An Unexpected Turn of Events

Life is full of unexpected twists and turns that can send you on a roller coaster of emotions. Being a New Yorker, I've become familiar with having good and bad moments within the same day. The day can start off melancholy when you wake up early for school on Monday morning but get a little bit more pleasant as you walk down Lexington Avenue window-shopping with your fresh Starbucks Pumpkin Spice in hand. However, my experience juxtaposed this somewhat blissful day. It began decent and should have gotten better, but instead put me into a four day long depression.
I decided to go home to Brooklyn and be with my parents for the weekend. You know, do some laundry, have some dinner, talk about how awful it is to be living in one of the greatest cities in the world. (Just kidding). But now it was Friday night and it was time to see one of my best friends. I decided I wanted to take her around the city, mostly downtown and grab a bite to eat. Things were going as they normally did until I took it upon myself to be spontaneous and invite some other friends. I should have known things were not going to be good when my driving skills seemed to be looking less like skills and more like incapabilities. Even pulling over was becoming a hassle…as seen by the scuff I left on the innocent 2010 Mercedes Benz I victimized. I ended up paying my dues to the owner of the vehicle once her husband pulled up and harassed me with questions. But regardless it was still a Friday night and I was not about to go home so my friends and I voyaged to the city in search of The Creperie. AKA, the hole in the wall that makes the greatest crepes in the World.
I had my GPS, but still managed to make a completely wrong turn and end up going towards MMC. Once I got my bearings straight and arrived to The Creperie it seemed that the night was going to end off on a good note. I was wrong. Intelligent me decided not to turn my GPS back on and use whatever knowledge I had, or lack of the city streets at the time to find the Brooklyn Bridge. Needless to say I ended up following the signs for the Manhattan Bridge and ended up on Vesey Street. Now I knew where I was- Ground Zero. The one place I try my best to stay away from.
Time does not heal. And you don't forgive and forget. I don't at least. It's not easy for me to accurately describe the emotions I feel about September 11th. Sad? No, that's not strong enough. Vengeful? That's not Christian-like. So what am I allowed to feel? Well, as a New Yorker, valiant and unyielding. Don't be mistaken, I was terrified that day, that week, that year. Both my parents were in Manhattan and I could see the towers collapse from my fifth floor classroom in P.S. 176, but there was a certain implicit warmth felt between New Yorkers in the following weeks. I could still feel it as I drove past Ground Zero that night. I could feel the tears I cried that day and hear the screams in the streets. I could see the pictures from all the magazines and newspapers of people injured, killed, or jumping to their deaths. I could feel it all as I tried so hard to stay within the solid white lines as I drove by. My heart felt heavy from all the emotions running through my mind and in my blood and as hard as I tried I could not speak the rest of the drive home.
Somehow I made one simple right turn and found myself on my way to the FDR going towards the Brooklyn Bridge. It was as if God had wanted to remind me of the horror of that day or of how grateful I should be to have my parents unlike so many of the children who had lost theirs.

The city

Even though I have lived in New York my whole life, I have never spent much time in the city. Every time I walk to a new place I am stunned by how pretty and unique it truly is. Even the same street I walk every day still amazes me.
The other day I attempted to walk through central park and find a short cut to my bus stop. Well, let me just say it did not end well. I got lost and had to ask about five people where to go. Besides the fact that I got lost, I really liked the experience. The park was beautiful. I still can't believe that it is so big. When you look at it on a map you would never imagine how that size is equal to its actual size.
Not only are the places in the city very unique, but the people are too. On my trip to the park I interacted with several people. They were all nice enough to point me in the direction I needed. But they were all diffent. Some were parents, workers, and dog owners.
So every time I walk around the city I will remember to take in each aspect and person because each are unique and diverse.

Long Isalnd Surprises.

Let me start off by saying New York will always be my home. Queens, to be specific. I love that I live in such a diverse neighborhood, where everyone knows each other, and there’s always something to do. I couldn't imagine living anywhere else. Personally, I've never thought much of the city. Maybe it’s because I despise public transportation and walking long distances (I'd much rather take a long drive). Never the less, even during the short time i lived there I didn't like it much. Don’t get me wrong, the buildings, night life, and the restaurants are great, but is it worth that horrible train ride and 2 mile walk?

My cousins moved to Babylon, Long Island about 5 years ago. I've probably been to Long Island twice my whole life and never really thought much of it. It seems very quiet and pretty boring. Let’s just say my whole perspective changed after my last visit. After the hour long drive, I finally arrived to my cousins beautiful home. I quickly found parking (which was a first), and began to go on the tour of what seemed to be a small mansion. We spent the day in her backyard with the rest of my family. Long Island has such a fresh and clean aroma to it that makes you want to sit outside all the time no matter what the weather is like. As the day went on my cousin told me we would be going to a party. I laughed to myself at the thought of how these "long island kids" would party. My cousin reassured me that I would have a good time, and even said we could leave early if I really wanted to.

Let's just say I did have a great time. I felt like everyone was so welcoming and open to meeting me. There were no fights or drama and everyone seemed to get along great. And even though I wasn't a familiar face no one was rude or gave dirty looks. It may seems like common courtesy to be nice to someone you just meet, or to not start fights at parties. But let’s just say in the city, these things aren't very common.

Needless to say, while in Long Island i forgot I was actually in NY and the fact that I actually was made me love this place even more. Long Island surprised me in a great way, and it is definitely a place i can see myself living in the future.

I Don't Think I'm In Connecticut Anymore....

Having grown up two hours outside of the city, I am pretty used to navigating the area. I had a bit of trouble finding my way around when I first got here, but nothing too major. My friends and I spend alot of time downtown near Union Square and St. Mark's Place. In fact, my first night here I got my ear pierced there. However, I have never gone there in a group smaller than five.

This past week I went downtown to meet my best friend, who attends NYU. His dorm is two blocks away from the Union Square subway stop. I know this route by heart; walk to the 53rd and Lexington stop, take the 6 downtown to Union Square. I left my dorm around 5:30 when the sun was still up. I didn't have a set time to come back but I knew that I didn't want to stay out that late. It was my first time being out in the city alone.

We ate dinner at Cafetasia; a small, inexpensive, thai restaurant frequented by many college students on a budget. Next, I brought Matt and his friend Luke to St. Mark's place because they had never been there before, despite living only a few blocks away. We window shopped, observed the night life, and ate some Pinkberry.

At last, at 11 p.m. it was time to leave. I hadn't planned on staying out this late, let alone on a school night. I was exhausted and very anxious about the subway ride home. I did not want my first time alone on the subway to be this late. I ended up waiting for nearly 20 minutes for the next train, which did not help relieve the nervous feeling I was experiencing. With what seemed like every eye focused on me, I boarded the Uptown 6 train. I found a seat off to the side, turned my iPod on, and before I knew it, I was getting off and headed home.

I realized that the subway really is not that scary and that I actually had a better sense of direction than I thought. Even though I got lost getting off (I went through the wrong exit and found myself on 50th), I found my way home unharmed. I'm glad that my first trip alone was to a place in which I was familiar with. On Tuesday, I have my first voice lesson. My teacher says it will take nearly 45 minutes to reach her apartment. I am glad I have the confidence and the knowledge to get myself there.

Just Another Day in Madison Square Park

The other day I was in Madison Square Park with my friend Amy. They have free wifi (I would definitely take advantage of this, apparently all of the parks in the city have free wifi), so we like to go there and do our work while enjoying the last of the amazing warm weather. As we sat on a bench in the warm sun, silently enjoying one another's company while doing our homework, the strangest thing happened. A squirrel swooped in and started attacking a poor innocent bird. Now, we were a bit confused because we thought that squirrels were herbivores, but here one was, ferociously attacking this bird.

We concluded that the squirrel was rabid and we should probably get away from it as quickly as possible, so we moved to a new bench further away. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the squirrel came up from behind, and pounced on my friends back. She jumped up and started squealing, everyone in the park was staring and the squirrel fell off as Amy ran around hooting and hollering. We grabbed our stuff as quickly as possible and left.

Just an ordinary day in New York City...

The San Gennaro Feast

Even though I am a native New Yorker, I rarely was brought to the city when I was a young child. I have lived on Staten Island for my entire existence ... Unfortunately. Staten Island is one of the five boroughs of New York City but I see it was the forgotten borough. When you think of New York City, the “Big Apple”, monstrous skyscrapers, angry taxi drivers, bright lights, and commotion in every which way you turn comes to mind. But Staten Island is hands down one of the most boring places to ever live. It is more of the suburban lifestyle way of living. And that’s definitely not for me. So it was always a pleasant surprise to being leaving the island for a short period of time. As I got older the city was always my favorite place to visit. Since it was only one ferry ride away it was more like an escape from this dull island.

September 17^th, 2010 I chose to visit Little Italy. My Aunt had told me Little Italy was an endearing small “town” that was only span a couple blocks long mainly on Mulberry Street. So we decided it was the most perfect time of year to explore because it was the San Gennaro Feast. My Aunt Melanie has went to the feast before but we established we would have to experience it together this year. The San Gennaro Feast has been going on for 84 years. It’s a celebration that no body should miss out on.

Even before you even turn onto Mulberry Street you can hear the sounds Italian music and of people enjoying themselves. When you are actually on Mulberry you can barely move. There are so many people walking around, eating, talking, shopping and much more. The feast basically consisted of foreigners and tourists studying and enjoying their surroundings. The outdoor cafes were jam packed so instead we shopped and walked around for a while but it was mostly cheap knockoff items being sold. By far my favorite part of the entire trip was the massive amounts of delicious food I had eaten. The food is essentially all Italian delicates from dinner foods, snacks, and desserts. My cravings went from one extreme to the next, from sausage and peppers to cannolis. But thankfully the feast had it all. I would recommend going to Little Italy during this time period. The feast lasts for 11 days and ends on the 26^th of September. Little Italy was a quaint town that you can always go back without much change being done to it. You might even forget you’re in New York City for a couple of hours.

By: Elizabeth Wright

A Day In Chelsea & On The High Line

September 18^th 2010. I made my very first trip to Chelsea in Manhattan along with my mom. I’ve lived in New York all my life and I feel there is still so much more I have yet to see. At first, I didn’t expect to find much in Chelsea but I was very wrong.  Once I got to W14^th Street and 9^th avenue I already decided I liked the neighborhood (partly due to the fact that there was a really nice Apple store I’d never been to). It was a beautiful sunny day a bit windy and cloudy but still a great day to spend with my mother in Manhattan. Our main goal was to go walk The High Line Park but we found ourselves walking around buying some jewelry and movies, spending money we shouldn’t have been spending, haha. After spending a pretty penny, we headed to The High Line. Once getting up there we learned more about it. Although it is now a park that opened to the public just last year it was once an elevated freight railroad called the West Side Line built and opened in 1934. I thought it was so cool that a piece of history was taken and redesigned into an aerial greenway/park. Each NYC neighborhood is filled with it’s own history but I loved how Chelsea displayed it so grandly from the cobblestones on the street to all the buildings that still stand after decades. I felt like I walked right into old New York and I really appreciated looking at it all. Chelsea made me want to look back into history and see what New York used to be. 

-Brittney Alvarez

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