NYC Week 6!

So, it's been a while since I should have posted this but again, better late than never!!

This past 6 weeks have absolutely flown by and I can't believe my time in NYC is coming to a close.  I try my hardest to enjoy every moment that I have here in the city and this week was no exception.  Outside of working roughly 8:30-5 plus the one hour (or more) commute, during the week I don't have the energy to do much more than a little shopping or exploring, and dinner. This week, as always, there were some notable events.

On Wednesday night, at the tree lighting at Rockefeller Center occurred.  Unfortunately, when I got there a little before 7pm (the event officially started then with a number of performers) the place was filled with people.  The sidewalks were packed, the crowd must have been in the thousands.  I would have loved to have gotten there sooner, however work comes first and the commute after work didn't get me back to Manhattan until 6:30, I grabbed a bite to eat and suddenly the event was about to start.  I couldn't even get close enough to see the tree so in the end I gave up and decided to go back to my apartment and be warm while watching the event on TV.  It was a great show to watch with performers including Cee Lo Green, Mariah Carey and the Rockettes, and while it would have been amazing to be there, it was nice to be able to sit in the warmth of my apartment, away from the mass of people and relax.

Heather and I at the Bryant Park Christmas Tree

Friday, I wasn't feeling great so I spent the day working on our project report from home and trying to relax my body so as to not get sick.  Friday night one of my best friends, Heather, came to visit and explore the city.  We went to this little Italian restaurant near my apartment where I ate some delicious spinach and cheese ravioli with pesto sauce.  It was the perfect size meal and best of all it was reasonably priced.  We then went to Bryant Park, where we saw a Christmas tree, the Empire State Building and Macy*s.  It was (I hope) a great start to seeing NYC without being overwhelming.

Saturday on the other hand, I packed full of all the things she just HAD to see in NYC.  We started with breakfast at Pershing Square, aka the busiest and best breakfast place in New York City.  It certainly lived up the the 'busy' aspect with every table filled and a line that never went away.  And while the food was great, I doubt it is the BEST in the city.

Angel Mo - Swarovski Crystal

After Pershing Square, we went to Rockefeller Center to see the ice rink and Christmas tree.  It was great to see people starting to get in the Christmas spirit!  Across the street from the tree is a small Swarovski Crystal store (the star at the top of the tree is Swarovski). While most of the ornaments and decorations were traditional, there were some, such as Angel Mo in the picture, that were... a little more unique! Apparently, there is a whole collection of Mos that are created a few times a year. From there we went to 53^rd Street between Madison and 5^th Avenue where there is a segment of the Berlin Wall (the same segment that I first saw about a month ago with my dad.  We also went to Central Park and stopped by Serendipity 3, which is known for their Frozen Hot Chocolate, but the wait was between an hour and an hour and a half so we didn’t stay and instead went to a small cafe to grab a bite to eat.  We decided at this point to take a small break and get a little warmer back at my apartment. 

After a little while, we took the subway to the Wall St area where we took pictures with the “Charging Bull.”  The line to see the bull was probably 20-30 people long and went along the right side of it.  However, all too often, a group would walk along the left side to cut the line and get a picture with the bull.  It was irritating to see people doing this so once we got close enough to the front, we made sure these individuals were made aware of the line that was formed on our side.  All of the people seemed utterly shocked by this and apparently “didn’t realize” there was a line. 

Ummm, HELLO!!! No, I just like standing in a line of 30 people and looking at this side of the bull. DUHHH.

Anyways, after that we went to see the New York Stock Exchange, where they were in the process of setting up a Christmas Tree in the middle of the road and Federal Hall, the place where George Washington was inaugurated as the first president of the United States of America.  As if this wasn’t enough, we then went to Tiffany & Co. and browsed all of the sparkly pieces of jewelry.  Upon attempting to exit, the doorman began to chat us up.  He asked us how we liked Tiffany's, and being a college student with no current income, I responded that it was on the upper-end of my price range.  The conversation lasted for fairly long, with occasional interruptions of him saying "Hello, welcome to Tiffany's" and "Have a nice day!" to customers walking in and out.  At the end of our conversation, he suggested that Heather and I apply for part-time jobs at Tiffany's particulary because of the great discounts employees receive.  Maybe I will!

Eventually we were able to leave and make our way to the Ground Zero memorial.  It was a great moment to reflect on how lucky we each are for another hour and even minute on Earth.  

With a few other stops, we eventually went to see the Rockettes!  Neither of us had seen them before but it is suck a New York holiday thing to do, so it was impossible to pass up!  

Early the next morning, Heather headed back to Worcester and I tried to catch up on sleep.


The next day was quite interesting, as I'll write about next!!

NYC Week 3!

Sunday I decided to be the laziest. I laid in bed for way too long watching Law & Order SVU.  I finally made it outside the apartment and explored a little more of the city with two other students from school. In a city like New York, there's so much to see every way you turn so it was great to be able to see more. I also tried out a new wide-angle lens on my camera which has since taken some great shots.

We started by Grand Central where we saw Pershing Square.  I will HAVE to try this breakfast spot sometime during the next few weeks!

Pershing Square - The busiest and best breakfast in New York

We then headed towards the United Nations where we say some damage from the Hurricane.  Next to the UN there is this beauty of a globe.

Globe at the United Nations

A city like New York also inspires some deep thoughts on occasion.  Seeing all the cars speed past at night was one of those moments.  No matter what's going on in your life, the world keeps moving so try to keep up!

Gotta keep moving cause the world never stops

Monday was just a typical day.  We finally were able to return to work and really get moving on our project.  After a full day back in the office, I was too tired to do anything else.  

However Tuesday was Election Day!!! I hade voted a month ago with an absentee ballot since I wouldn't be in my hometown all day but I was super excited to find out the results!  Once polling sites began closing across the country, I headed out with a few friends to see the city and most importantly go to Rockefeller Center, which was lit up as "Democracy Plaza" for the night.

Empire State Building

The first thing we spotted was the Empire State Building specially lit up for the night.  Normally when the Empire State Building lights up, there are three horizontal layers of lights.  However, they made it SUPER special this night but doing three vertical stripes!

We then walked North to get to Rockefeller Center and on our way saw the New York Public Library.  With the lens I bought on Sunday, I snapped this picture.  I'm absolutely in LOVE with the lens!

New York Public Library

After seeing those two beauties, we finally made our way to Rockefeller Center.  It was absolutely beautiful.  It looked so patriotic but it also showed the deep divide in this wonderful country of ours.

The photo on the left shows the plaza as a whole while the photo on the right shows the Rockefeller Center tower.

The crowd would cheer each time a state had enough data to project a winner and it was as though there was a bar graph on the building.  Each candidate had something like a window cleaner cart with their name and the current point estimate on it.  As they were projected the winner of a state, the number on their cart would be updated and the cart would raise to show the relative position of the candidate compared to the needed total and the opponent.  The picture below is of the moment that Obama was projected the winner of the presidency and the cart was raised. 

Obama reaches 270

It was a moment that I can't quite explain.  With this being the first presidential election I could vote in, I felt accomplished (strangely, I mean what did I really accomplish? I filled out a ballot? Great job! You can fill in a bubble!), excited, but potentially most important, nervous.  While the majority of the people were cheering (New York City being a fairly democratic area) I knew that around the world, country, state and city the reactions would not be quite the same.  No matter who ultimately was elected, the country would be divided and it really is going to take some great effort to get people to compromise and do what's right to get America back to where it should be.  Where we are now is not one or two people's fault. We all must take accountability.  If you don't have the money, don't spend it.  It's basic accounting for each citizen AND for the country.

Okay, my rant is over now. 

Oh, and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were all lazy again.

<3 have a fabulous weekend!

Back to NYC!

The power is back on!!!! That being said, I returned to the city Saturday with my dad.  After dropping my stuff at the apartment, we explored more of the city.  On our walk to Central Park we saw a segment of the Berlin Wall.  It was placed inconspicuously between 2 buildings with only a little seating area.  It's crazy to be able to walk around and see the old right next to the new.

A segment of the Berlin Wall in NYC.

Bethesda Fountain

After checking the wall out, we continued to walk to Central Park where we saw the zoo.  What craziness! A zoo, in the middle of the park?  I mean maybe it's not that crazy but it's amazing how much there is to do at Central Park.  Every corner you turn there is something new to see!  As we kept walking we found this fountain area.  My dad (who knows way to many random facts) claimed a lot of movies have used this as a filming location.  I was hesitant to believe him until I googled it and found that Enchanted (a movie I've never seen) filmed a large choreographed dance scene here.

Bethesda Fountain in Enchanted

After the fountain we kept walking to where I really wanted to go to, Strawberry Fields.  In a world of so much hate, it's nice to remember people like John Lennon who encouraged people to accept one another for who they are and to imagine the world living as one.

Imagine mosaic

Around the mosaic people were playing music and just enjoying the chilly afternoon.  We then wandered across the street to see The Dakota, the apartment building that John Lennon lived in.  We finally decided to start making our way back to my apartment.  On the way we went by where the New York Marathon finish line was supposed to be.  Originally, the marathon was planned to be the next day (Sunday November 4) however because of Hurricane Sandy, it was cancelled.

New York Marathon finish line

While it is completely understandable for the marathon to be cancelled in order to get the necessary supplies to those in need, I had been so pumped to see the marathon finish! Just over 6 months ago, when I was finishing my Junior year project in London, I saw the finish to the Virgin London Marathon.  It's awe-inspiring to see people finish running 26.2 miles with the biggest smile on their face!  Despite the pain in their muscles they are so thrilled to have finish that it can block the pain!

LASTLY, as we walked back to my apartment we spotted this gem!  It's the building that was on the news for hours because in the middle of Hurricane Sandy the crane on the top collapsed.  While it didn't fall, it was even more terrifying as it hung 90 floors above the ground with many more hours of strong wind.  Now, the crane is reattached to the building however no one is allowed within a 2 blocks radius of the building.  

Crane reattached at 57th St

It was quite a busy day!  But in all, I'm just so happy to be back in the city!

Quote of the week

NYC Week 1: part 2!

Friday was my teams first FULL day at the office.  

One of these buildings is ours!

It was cut a little short though do to being stuck on the subway for approximately an hour due to a police investigation.  But the team began digging deeper into how to program and let's hope it's moving fast enough in the correct direction!!

After work I hustled out of work to go to Mia Chef Gelateria.  I had found a groupon not too long ago for a gelato making class and since I want to experience as much of the city as I can in my 2 months here, I bought it and was able to book the class nice and early!  There were 13 people (including me) at the class plus the instructor. It was very simple, fun, and tasty!

 We added the ingredients:

Mixed the ingredients:

The instructor took the gelato out of the machine (which cost approximately $20,000):

 Added topping to the gelato

Snickers Gelato, adding chocolate sauce

 And most importantly, took pictures and tasted the gelato!

Snickers Gelato from Mia Chef Gelateria

Each person at the class got to take home 4 pints of gelato, one pint of each flavor we made.  The flavors were: Cookies and Cream, Snickers, Double (or Dutch, I can't remember what it's called) Chocolate and Fig & Tequila!  It was so informative and the gelato I now have in my freezer is so delicious!

Today (aka Saturday), I ended up going shopping at the Forever 21 in Times Square.  It was absolutely amazing.  4 floors full of clothes and accessories.  It was interesting to see the range of ages of those shopping there.  There were girls no older than 12 all the way up to this much older woman (I'm guessing she's in her 70's) who I found in the shoes section checking out this pair of sparkly shoes:

After shopping, I did absolutely nothing except for eat some of the gelato I made yesterday and watching an NCIS marathon.  Unfortunately, it looks the Hurricane/Tropical Storm Sandy will be incredibly rough for this area so we will see how the next few days pan out.

NYC - Week 1!

So I've spent the last week in New York City working on completing my senior year project for college. I moved in on Saturday and spent the day unpacking then went to dinner with my parents at a great Italian restaurant, Marcony Ristorante. The meal included a sample of their fried mozzarella balls, butternut squash soup, butternut squash ravioli and finished off with crème brûlée.  It was all absolutely delicious! After saying goodbye to my parents, I joined some other students from school and we went to Gallery 32 in Koreatown.  I enjoyed Nutella froyo with crushed oreos and fruit (nom nom nom!!!). The next day I chose to explore some of the city to start taking pictures. It was amazing to see where my family used to have businesses and to see many of the NYC landmarks!

The former location of my grandfather's business

The former location of my great-grandfather's family store

Entrance to Macy's

The ice rink at Rockefeller Center

Grand Central Terminal

Radio City Music Hall

The naked Native American

Monday through Wednesday we weren't allowed to go to work due to legal issues, so Monday I went on the Circle Line boat tour around Manhattan to see all of the major landmarks.

Freedom Tower & the financial district

Statue of Liberty

Brooklyn Bridge

Concorde, a supersonic plane that can travel up to 1,350mph

USS Intrepid, a WWII aircraft carrier

Afterwards, I bicycles around Central Park with one of my project partners and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  Tuesday and Wednesday were much more lazy, only including some shopping (only bought a few pairs of shoes), Law & Order: SVU watching, and laying in bed.

We FINALLY started work on Thursday although it was only a half day.  We found out much more about our project and after returning home from work, fell almost immediately asleep. Friday and Saturday will follow in the next post!!