First trip to New York!

There have been many firsts this year.. going to grad school in Vermont, visiting a pumpkin festival in New Hampshire, and taking a short drive through Massachusetts, but one adventure that I wasn't sure I would actually have was a trip to the Big Apple! And although the idea of visiting the city was intimidating I did it, and this country girl actually enjoyed it!

Last week my fellow SIT (School for Int'l Training)friend Anne and I drove down in my Subaru outback wagon all the way to our hostel in East Harlem. Of course, we accidentally got off somewhere in Connecticut thinking we were near Manhattan, but that's normal for me when it comes to navigating ;)

Anne and I used our student discount to explore the city and all it has to offer! We went to see the hilarious Broadway show "The Producers" - highly recommended- as well as enjoyed the refinement of the Opera at the Metropolitan Opera House. Another destination was to stop by Carnegie Hall just to say I have been to the building - and to my great surprise, my former Orchestra Teacher, Mr. Wing and the Shorewood High School orchestra were posted for upcoming performances!!! To think if I was.... well, a lot younger... and still in high school I too could be performing at Carnegie Hall! Wow, what a surprise!

Another highlight was touring through the United Nations building. Being on "international territory", and not on US soil, the UN has its own stamps and postal system. I didn't take advantage of this service, but I found it quite interesting! (In the photo taken by the UN you can see my good friend and travel partner, Anne.) On the way out of the UN we also ran into a fellow SIT student who was applying for a job there... what an amazing place to work!

One place we all know that is difficult to visit, but necessary in understanding this country and much of the world as we know it today, was "Ground Zero" or the remains of the World Trade Center. The towers fell almost six years ago, but to my surprise there were still chunks of warped steel and concrete blocks scattered throughout the area.


As you can see construction has started on building the foundations for the new Freedom Tower and Liberty park. I was shocked to see that literally two blocks of central Manhattan were decimated! In many ways it felt like walking on sacred ground, similar to the feeling I had when walking around Hiroshima's Peace Park. There are really no words to describe the awe that surround my emotions. All I can say with pure confidence is that we need to bring PEACE!!


I'll start by eating some chocolate to put me in the mood...




As you can see my short two days in New York were filled with eye-opening excursions. Did we have any other random adventures? I felt like a true local being stuck on the broken-down subway at 2am. On our last day in Harlem before heading back to Vermont, Anne was mistaken for an artist because it's crazy to think anyone would take their "Vacation on Malcolm X Boulevevard?!", but we did!

The city was much friendlier than I anticipated... so many people asked us if we needed help finding our destination as we pulled out a map. When I bought a hot dog in Times Square the vendor handed me a free water with a smile. My rough and tough image of New York was shattered, but then again, I was only there for a few short days. Perhaps that was just right to enjoy what the city had to offer without being overwhelmed.

Thank you New York!
Until we meet again!