I’m new at blogging and clearly haven’t been too consistent, but I’m hoping to try and get more into it. As you’ve read from my last post I was in New York at the end of January and it was an awesome experience. Surprisingly it was not intimidating at all being there I actually found my way around pretty easily. The trip definitely made me realize that I could make it in the city at least short term anyways which has helped in making my decision to apply to college in Toronto and see if I get accepted. If I do then I'll go and if I don't then I guess I'll start looking for a job.
As for the trip, we didn't go on tours with our guides because they weren't very good so my friend Britt and I just walked the city ourselves and managed to find all of the landmarks and stuff we wanted to see on our own. We did the typical tourist type trip where we visited the popular landmarks/attractions: Central Park, Time Square, China Town/Canal Street, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Centre, NBC Studios, Financial District/Wall St., New York Stock Exchange, Brooklyn Bridge, Staten Island Ferry, Statue of Liberty, Trump Tower, Ground Zero/World Trade Centre remains etc. Those are the places I remember at least we saw lots of other places and went into a bunch of stores on 5th avenue that had things clearly we could never afford...but we went in anyway just to see what it was like.
The first night we went to a jazz club, it was alright it was the BB King jazz place. We were thinking about going to a comedy club (other people from our group went and said it was awesome) but ended up being too late to catch a show. The second night we went to a Broadway show which was really cool, we saw the Little Mermaid which was awesome because its my favourite Disney movie. Throughout the 2 full days we had there we were up really early in the morning and out until 3am the next morning because our bus came back into the city each night at 2am and it took a good 45 minutes to drive to our hotel in New Jersey.
The weather was really nice on our first day it honestly felt like spring but the second day it was freezing to the point where at 1:00am all I wanted to do was just go home and get warm. It wasn't fun at that point because all of the stores were closing and we had no choice but to stay outside in the cold and walk around aimlessly.
The bus ride there and back was extremely long and uncomfortable, so I’ve decided that one day when I go back I'm definitely flying and going in the spring or fall when its not too hot or cold. All and all the trip was amazing and definitely worth it, I actually had many realizations over the short visit. It is definitely The City that Never Sleeps, who knew that you could buy shoes at 1:30 am? I didn’t…until I did! It was crazy, stores were open incredibly late.
One of the things that I want to highlight from my trip to New York is the notion of consumption. The city was all about having money, showing that you have money and spending money! This was seen through the cars being driven and the fashion worn. Here is an example: we were walking into a restaurant for dinner and as we were walking in a couple and their young daughter (probably about 10 years old) were walking out. I was seriously shocked at what the young girl was wearing: a fur hat, high heels, makeup…weird! It wasn’t even a swanky restaurant. This definitely made me realize our difference in class, I grew up in a different social setting--I wore my brother’s hand me downs not hot couture!
I guess you could say that my trip to New Yorkwas a milestone for me. I learned a lot about not only the city but myself. For being a 'small-town-girl' I did really well! I wasn't scared or intimidated, I can't say that I fit in completely but I can say that this trip made me realize a lot about myself and what I want to do with my future.
