Start spreading the news.......
New York City - 40°42'51.00"N 74° 0'23.00"W
.......I'm leaving today! It's the end of ten amazing weeks travelling around the USA thanks to the Nottingham Roosevelt Memorial Travelling Scholarship.
What follows is quite a long post, but I've been up to a lot here in New York.
I arrived on the train from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, late in the evening of Wednesday the 27th December. I caught a cab to the youth hostel and set myself up for 12 nights in New York City. The hostel was massive housing hundreds of people from all over the world. I checked in and headed to my room praying that the Buffalo tornado man wasn't here!
The room held 10 people arranged neatly into 5 bunkbeds, crammed together with only a locker to separate each of them. Occupying my room were 4 Germans, 4 Japanese guys and one Swiss bloke. It became clear very quickly that conversation was going to have to be sought elsewhere, but it was getting late so I set up my bed and got some kip.
I awoke at 6am to what sounded like a dawn raid. Explosions were happening all around me and I could hear loud German voices shouting things like "SCHNELL SCHNELL". I sat upright in a blind panic wondering what the hell was going on. Just then another explosion landed right beside me, and at that point I realised that I'd been woken by the sound of Germans and Japanese ungracefully exiting the upper bunks and swan diving heavily onto the floor below. It was early, I was tired, and I wasn't happy!
The room quickly emptied and I began to wonder whether I was going to be able to endure another 10 mornings of rude awakenings like this. I needed a plan, quickly!..............
I decided on three escape tunnels that I would name "George", "Dubya" and "Bush". I'd stolen a fork from the canteen and felt sure that with some hard work one of the tunnels would see me to through to the outside, where I'd steal a motorbike, jump the fence and head for the border. I'd use the slats from the bunkbeds to shaw up the sides of the tunnel and fashion some breathing apparatus out of an "I Love New York" umbrella that I'd found outside one of the latrines. It was an ingenious plan and one that I felt sure would work. I asked the swiss guy if he'd like to help, but he told me he'd rather stay out of things.
The plan failed when I remembered my room was on the second floor.
Anyway, thankfully the Germans and the Japanese moved on after a couple of days and after a while I'd forgiven them for waking me up so early anyway. I soon realised that with everything that there is to do in New York, you need and early start to see all the things that you want to see.
I've been spending my days here wandering around and taking it all in.
Central Park is incredible and I've walked the length and breadth of it twice. My first trip round there was on my first Saturday morning, and I was stunned by how many people were out running. What seemed like hundreds of thousands of them. Fat, thin, old and young, just running. Some were pushing kids in push chairs, others were dragging dogs. It was quite a sight.
I made my way to the lake to find yet more runners, all of them running anti-clockwise around the edge of it. I noticed a sign that exlpained walking and running around the lake should ONLY be done anti-clockwise............so I decided that I'd go clockwise........just for a laugh.
There's more than likely a very sensible health and safety regulation that states why the runners and walkers should all head in the same direction, but I'd like to think that there's also an aspect of dignity preservation involved as well. If everybody's running in the same direction then they only have to see each others backs, rather than their faces. But their faces are what you should really get a look at! Looks of agony and discomfort as well as seriousness and determination were everywhere. Some people were just pretending to run (i.e. the Peter Kay Dad run) whilst others were sprinting........and then every now and then a very good looking lady would run by..............so screw the rules, if you go to Central Park on a Saturday morning, walk clockwise around the lake!
On New Years Eve I braved the crowds and got myself as close to Times Square as possible, which was actually pretty close. I stood right on the corner of 40th and Broadway from where I could see the Ball. I was penned in along with a million other spectators and crushed against a fence for three hours in less than warm weather, but I figured I might only ever be in New York City on New Years Eve once in my life, so I put up with it.
Crushed up alongside me was a group of spanish teenagers, frolicking on the joys of cheap vodka smuggled into our cattle pen in a Sprite bottle. With three hours to go until the ball dropped they laughed, danced, trod on my foot and sprayed Silly String in my face........but I kept my composure throughout. I knew all to well that that the combination of alcohol, cold weather and a three hour wait with nowhere to go to the toilet would come back to bite them, and within an hour I was proved right.
By 10 O'Clock several of them were suffering as their back teeth began to float and they suddenly realised that they were in trouble. One girl looked like she was about to start crying. She pleaded with a crowd of New York's finest to let her jump the fence and search for a toilet, but they were having none of it. Somehow she managed to hold on until the ball dropped at midnight (at least I think she did) and then she jumped the fence and ran, followed by her friends, to the nearest alleyway she could find.........I laughed and bought myself a Pretzel
I've met up with an old NTU friend Jen, AKA American Jen, who's been kind enough to show me around and take me shopping, eating and drinking in her home town. Thanks Jen! I've seen the Flat Iron building, the Chrysler building, took a boat trip to see the Statue of Liberty, visited Madame Tussauds, walked over the Brooklyn Bridge (and back), been to the Natural History Museum, Ground Zero, Roosevelt Island (there's nothing there, so don't bother), walked around the Village, saw people Ice Skating at the Rockefeller Centre, ridden the subway up and down a hundred times AND, made a piligrimage to a small town called Montgomery in upsate New York to visit the home of the legendary Orange County Choppers (OCC for short).
My mates who've ever spent a "difficult" Sunday with me in front of the TV at my house will know exactly what I'm on about. The rest of you might not have a clue, so I'll explain;
There's a show on Sky TV called "American Chopper", all about a father and son family business who build Chopper motorcycles. The bikes they build are incredible, and the show is hilarious to watch. It's provided me with countless hours of recovery entertainment on a Sunday, so there was no way that I wasn't going to make my way out to see their shop whilst I was so close by.
So on Saturday the 6th, I caught a train from Grand Central to a town called Beacon and then took a cab to the OCC store and showroom. I spent over an hour looking at all the bikes that I'd watched being built on TV and took plenty of pictures as well. Then I loaded myself up with souvenir T-shirts and headed back to the train station to make my way back to NYC.
And now it's Monday morning, and in a few hours I'll be boarding a plane at JFK to make my way back to the UK. I'll be spending a couple of days with my folks before heading back to Nottingham on Friday the 12th............I'll be back behind my desk on the 15th...........
Expect one last posting on the blog to round things up on Friday when I get back to Nottingham.
M
.......I'm leaving today! It's the end of ten amazing weeks travelling around the USA thanks to the Nottingham Roosevelt Memorial Travelling Scholarship.
What follows is quite a long post, but I've been up to a lot here in New York.
I arrived on the train from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, late in the evening of Wednesday the 27th December. I caught a cab to the youth hostel and set myself up for 12 nights in New York City. The hostel was massive housing hundreds of people from all over the world. I checked in and headed to my room praying that the Buffalo tornado man wasn't here!
The room held 10 people arranged neatly into 5 bunkbeds, crammed together with only a locker to separate each of them. Occupying my room were 4 Germans, 4 Japanese guys and one Swiss bloke. It became clear very quickly that conversation was going to have to be sought elsewhere, but it was getting late so I set up my bed and got some kip.
I awoke at 6am to what sounded like a dawn raid. Explosions were happening all around me and I could hear loud German voices shouting things like "SCHNELL SCHNELL". I sat upright in a blind panic wondering what the hell was going on. Just then another explosion landed right beside me, and at that point I realised that I'd been woken by the sound of Germans and Japanese ungracefully exiting the upper bunks and swan diving heavily onto the floor below. It was early, I was tired, and I wasn't happy!
The room quickly emptied and I began to wonder whether I was going to be able to endure another 10 mornings of rude awakenings like this. I needed a plan, quickly!..............
I decided on three escape tunnels that I would name "George", "Dubya" and "Bush". I'd stolen a fork from the canteen and felt sure that with some hard work one of the tunnels would see me to through to the outside, where I'd steal a motorbike, jump the fence and head for the border. I'd use the slats from the bunkbeds to shaw up the sides of the tunnel and fashion some breathing apparatus out of an "I Love New York" umbrella that I'd found outside one of the latrines. It was an ingenious plan and one that I felt sure would work. I asked the swiss guy if he'd like to help, but he told me he'd rather stay out of things.
The plan failed when I remembered my room was on the second floor.
Anyway, thankfully the Germans and the Japanese moved on after a couple of days and after a while I'd forgiven them for waking me up so early anyway. I soon realised that with everything that there is to do in New York, you need and early start to see all the things that you want to see.
I've been spending my days here wandering around and taking it all in.
Central Park is incredible and I've walked the length and breadth of it twice. My first trip round there was on my first Saturday morning, and I was stunned by how many people were out running. What seemed like hundreds of thousands of them. Fat, thin, old and young, just running. Some were pushing kids in push chairs, others were dragging dogs. It was quite a sight.
I made my way to the lake to find yet more runners, all of them running anti-clockwise around the edge of it. I noticed a sign that exlpained walking and running around the lake should ONLY be done anti-clockwise............so I decided that I'd go clockwise........just for a laugh.
There's more than likely a very sensible health and safety regulation that states why the runners and walkers should all head in the same direction, but I'd like to think that there's also an aspect of dignity preservation involved as well. If everybody's running in the same direction then they only have to see each others backs, rather than their faces. But their faces are what you should really get a look at! Looks of agony and discomfort as well as seriousness and determination were everywhere. Some people were just pretending to run (i.e. the Peter Kay Dad run) whilst others were sprinting........and then every now and then a very good looking lady would run by..............so screw the rules, if you go to Central Park on a Saturday morning, walk clockwise around the lake!
On New Years Eve I braved the crowds and got myself as close to Times Square as possible, which was actually pretty close. I stood right on the corner of 40th and Broadway from where I could see the Ball. I was penned in along with a million other spectators and crushed against a fence for three hours in less than warm weather, but I figured I might only ever be in New York City on New Years Eve once in my life, so I put up with it.
Crushed up alongside me was a group of spanish teenagers, frolicking on the joys of cheap vodka smuggled into our cattle pen in a Sprite bottle. With three hours to go until the ball dropped they laughed, danced, trod on my foot and sprayed Silly String in my face........but I kept my composure throughout. I knew all to well that that the combination of alcohol, cold weather and a three hour wait with nowhere to go to the toilet would come back to bite them, and within an hour I was proved right.
By 10 O'Clock several of them were suffering as their back teeth began to float and they suddenly realised that they were in trouble. One girl looked like she was about to start crying. She pleaded with a crowd of New York's finest to let her jump the fence and search for a toilet, but they were having none of it. Somehow she managed to hold on until the ball dropped at midnight (at least I think she did) and then she jumped the fence and ran, followed by her friends, to the nearest alleyway she could find.........I laughed and bought myself a Pretzel
I've met up with an old NTU friend Jen, AKA American Jen, who's been kind enough to show me around and take me shopping, eating and drinking in her home town. Thanks Jen! I've seen the Flat Iron building, the Chrysler building, took a boat trip to see the Statue of Liberty, visited Madame Tussauds, walked over the Brooklyn Bridge (and back), been to the Natural History Museum, Ground Zero, Roosevelt Island (there's nothing there, so don't bother), walked around the Village, saw people Ice Skating at the Rockefeller Centre, ridden the subway up and down a hundred times AND, made a piligrimage to a small town called Montgomery in upsate New York to visit the home of the legendary Orange County Choppers (OCC for short).
My mates who've ever spent a "difficult" Sunday with me in front of the TV at my house will know exactly what I'm on about. The rest of you might not have a clue, so I'll explain;
There's a show on Sky TV called "American Chopper", all about a father and son family business who build Chopper motorcycles. The bikes they build are incredible, and the show is hilarious to watch. It's provided me with countless hours of recovery entertainment on a Sunday, so there was no way that I wasn't going to make my way out to see their shop whilst I was so close by.
So on Saturday the 6th, I caught a train from Grand Central to a town called Beacon and then took a cab to the OCC store and showroom. I spent over an hour looking at all the bikes that I'd watched being built on TV and took plenty of pictures as well. Then I loaded myself up with souvenir T-shirts and headed back to the train station to make my way back to NYC.
And now it's Monday morning, and in a few hours I'll be boarding a plane at JFK to make my way back to the UK. I'll be spending a couple of days with my folks before heading back to Nottingham on Friday the 12th............I'll be back behind my desk on the 15th...........
Expect one last posting on the blog to round things up on Friday when I get back to Nottingham.
M
posted by Wallace at
3:51 PM
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