Monday, July 20, 2015

ILC meets NYC

I had been wanting to go to Columbia for a long time and when I found out that the summer discovery had already gone, I was a bit sad. In fact, my whole cohort was. Yet, we knew we could at least ask John to take us the worse that could happen would be for him to not be able to. So, we asked and it took a couple of days, but we were able to go today. 

Last night, I could barely get to sleep because I was full of excitement for the trip.  I eventually had to force myself to because I knew it was going to be a long day. 

I had to wake up at 6:00 a.m. in order to be downstairs at 7:00 to meet John. I woke up exactly at 6:00 and finished getting ready by 6:45. Jun came over because she was also finished early. We stayed in my room for a while and then we went downstairs. When we got there we didn't see anyone until we went into the "Nook" ( the office at the front of the Quad). I saw John and Lauren Schwab the main Resident Counselor.  Next, we saw Joanne,Justeen, and Rudy. We were almost ready to go ,but we were missing someone. Chiamaka was nowhere around, so we decided to go to her room and see if she was still asleep.  Just as we came up the stairs and went to her door, she was opening it . She told us that she had set 5 alarms, but she still failed to hear them and get up. It was now time for us to leave when we came back to the "Nook". With her being slightly late, we were on a tight schedule.

We began our walk to the Sheraton to catch a taxi cab.  With there being seven of us we had to catch two cabs to the train station. The first cab was Rudy, Chiamaka,Joanne, and Justeen and then the second was Jun, John and I. We went to the 30th station. The station was really nice it had an old rustic but the classy type of feeling.

John got us our tickets and we boarded the train. The ride was about 30 minutes and then we got off in New Jersey. When we got off the train John took us over to McDonald's to get breakfast because we had 15 minutes and we hadn't eaten. We all ordered our food and headed back to the train boarding area. It took a little longer than expected, so we had to do a fast jog. 

When we got onto the train almost all the seats were taken, but we found a small section where we could all sit and eat together.  I got a sausage mcgriddle, Oreo frappuccino, and a hash brown. As did almost everybody else, except Jun. 

We rode in that space for a short time before moving into an actual car. When we got into a car, Jun and I sat together  and fell asleep. When we woke up we were in a New York City.  I was so excited as I got off the train, just the thought of being in New York has been enough. Then, we began our walk to Columbia to begin our tour. We knew we were going to be a little late due to what happened in the morning, plus the train wait in New Jersey, so it was a given. We came out of the station on ... Street.  It was very plain and busy,partly of what I imagined New York would be like. The busy part only, the plainness was a little odd for me, but I guess it was just the area. 

When we arrived at Columbia we were at least 15 minutes late, but it was fine. We began  a little tour of our own with John before we found a guided group. I enjoyed the tour of the school and our guide was very informative. I would apply to Columbia in the near future because it  seems to be a very great school. Plus, it's an Ivy.After, the tour John took us over to a pizza parlor that had gigantic slices. But I guess that is just New York style pizza for you. I enjoyed one slice of pepperoni due to its size I was filled up one that slice alone. When we finished our pizza we headed over to Central Park.

Central Park was beautiful, more than what is actually shown in the movies. I think I had a more profound appreciation of grass there too. Seeing how California is in a drought, I hadn't seen that much green grass since 2011. And it was deeply missed.

We also went to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked across to catch the subway. From there we went to Times Square. When we came out of the station I just remember the bright lights and the smells. The lights were beautiful but the smells were wretched. I mean they nearly blew me away. Yet, in that I found that New York isn't the picture perfect place displayed in the movies. It has its bad, its good, and even its great , just like everywhere else. 

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