :) We also visited another synagogue and a Buddhist temple whilst we were there but I think we were all most excited about the food.. we went to a Chinese restaurant and just like at home we over-ordered so much so half of it is in our fridge! I was quite upset to discover when we were already in the restaurant that they served shark fin soup, which I strongly oppose if using real fins, but I didn't get a chance to see if they used real ones or prosthetics :/
All in all a great day topped off by a very energetic bus ride home with random singing bursting out ranging from Oasis to One Direction to Disney to The Killers to Spice Girls to R Kelly- by the end of the tour we will have perfected a harmonised Bohemian Rhapsody ;)
Started off with a 2 hour service at the Greater Allen African Methodist Episcopal Cathedral in Jamaica, Queens- yes that is a gospel church..it was like a concert at points! It's unbelievable how much energy and enthusiasm these people have every single week. As with the Jewish service we attended, everyone was very welcoming and there was even a bit where all guests and first-timers had to stand up and everybody near us came and shook our hands to welcome us and just make us feel more included and less like spectators. To top it off Jahmene Douglas was there too!! We were sitting on the balcony part of the church and I was looking at this guy near the alter before the service started and I started casually mentioning to a few people that he looked a lot like Jahmene but I couldn't think why he would be at a random church in Queens. Then I got more and more confident it was him until I was 100% adamant, but nobody else was very convinced so I didn't go down to talk to him. They mentioned during the service that it was him (also saying that he WON the X factor!) and I could see him every time I stood up- which was most of the service! I was going to go and talk to him and maybe get a cheeky picture at the end of the service but he and his 2 man entourage left just before the end.. gutted :(
Just about make out Jahmene in the black top
The rest of the day was spent in Chinatown :) There was a festival on today to celebrate the Chinese and Jewish communities' friendship which was called 'Egg rolls and Egg cream'- Egg rolls being what we call Spring rolls and Egg cream being a traditional Jewish drink. A few of us were brave enough to order the 'combo' of both delicacies! The egg roll was realllllllly good and the egg cream, well, it was chocolate sauce, milk and soda water- bizarre but surprisingly good..it definitely grew on me :) We also visited another synagogue and a Buddhist temple whilst we were there but I think we were all most excited about the food.. we went to a Chinese restaurant and just like at home we over-ordered so much so half of it is in our fridge! I was quite upset to discover when we were already in the restaurant that they served shark fin soup, which I strongly oppose if using real fins, but I didn't get a chance to see if they used real ones or prosthetics :/
Chinatown Synagogue
Confucius- founder of Chinese Confucian religion
Art from Museum of Chinese America
All in all a great day topped off by a very energetic bus ride home with random singing bursting out ranging from Oasis to One Direction to Disney to The Killers to Spice Girls to R Kelly- by the end of the tour we will have perfected a harmonised Bohemian Rhapsody ;)
Friday 7th and Saturday 8th June
"When it rains it pours"
The weather here has been beautiful nearly every day but on Friday the heaven's opened and it poured all day.. I found out that my cheap waterproof Jacket was cheap for a reason :( To be honest the weather kind of set the mood for the day. The morning was interesting, we toured the Bloomsburg head office so I got to find out a lot abut a company that I knew relatively little about before and it seems like a really nice place to work. Karen Toulon is a very high positioned women there and she took some time to talk to us- she was pretty amazing, juggling such a high job with a family and she gave us some valuable advice about interviews and such.
The next part of the day was Wall street, we did a tour which included a lot about the history of the area. It may have been the weather but I was quite disappointed with the tour, which I had thought I would enjoy.
We ended the day with a Sabbath service at the Central Synagogue, the building inside was amazing and so much more colourful than I expected. Even though the service was mostly in Hebrew, because it was sang and not spoken you could almost keep up with what was going on and the general mood of each prayer/passage. Everybody was so inviting to us outsiders and made us feel very welcome :)
I forgot to mention in Thursdays post- One of the American girls on our tour, Adrianna, had her 24th birthday so we all put in a couple of dollars to get her a card and cake and decorations which were hidden in one of the other houses. We then called a meeting with our Student adviser here who had to check a couple of things with us, during the meeting another student adviser came and told Adrianna that there was a problem with her e-mail that she needed to sort out. As soon as she left the building it was like a military operation of people putting up the banners and lighting candles, all in the space of about 3 minutes! It paid off though, she was so surprised when she came back in, to the point of near tears..it was a really nice way to show how quickly we are bonding as a group :)
Saturday was our first official free day so we did what we have all been wanting to do...Sleep in and shop :) Me, Steph and Emily had a fairly decent lay in then went into the local town of White Plains- had enormous meals at a traditional American diner, then hit both of the local malls. When we came back home our American housemate who works at Chipotle had brought us back loads of Mexican food.. we love her :)
The weather here has been beautiful nearly every day but on Friday the heaven's opened and it poured all day.. I found out that my cheap waterproof Jacket was cheap for a reason :( To be honest the weather kind of set the mood for the day. The morning was interesting, we toured the Bloomsburg head office so I got to find out a lot abut a company that I knew relatively little about before and it seems like a really nice place to work. Karen Toulon is a very high positioned women there and she took some time to talk to us- she was pretty amazing, juggling such a high job with a family and she gave us some valuable advice about interviews and such.
The next part of the day was Wall street, we did a tour which included a lot about the history of the area. It may have been the weather but I was quite disappointed with the tour, which I had thought I would enjoy.
We ended the day with a Sabbath service at the Central Synagogue, the building inside was amazing and so much more colourful than I expected. Even though the service was mostly in Hebrew, because it was sang and not spoken you could almost keep up with what was going on and the general mood of each prayer/passage. Everybody was so inviting to us outsiders and made us feel very welcome :)
I forgot to mention in Thursdays post- One of the American girls on our tour, Adrianna, had her 24th birthday so we all put in a couple of dollars to get her a card and cake and decorations which were hidden in one of the other houses. We then called a meeting with our Student adviser here who had to check a couple of things with us, during the meeting another student adviser came and told Adrianna that there was a problem with her e-mail that she needed to sort out. As soon as she left the building it was like a military operation of people putting up the banners and lighting candles, all in the space of about 3 minutes! It paid off though, she was so surprised when she came back in, to the point of near tears..it was a really nice way to show how quickly we are bonding as a group :)
Saturday was our first official free day so we did what we have all been wanting to do...Sleep in and shop :) Me, Steph and Emily had a fairly decent lay in then went into the local town of White Plains- had enormous meals at a traditional American diner, then hit both of the local malls. When we came back home our American housemate who works at Chipotle had brought us back loads of Mexican food.. we love her :)
Diner shake :)
Saturday, 8 June 2013
Thursday 6th June
I enjoyed Thursday a lot more than I had expected, we spent nearly the whole day at the United Nations headquarters on 1st Ave. First of all we went on the tour that is open to all members of the public, we had to go through security clearing first though (for obvious reasons!). Unfortunately the General Assembly is closed for refurbishment and we couldn't go into the Security Council room as it was actually in session, we did go into some other conference rooms which were in session, which was a weird experience- it felt very intrusive but also quite surreal that you are in a room in which huge decisions are made which can have an effect all of us. One of the pictures is of something I found particularly cool on the tour, an artist made an AK47 into a guitar to show how something beautiful and peaceful like music can be produced from something that was intended for violence. another picture is of one of the images on display in the museum part of the UN which shows some of their conservation work, I was particularly interested in this as I support Shark conservation and I did not realise it was an important mission at the UN.
We were fortunate enough to have a meeting with three people who work in different parts of the UN who took time out of their working day to meet with us, tell us what they do on a daily basis and why/how they got into the UN work. What was really interesting was that staff at the UN are not supposed to show allegiance to any country in their work and as a result they end up feeling like the UN is their country/nationality, the Korean guy actually said that the only time he feels Korean is when the football team is playing :)
The best part of the day was definitely meeting with the UN ambassador of New Zealand, he definitely had the laid back attitude that I've seen in every Kiwi I've met. Again he took time out of his day of campaigning to meet with us and answer our questions about New Zealand and about working in the UN with other ambassadors. He was seemed genuinely interested in us too and asked us just as many questions. Over all such a nice guy and it's nice to know that some of the people in these high, policy making decisions are decent people!
We were fortunate enough to have a meeting with three people who work in different parts of the UN who took time out of their working day to meet with us, tell us what they do on a daily basis and why/how they got into the UN work. What was really interesting was that staff at the UN are not supposed to show allegiance to any country in their work and as a result they end up feeling like the UN is their country/nationality, the Korean guy actually said that the only time he feels Korean is when the football team is playing :)
The best part of the day was definitely meeting with the UN ambassador of New Zealand, he definitely had the laid back attitude that I've seen in every Kiwi I've met. Again he took time out of his day of campaigning to meet with us and answer our questions about New Zealand and about working in the UN with other ambassadors. He was seemed genuinely interested in us too and asked us just as many questions. Over all such a nice guy and it's nice to know that some of the people in these high, policy making decisions are decent people!
Roey in a UN board room
Multi-faith church near the UN
UN flag
Shark conservation project
Guitar AK47
Wednesday, 5 June 2013
Wednesday 5th June
Another lecture day today but a very interesting one :) We had a guest speaker called David from the World Service Authority, this is an organisation set up by Garry Davis which helps people whose best interest does not lie within their nation but in becoming a World Citizen. Davis was a fighter pilot in WW2 who had to drop bombs on any city he was told to, but he felt that it went against his nature to kill and did not want to be a art of a nation that demanded he do so. Therefore, he renounced his American citizenship and become a citizen of the world. Davis is 92 now, he seems to me to be an incredibly brave individual, we were lucky enough to have him on the phone for 10 minutes but I could probably have listened to his stories and ideas all day. I had never heard of world citizenship as a legitimate option (a world passport is an official document recognised by over 160 countries) and I am really happy that I got the chance to learn about something on this trip that I would never have done otherwise.
The second half of the day was preparing us for our United Nations trip tomorrow in the form of a history and overview of the structure of the organisation. At the end of the day we discovered that we are going to be taking part (over the course of the 3 weeks) in a mock UN Security Council set-up. We have been given a brief with the story of a fictional African country at civil war and we students each represent one of the 15 member states of the security council who must decide how to act, if at all! The countries were issued randomly, I was assigned Pakistan which I was disappointed with at first because I'm power mad and was hoping for somewhere like Russia, China etc. But looking at my secret Pakistan brief there may be some interesting politics yet! Obviously I can't disclose them here as they are far beyond your security clearance ;)
The second half of the day was preparing us for our United Nations trip tomorrow in the form of a history and overview of the structure of the organisation. At the end of the day we discovered that we are going to be taking part (over the course of the 3 weeks) in a mock UN Security Council set-up. We have been given a brief with the story of a fictional African country at civil war and we students each represent one of the 15 member states of the security council who must decide how to act, if at all! The countries were issued randomly, I was assigned Pakistan which I was disappointed with at first because I'm power mad and was hoping for somewhere like Russia, China etc. But looking at my secret Pakistan brief there may be some interesting politics yet! Obviously I can't disclose them here as they are far beyond your security clearance ;)
I need to take a minute in dedication to Fred. Fred is our bus driver, or our God as most of us are referring to him. He's just cool. He's driving us around outside of term time, picking us up whenever we need, even waiting for us to shop for three hours! Fred's one of those guys who, no matter what you need, he knows a guy! To top it off, when we got back on the bus yesterday he emerged with three big boxes from Neri's bakery, full of assorted cookies and biscuits for each of our three students houses. I think we would all agree that our trip has been made more enjoyable thanks to Fred :)
Tuesday 4th June
I am actually writing this on Weds 5th because I was too tired to do it last night, I didn't create a post for Monday because we had an introductory lectures day but I will mention it briefly in this post. We are getting up pretty early tomorrow to go to the UN so we have the evening free tonight, I've decided to have a chilled evening which is why I am writing this in my PJs with a blue-green face mask on looking like one of the painted Seal warriors (for those who have seen the Eagle movie)!
On Monday we were introduced to the course by the three lecturers who created it; Darren from Roehampton specialises in Globalism and sociology, Davis from Maryville specialises in global politics and Peter from Manhattanville specialises in global religions. I found all three aspects of the course very interesting, it surprised me how much I got into the politics and sociology side (especially considering I had always thought of sociology as a bit of a mickey mouse subject! Which I take back now I have learnt a bit more about it).
Yesterday (Tuesday) was another full on day in the city. We took the public bus from campus to the local town of White Plains and got to Grand Central from there so that we would know how to do it on our own in the future. We were going get the GC- Times square shuttle and then walk the remaining 6 blocks to the pier but a nice guy on the train informed us that the m42 bus on 42nd would take us all the way there- people are generally quite friendly like that here :)
The circle line cruise was amazing, it probably comes a close second to the Top of the Rock for the best view of New York. The Statue of Liberty is beautiful, regal and a bit smaller in real life than I expected. I was awed by the bridges, we have some impressive and more decorative bridges in London, but the Hudson bridges are something else. My amateur photography skills somehow became known on the boat, I must have taken 17 pictures for strangers in front of the statue or skyline and at one point I had a queue 4 deep...I was about to start a tips jar! The first picture on here is of the Manhattan Bridge located between the Brooklyn and Williamsburg, Roey is clearly loving the cruise!
After the cruise we did quite a bit of wandering in the city, we ended up around 7th Ave which is the fashion district and visited the Fashion Institute of Technology- not my cup of tea but it still had a quaint museum. My favourite part of the afternoon was going along the Highline; this is an old elevated train track which has been converted into a walkway/garden above the city, mostly over the hippy/forward thinking parts around Chelsea (quite obvious from the many rainbow flags flying on nearby buildings)- apparently the highline is where all the cool people hang out now...obviously why I felt at home ;) You can walk along the highline a lot quicker than you could walk the streets and it has been so successful that they are working on converting a lot more of the old tracks into a highline network. What I loved about it was that you are still in the centre of the city, surrounded by New Yorkers but there is a calm and peaceful atmosphere about it, helped by the city noise being reduced a surprising amount.
There's not much to say about the return trip- the subway in rush hour was quite the experience though! We did stop off in Times Square but it was a brief visit and I know we intend to take a longer one later in the trip :)
On Monday we were introduced to the course by the three lecturers who created it; Darren from Roehampton specialises in Globalism and sociology, Davis from Maryville specialises in global politics and Peter from Manhattanville specialises in global religions. I found all three aspects of the course very interesting, it surprised me how much I got into the politics and sociology side (especially considering I had always thought of sociology as a bit of a mickey mouse subject! Which I take back now I have learnt a bit more about it).
Yesterday (Tuesday) was another full on day in the city. We took the public bus from campus to the local town of White Plains and got to Grand Central from there so that we would know how to do it on our own in the future. We were going get the GC- Times square shuttle and then walk the remaining 6 blocks to the pier but a nice guy on the train informed us that the m42 bus on 42nd would take us all the way there- people are generally quite friendly like that here :)
The circle line cruise was amazing, it probably comes a close second to the Top of the Rock for the best view of New York. The Statue of Liberty is beautiful, regal and a bit smaller in real life than I expected. I was awed by the bridges, we have some impressive and more decorative bridges in London, but the Hudson bridges are something else. My amateur photography skills somehow became known on the boat, I must have taken 17 pictures for strangers in front of the statue or skyline and at one point I had a queue 4 deep...I was about to start a tips jar! The first picture on here is of the Manhattan Bridge located between the Brooklyn and Williamsburg, Roey is clearly loving the cruise!
After the cruise we did quite a bit of wandering in the city, we ended up around 7th Ave which is the fashion district and visited the Fashion Institute of Technology- not my cup of tea but it still had a quaint museum. My favourite part of the afternoon was going along the Highline; this is an old elevated train track which has been converted into a walkway/garden above the city, mostly over the hippy/forward thinking parts around Chelsea (quite obvious from the many rainbow flags flying on nearby buildings)- apparently the highline is where all the cool people hang out now...obviously why I felt at home ;) You can walk along the highline a lot quicker than you could walk the streets and it has been so successful that they are working on converting a lot more of the old tracks into a highline network. What I loved about it was that you are still in the centre of the city, surrounded by New Yorkers but there is a calm and peaceful atmosphere about it, helped by the city noise being reduced a surprising amount.
There's not much to say about the return trip- the subway in rush hour was quite the experience though! We did stop off in Times Square but it was a brief visit and I know we intend to take a longer one later in the trip :)
Roey loving life :)
Jell-O is my nectar
Manhattan from the Circle Line
Sunday, 2 June 2013
Sunday 2nd June
I don't think I've ever done as much walking in my entire life but I now feel like I have really seen New York! We started off the day by being given Metrocards and having our first experience of the Subway, turns out there is a knack to swiping the Metrocard and I am apparently a natural ;) We rode the number 6 from Pelham to 103rd St to visit the Museum of the City of New York. There was a 22 minute film narrated by Stanley Tucci (whose voice I could listen to forever) on the history of the city, it was interesting to see how, and more importantly why, it developed the way it has done over the years. The 'Activist New York' exhibit was also very interesting.. and we discovered that the Pride Parade is the day after we leave, gutted because that would have been an amazing experience!
After the Museum we rode the subway further along to Grand Central station, being a Sunday afternoon it was relatively quiet so we actually got the chance to stand in the main foyer and appreciate how beautiful it is- we then appreciated the food in the food concourse :)
Walking out of Grand Central and having the humid smell of street vendors hit me was the first time I really felt like I was in New York. We walked up 42nd to Fifth Ave to the entrance of the New York public library, it felt like walking into the British Museum- even if you don't really understand architecture you can't not feel in awe of such an incredible building.
50th St houses St. Patrick's Cathedral, the most influential Catholic Church in the country. Even with all the scaffolding outside (part of a three year renovation) it is still an impressive sight and there was a picture of one of the many stained glass windows inside the Cathedral but it is not uploading :(
The main part of the day was spent touring the Rockefeller Centre, also on 50th, I had no idea that it comprised of so many buildings and a lot of the tour was outside. We had possibly the most stereotypical American tour guide possible, full of enthusiasm and name dropping every 30 seconds, he was very entertaining though and the buildings and art work (along with the stories behind them) were impressive :) Possibly the best part of the tour though was the 'Top of the Rock', seeing the view from the 72nd floor of the Rockefeller lets you see NYC in a whole new way.. plus the elevator ride on the way up has pretty cool glass effects that made me feel like I was in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and about to go straight through the roof! The last stop of the day was noodles at Sammy's in the Village :)
The tours were amazing but in some ways I think it's the smaller things that make the city so unique, like the guys who ride the subway begging for change, but as with everything in America they go to the extreme of getting the attention of the whole carriage then spilling out an elaborate story which lasts for 7 stops, or the girl (who you take 10 minutes to decide if it is actually a girl) who is clearly trying to memorise a hip hop routine and ends up doing a lil dance on the Subway for you.
All in all an amazing first day ended by chilling with the girlies in my room eating cupcakes (my room has become the living room because it's so big!). Kinda glad we are on campus tomorrow just to give our feet a rest though :)
After the Museum we rode the subway further along to Grand Central station, being a Sunday afternoon it was relatively quiet so we actually got the chance to stand in the main foyer and appreciate how beautiful it is- we then appreciated the food in the food concourse :)
Walking out of Grand Central and having the humid smell of street vendors hit me was the first time I really felt like I was in New York. We walked up 42nd to Fifth Ave to the entrance of the New York public library, it felt like walking into the British Museum- even if you don't really understand architecture you can't not feel in awe of such an incredible building.
50th St houses St. Patrick's Cathedral, the most influential Catholic Church in the country. Even with all the scaffolding outside (part of a three year renovation) it is still an impressive sight and there was a picture of one of the many stained glass windows inside the Cathedral but it is not uploading :(
The main part of the day was spent touring the Rockefeller Centre, also on 50th, I had no idea that it comprised of so many buildings and a lot of the tour was outside. We had possibly the most stereotypical American tour guide possible, full of enthusiasm and name dropping every 30 seconds, he was very entertaining though and the buildings and art work (along with the stories behind them) were impressive :) Possibly the best part of the tour though was the 'Top of the Rock', seeing the view from the 72nd floor of the Rockefeller lets you see NYC in a whole new way.. plus the elevator ride on the way up has pretty cool glass effects that made me feel like I was in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and about to go straight through the roof! The last stop of the day was noodles at Sammy's in the Village :)
The tours were amazing but in some ways I think it's the smaller things that make the city so unique, like the guys who ride the subway begging for change, but as with everything in America they go to the extreme of getting the attention of the whole carriage then spilling out an elaborate story which lasts for 7 stops, or the girl (who you take 10 minutes to decide if it is actually a girl) who is clearly trying to memorise a hip hop routine and ends up doing a lil dance on the Subway for you.
All in all an amazing first day ended by chilling with the girlies in my room eating cupcakes (my room has become the living room because it's so big!). Kinda glad we are on campus tomorrow just to give our feet a rest though :)
Sorted out my picture problem- St. Patrick's Cathedral
Saturday, 1 June 2013
Saturday 1st June
I can now officially say I am in New York! Had a lovely few days chilling in Newark with the girlies, made a couple of visits to the Jersey Gardens mall- a huge outlet centre, where we shopped and sampled our first American traditions- Cinnabons and Chile cheese dogs :)
After a two hour taxi trip where we acted like total tourists, taking pictures of every sign and sight, we made it to Manhattanville campus. It's huge. We are in the furthest away building and it is a trek to get back to the main entrance, but I'm sure we'll get used to it! So far there are me, two Roey girls and a Manhattanville girl in our building but there should be another person arriving tomorrow so we'll have a full house :) My room sleeps three people normally and it's huuuuuge! It's on the ground floor too so it's a bit eerie in this massive room by myself :/ but again, I'm sure I'll get used to it soon.
Again, there wasn't much to update on so far as we've only just arrived but we are up early tomorrow for a full tour of NYC including lunch at Grand Central Station so hopefully I will have something more interesting to say tomorrow :)
After a two hour taxi trip where we acted like total tourists, taking pictures of every sign and sight, we made it to Manhattanville campus. It's huge. We are in the furthest away building and it is a trek to get back to the main entrance, but I'm sure we'll get used to it! So far there are me, two Roey girls and a Manhattanville girl in our building but there should be another person arriving tomorrow so we'll have a full house :) My room sleeps three people normally and it's huuuuuge! It's on the ground floor too so it's a bit eerie in this massive room by myself :/ but again, I'm sure I'll get used to it soon.
Again, there wasn't much to update on so far as we've only just arrived but we are up early tomorrow for a full tour of NYC including lunch at Grand Central Station so hopefully I will have something more interesting to say tomorrow :)
First view of NYC from cab
Thursday, 30 May 2013
Thursday 30th May
First post from across the pond! The journey wasn't too bad, 7 hours rubbing shoulders with two strangers is never ideal but the in-flight entertainment was a lot more than I expected. I watched the new Hansel & Gretel which I'll admit wasn't the greatest cinematic experience but it was a fairly good way to kill a couple of hours in the air. Customs was LONG as expected, but it was also a really simple system, as was the on-going journey to the Hotel. My first observation of the USA is that the people are insanely nice, from the older guy at the airport who gave me step-by-step directions to the hotel shuttle bus to the woman in the hotel corridor who explained how I open the temperamental door to get out to the pool! That's right, I said pool...I have spent the afternoon reading by the pool in blinding sunshine :) I know this is supposed to be an experience/adventure/city tour but for a few hours today it felt like a glorious beach holiday! And the picture does not do it justice at all.
That's all for today from me, Roey and our heavenly hotel bed :)
That's all for today from me, Roey and our heavenly hotel bed :)
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Introducing 'Roey'
As a note to my previous post I would like to introduce 'Roey' the Roehampton Duck! At Roehampton they like to give a duck to all of the international students who stay on our campus with the idea that they take pictures with him around London, as a memory for them and also to spread the Roehampton name. The organiser of the NY study trip thought it would be a good idea to give us all a duck to take pictures with in NY.. she also suggested that we pass the duck on to one of the American students we will be staying with, if we think they deserve it! I cannot remember what the actual name of the duck is so I have called him Roey and you will hopefully be seeing a lot more of him (if I remember to pack him!)
New York Introduction
So I have no idea where this Blog is going to go but it is starting because I am going to New York next week and I want a place to share and remember my experiences. A few months ago I saw a poster at Uni for a three week New York Study Tour, when I looked into it further I discovered that only 15 students would be able to go and there was a selection process involving three mini essays (how would this trip benefit you academically/personally etc.) I couldn't really afford to go but how often do opportunities like this come up?!
Long story short, I was one of those selected and am now unbelievably excited to be flying out next week! I am horrifically under-prepared and haven't even started shopping, let alone thought about packing. To be honest it's all still a bit surreal and I probably won't feel like I am actually going until I am at the airport.
Can't wait to get there and actually have something interesting to write about!
Long story short, I was one of those selected and am now unbelievably excited to be flying out next week! I am horrifically under-prepared and haven't even started shopping, let alone thought about packing. To be honest it's all still a bit surreal and I probably won't feel like I am actually going until I am at the airport.
Can't wait to get there and actually have something interesting to write about!
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