Visiting New York

I hate mondays... ;)

2007-04-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

Monday morning brought us back to our class duties, we attended 2 Spanish classes: one of them was an elementary level one and the other was a conversation class, in both we had a great time talking to the students about topics related to Spain. After class we had our lunch at Hewitt, the dining hall where we get our meals everyday, a place, by the way, we are starting to 'hate' because of the monotonous and unhealthy food they usually serve, but that is another story... In the afternoon we took a ferry to see the Statue of Liberty on our way to Staten island. We were a bit surprised because we thought that the statue itself was bigger, but it was a great view anyway. That same afternoon we also walked along Wall st and took pictures of the stock market (which is a Greek style building)and of some of the many skyscrapers that fill the city. We also walked along the seaport and came back home as exhausted as usual.

Tuesday was the shopping day par excellence. As usual, we went to class in the morning and took part in the cultura class in which we delivered a presentation and had a discussion afterwards. After lunch we left for Chinatown and Soho again where we shopped non-stop all afternoon. After dinner we visited Danielle's place and made some s'mores which is a sweet thing made of cookies, marshmallows and chocolate in the shape of a sandwich, yummy!!!Once back, we had a midnight girlie chat and a pillow battle and soon dozed off.

Ok, so Wednesday came and so our morning classes did. We have to say that classes were absolutely useful because every student seemed so much interested in what we said about Spain and about or culture. They all asked a thousand questions which we tried to answer as kindly as we could. In the afternoon we met Imelda at the Barnard gates (which is our usual meeting point) and took the train to the Grand Central station, which is such a beautiful place. We were taking pictures and sitting on the armchairs that are located in there. So many pictures we took that a soldier came over and politely asked if he could check our photos just to make sure we hadn't taken any picture of him according to the federal law. Then, we led our steps towards the tram that connects Manhattan with Roosevelt island. This tram provides a broad view over the river and over some the tallest buildings in the big apple. Just amazing!!!After such an impressive scene we took a train to Times sq where we enjoyed ourselves in the biggest Toys'r'us of the world, we even got on the children's wheel that is just inside the store. The store itself was a fascinating place both for kids and for grown ups, there was this huge dinosaur making frightening noises, it looked just like the real thing!We got back home and reheated some pizza, watched tv and soon fell asleep.

Today has been a weird day because when we got up it was snowing, then windy and then sunny( but cold anyway). As we knew we couldn't leave the city without going to Central park, so we did! It is so big that we could only cover the distance between the main gates to the lake because it was starting to snow again. Then we sheltered in a nearby mall and got free make-up at Sephora in the meantime, just the girls obvioulsy (Alberto was a bit fed up but, sorry man that's life :P)He had his moment of glory when visiting a guitar shop though. Right now we are only thinking of packing and of the long day that is to come :(

We just love New York!!!

"Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today
I want to be part of it"
New York, New York"

An stressful weekend

2007-04-05T17:24:00.000-07:00

Hey!We are sooo sorry because we haven't been able to blog on a daily basis, but life is a hectic over here, and we are so busy that it is hard to find some time to tell you what we have been doing. Ok, so on Saturday Kateri, Bethany and Danielle took us to Chinatown and to the Soho, it is not exaggerated to say that we nearly bought the whole place!If we had to point out something that really shocked us, that would be the 'hidden places' in Chinatown, this is such a ritual every visitor should go through because it is just part of the place's atmosphere. When walking along the crowded streets it is easy to find many Chinese people whispering 'gucci, prada, dior', so the tactic to follow is just to go behind them until you get to a shop, it might look ordinary at first but after going behind a curtain you will see thousands of well-known brand items which you can purchase at a low price. In all this process it is crucial to 'bargain'.

We got to the dorms, had dinner and without even having time to relax we set off into town to a place called 'serendipity', which is a famous spot in town due to its VIP customers. In there we ordered 'frozen hot chocolate' and "banana split' for the table. It is not that we didn't want to have one each but that the banana split itself cost $20 and it is also so big that really empty stomachs are required and that wasn't the case.

Sunday was a busy day, we got up early in order to be in time to attend the Gospel mass in Harlem. Jesus took us there and we enjoyed such a joyful mass that the feeling they have eventually becomes your own. This mass lasted an hour but it really seemed shorter because we were really having a good time singing and clapping and being part of their community for a while. After taking the subway to the WTC (World Trade Center) and being witnesses of what we have considered a 'cultural' business *, we tried to find the Path (a train) which would take us to New Jersey where we were to meet Imelda. The Path is a bit confusing so we kind of got lost. After finding our way and sorting out the unforeseen events that came our way we got to NJ and took a bus to the biggest mall we had ever seen. We spent 2 hours in there and then took a bus back into Newark( NJ) and had the best dinner ever: all sorts of meat, salads, pasta... in a charming Brazilian restaurant which even offered the opportunity to enjoy some live mariachi music while enjoying such a tasty supper. By the time we got back to the dorms we were so tired that we didn't even have time to strip our beds.

* By 'cultural' business we refer to the fact that the WTC is surrounded by lots of pictures of the suffering of that day, and also there are people trying to recall constantly the agony of the 9/11.

As seen on TV!

2007-04-02T18:45:00.000-07:00

Allright, up to now this is nothing but touristy stuff, but once we got to the Museum of Modern Art all of us, no exceptions, got shocked. First off, with the huge queue which spinned round the building almost three times! (it became clear, in the blink of an eye, that it was the free entrance day); and last, but not least, with the great amount of amazing paintings , photographs and so on that it stores. Guys, the Starry Night by Van Gogh was there, hanging on the wall! Such a beautiful one. And so were Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Picasso, various paintings and drawings by Cezanne, Mondrian, Campbell's soup can by Warhol and...ta-dah! The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali...you know, the one with the cheddar clocks, which was actually tiny! For us, it turned out to be kind of a dissapointment...But anyway, after an hour or so, we came back home in order to have dinner (a BIG one!) and then we went to a Broadway Musical! Yes, you've read properly!And a first-rated one, The Beauty and The Beast.
We were actually really tired after the long afternoon and some of us fell asleep (we won't say who, though, we'll keep it for ourselves xD), but it was a nice one. And the sight of Times Square at night was just magic, and so was M&M's megastore! :)

First Impressions 'bout New York!

2007-04-02T06:47:00.000-07:00

Hey!

Allright, we know we haven't been in touch for these past few days (we have too many things to do), yet as we promised all of you guys here we are, in order to tell you how we are doing in the city that never sleeps. Ok, let's kick off with the trip. It lasted for ages! We arrived in Madrid at 9:30 a.m. after more than four hours of unbearable stiff seats and we got to Barajas with no problems at all. There we met Imelda, took the plane to Amsterdam and after three more hours there we were, surrounded by tulips (not literally) and blonde people. As an anecdote, in the plane Imelda and us had some problems with a Spanish lady who thought we were making fun out of her... it's funny how this sort of misunderstanding can also happen between two people who speak the same language :p. It wasn't serious, though. The flight to New York lasted for nearly seven hours and it felt neverending, but once we got to see the lights of the city from the air everything turned out to be worthy. It's an amazing sight, guys, you just can't imagine how big Manhattan is! After landing, we took two cabs (NY slang!) home and, barely believing what was actually happening, we got to Barnard Collegue (the girls) and Cathedral Parkway 601 (Alberto) and had some sleep. I say some because none of us could sleep in a normal way, due to the different timetable and the so-called jet lag. Anyways, the next day (friday 30) we had a walk round Columbia and Barnard campus (they both are beautiful). After that, we had a coffee at Starbucks (really expensive!) and went to Riverside Park, where we chilled out before having lunch. The really interesting stuff, though, happened in the afternoon, when we went to Times Square and the MOMA. There we found the real New York, with high skycrapers, lots of different people passing by and crazy noise! We had a look at Rockefeller Center, which was really impressive with its ice skating rink (it has to be really beautiful in winter!) and its golden statue. By the way, we are not really sure, because we took mythology classes a long time ago, but we'd say it represented Eros! Love for everyone!

Visiting New York in 2007

2007-03-26T03:24:00.000-07:00

The following entries come from the group of students in León who are visiting Barnard College in New York in 2007. What are their experiences? What shocks and surprises them? They'll be writing a message every day of their visit to let the rest of their classmates know about what they are learning from their trip to NY...

New Rich People

2006-03-31T08:22:00.000-08:00

hi Spain!! how is everything going round there? here each day gets better than the day before. yesterday after going to the last Spanish class we interviewed lots of students. we talked about the government, ilegal immigrants, health care, homeless people living here in NYC...everything was very interesting, we will tell you what we learnt from that.
after having a nap, we went to have dinner in a Greek restaurant near Columbia University.

Later on we went to the Empire State Building by cab, and we were so excited because we could stop it like New Yorkers do!! The views from the Empire State were unbelievable, NYC at night is amazing!!!

You are not going to believe us, but we came back to Barnard by limousine!!! we paid 50$ for that, but we were 7 people!!! we were like millionairs going sightseeing inside that huge white car drinking soda with rum!!!

Right now we are going to meet Jesus and two of his friends who are a gay couple and they are going to explain us how is for a homosexual to live in America .

see ya soon!! :-)

the new rich people

Nicks vs. Boston Celtics

2006-03-30T11:55:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!!

What's up?
Today we are a little bit tired because yesterday was an intense day for all of us. At first we went to Chinatown to buy some souvenirs; some of us bought some things, but the most amazing thing was that we had the feeling of being in China: the houses, the signs, the people, everything seemed to be Chinese; then we went to see Brooklin Bridge, it was HUGE! We didn't expect to see such a beautiful bridge. And from that bridge we could also see the Manhattan Bridge, it was awesome. At 7.30 we went to the subway to go to Madison Square Garden.......just to see a match between the New York Nicks against the Boston Celtics!!! It was one of the greatest things we have experienced of our trip.

Nothing else by now,we are going to take a nap and then in the evening Barnard is inviting us to have dinner in a Greek restaurant called Simposium, and then we are thinking about going to see the Empire State building to catch with our cameras the whole view of Manhattan from the air.

See U the next week. Greetings from Alberto, Sergio, Ainhoa Sabela and Marga.

Bye!!!!

Beauty and the Beast

2006-03-29T12:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday as every single day in New York was amazing. In the morning we attended to classes as everyday, university life here is very hard!! hehe. There we met a lot of people and we talked about political issues such as the new Immigration Law, Bush's government. We also discussed some differences between Spanish and American cultures and we performed some examples.

Finally, we went to a Broadway Musical: Beauty and the Beast. it was incredible!!! we were so excited that after the show we went to have some drinks with some American students till 4 a.m.

Right now we are so sorry but we are going to see Brookling Bridge and the Empire State before going to The Madison Square Garden to see Knicks vs Celtics!! Don't be jealous!! haha

Bye from all of us, including Sergio who is visiting the RESTROOM right now,
See ya soon,

The Spanish group

all of us!!!

2006-03-28T11:14:00.000-08:00

What's up!!!

How are you all??? we are having such a great time in New York........ everything is awesome!!hehe

First of all we would like to apologize for not having written yesterday. but we barely have free time, and this is the first time we have the chance to use a computer.

Everything is so crazy over here... you can't imagine... since we have arrived we have not stopped doing things... we have already tried Caribbean, Italian, Chinese and Japanese food; the sushi thing could not please everybody.

Everything is like in the films, we feel like being in an American movie.. though we must say that we have been disappointed by the Statue of Liberty because it wasn't as big as we expected; it's the same as with Mell Gibson, Hollywood makes them look great and huge.

The university is huge, the whole street belongs to Columbia. Alberto and Sergio are in an apartment near Barnard and the girls as you might expect are in the quads inside Barnard. The only thing is that we are all the time having problems because of the rude porters...

In terms of the Americans, we have been with them almost all the time, we have visited their favourite bars and yesterday we went to Ian's radio show. it was incredible!!

that is all for now, "we gotta go" and meet Imelda. China Town and Rolex are waiting for us!!!

Peace!!!

Marga, Ainhoa, Sabe, Alberto and Sergio

Welcome!

2006-03-20T04:19:00.000-08:00

This is the blog where the five students from León in Spain are going to report on their visit to Barnard College in New York.