I went to New York

Last weekend I went to New York city to visit my friend Max and go to a reunion for the Quinn School of Business. Since I'd never been to NY before this was going to be quite the new experience. Andy and I looked at maps of Manhattan so that I would have an idea of where I was supposed to go. I got in on Friday and made my way from JFK to Manhattan. My first experience with the subway made me feel like I wasn't going to be able to handle the subway. But this was just a first time impression and I managed fine the rest of the trip.

Since Max wasn't done with school until 5 and I got in around noon, I spent a lot of time wandering around. Mostly around Central Park because I couldn't figure out how to get out.

This is one of many roads that goes through Central Park. Interestingly, joggers run in the bike lanes and bikes ride on the wrong side of the road.

I went to a tiny grocery store and purchased these items for lunch. I spent my lunchtime people watching in the park.

I then went to the Guggenheim Museum, which was really fun. There were a lot of Picasso's paintings there and I learned that he did some cool stuff before he became all cubist and odd. After the museum Max and I met up and enjoyed dinner with some of his friends from Teach for America.

The entrance of the Guggenheim.

Cool looking apartments in Harlem.

Cool roots of a tree on 5th Ave. I took a lot of pictures of my feet.

Saturday I wandered around downtown by myself and saw the sites. I'm not very familiar with what is in New York, so I spent a lot of time discovering where things where and learning about different places. I went to the World Trade Center site by accident, but that was pretty interesting. Then I made my way to Wall Street to see what it was like. Then on down Broadway to Battery Park at the end of Manhattan. After all that I was pretty tired of walking and made my way back to Max's.

Wall Street is very narrow.

The Statue of Liberty is not very big from where I was, and also not very interesting.

Max and I then went to Colombia College and wandered around. They have a pretty campus that is reminiscent of the U's mall area. Then I went to my reunion, which was relatively awkward but enjoyable. I didn't think I would know anyone there but I saw three other girls from my year (there were people there since the program began in 2000 or so). After a delicious dinner, I met up with Max and some of his friends at a bar and had a grand time.

Colombia College. There was a blood drive going on while were there.

I passed through Times Square on my way to the subway. It was pretty crazy. This was the busiest area of the city that I saw.

Max and I enjoying a brew at a local establishment.

Overall, New York was alright. All those lights and flash that normally come with ideas of New York are not representative of the city. Everyone I met was very nice and answered my questions if I asked. So it was a good experience and I wouldn't mind going back.