Journal 1
Impressions of New York:
I New York city is a fun place to be. Whether its going to central park for a bike tour, or going to see a show on Broadway you are pretty much always guaranteed a good time. My favorite thing to do in New York City though is to either go to a NY Yankee Game, or a NY Knicks game, or even a NY Ranger game. I love getting right on the subway from Penn Station and going straight up to the Bronx to see the Yankees play. I also love getting right into Madison Square Garden, the most famous arena in the world, just to see Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks play. New York has some of the craziest fans in the world and going to one of these games is always fun. The traffic in New York City may be terrible, but taking a cab close by is never too expensive if you ever need it, otherwise walking through the city is always fun. Playing soccer until late at night at Chelsea piers is always a blast. Meeting new people from all over just to play a sport is always fun.
I New York city is a fun place to be. Whether its going to central park for a bike tour, or going to see a show on Broadway you are pretty much always guaranteed a good time. My favorite thing to do in New York City though is to either go to a NY Yankee Game, or a NY Knicks game, or even a NY Ranger game. I love getting right on the subway from Penn Station and going straight up to the Bronx to see the Yankees play. I also love getting right into Madison Square Garden, the most famous arena in the world, just to see Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks play. New York has some of the craziest fans in the world and going to one of these games is always fun. The traffic in New York City may be terrible, but taking a cab close by is never too expensive if you ever need it, otherwise walking through the city is always fun. Playing soccer until late at night at Chelsea piers is always a blast. Meeting new people from all over just to play a sport is always fun.
Quixotic Queens
Bodacious Brooklyn:
Our first day of class was a tour of Brooklyn. Right when we left Penn Station we took a long subway ride to Coney Island. I had never been to Coney Island but i have only heard great things about it. We first sat on the beach to discuss what the class would consist of and what we would be doing that day. After this quick discussion we went off on our own for about and hour and a half. Right away I went straight to Nathans. After seeing this place on television so many times to see the hot dog eating contests i just had to go (Nathans). Although Nathans was cool to go to Coney Island just seemed like a very sketchy place. I do not think i will be ever going back there. Our next stop in Brooklyn was the transit museum. This is a place that has all sorts of old school subway carts. I learned a lot about how the subway lines were built underground also, and how the workers were payed practically nothing to do all that work. After this we went to go get ice cream, but i wasn't feeling the whole ice cream thing so i enjoyed a nice chocolate chip cookie, and a beautiful espresso. Finally we did the last part of our day and we walked the Brooklyn Bridge. It was about a mile and a half going from Brooklyn to Manhattan, and I was the first one to get to the other side.
Our first day of class was a tour of Brooklyn. Right when we left Penn Station we took a long subway ride to Coney Island. I had never been to Coney Island but i have only heard great things about it. We first sat on the beach to discuss what the class would consist of and what we would be doing that day. After this quick discussion we went off on our own for about and hour and a half. Right away I went straight to Nathans. After seeing this place on television so many times to see the hot dog eating contests i just had to go (Nathans). Although Nathans was cool to go to Coney Island just seemed like a very sketchy place. I do not think i will be ever going back there. Our next stop in Brooklyn was the transit museum. This is a place that has all sorts of old school subway carts. I learned a lot about how the subway lines were built underground also, and how the workers were payed practically nothing to do all that work. After this we went to go get ice cream, but i wasn't feeling the whole ice cream thing so i enjoyed a nice chocolate chip cookie, and a beautiful espresso. Finally we did the last part of our day and we walked the Brooklyn Bridge. It was about a mile and a half going from Brooklyn to Manhattan, and I was the first one to get to the other side.
A Tale of Three Villages:
Today we walked through the Villages in downtown Manhattan. We went to the merchants museum where there was a very old house that has been kept the same since it was built. this place had a very old kitchen, and even bells in the kitchen that led to the bedrooms so that way the servants could be called without having to move. We also learned how when someone came over to talk you had to go to their house and talk almost like a never ending cycle. After this we went to Washington square park which is surrounded by NYU schools. To go to NYU you have to have some really amazing grades. My girlfriend goes to NYU and has a 4.0 GPA; I picked a real winner ;). While walking into this park we were greeted by a lovely old lady who yelled at us to not cross the street, and then yelled at us for blocking the walkway into the park. This old lady was the nastiest woman i probably ever met but i guess things fall that way when your only friend is a dog. Finally after this we got to the best part of the day(not really). We met my best friend Bill who in a nutshell told me that the government is terrible because they stopped them from doing all their drugs. think i am lying? Tell that to the Marijuana shirt he was wearing. he began telling us how the police were terrible because they tried to control Tompkins Park. Actually the police were trying to stop all the drug addicts (which probably included bill) from doing bad things. Tompkins square parks nickname back in his day was actually "needles park" because of all the heroin that was going on. The Police were put there to run the idiots out and make the city the beautiful place that it is today. Without the police Bill would still be shooting up in the park.
Today we walked through the Villages in downtown Manhattan. We went to the merchants museum where there was a very old house that has been kept the same since it was built. this place had a very old kitchen, and even bells in the kitchen that led to the bedrooms so that way the servants could be called without having to move. We also learned how when someone came over to talk you had to go to their house and talk almost like a never ending cycle. After this we went to Washington square park which is surrounded by NYU schools. To go to NYU you have to have some really amazing grades. My girlfriend goes to NYU and has a 4.0 GPA; I picked a real winner ;). While walking into this park we were greeted by a lovely old lady who yelled at us to not cross the street, and then yelled at us for blocking the walkway into the park. This old lady was the nastiest woman i probably ever met but i guess things fall that way when your only friend is a dog. Finally after this we got to the best part of the day(not really). We met my best friend Bill who in a nutshell told me that the government is terrible because they stopped them from doing all their drugs. think i am lying? Tell that to the Marijuana shirt he was wearing. he began telling us how the police were terrible because they tried to control Tompkins Park. Actually the police were trying to stop all the drug addicts (which probably included bill) from doing bad things. Tompkins square parks nickname back in his day was actually "needles park" because of all the heroin that was going on. The Police were put there to run the idiots out and make the city the beautiful place that it is today. Without the police Bill would still be shooting up in the park.
East of the Park
Today we made our way to Harlem where we met a Hip Hop poet named Luke. At first i didn't know what to think because Mike told me that he was an activist like Bill and we all know how i feel about Bill. But it was not that bad at all. We went to a couple of didn't walls where there were paintings and he told us how a lady that was painted on it hired someone to go paint over her, but the original painter just painted her right back on. He also talked about how a long time ago people in Harlem would be blasting music in the streets, and people would be out playing domino's on the street. This was a major puerto rican culture that was very passionate about their heritage. One thing we saw on the wall was John Lennon which symbolized peace. The picture of John looked like it was made of little pieces of marble that you could find in an upscale bathroom. After lunch we made our way through Central Park which is always fun, and is such a big park that every time i go there i see something new. WE made our way to the john Lennon Memorial which is called Strawberry Fields, and has a piece of art in the ground that says imagine. I also found out that Yoko Ono goes down there and she is the one who will put the flowers down every once in a while.
Today we made our way to Harlem where we met a Hip Hop poet named Luke. At first i didn't know what to think because Mike told me that he was an activist like Bill and we all know how i feel about Bill. But it was not that bad at all. We went to a couple of didn't walls where there were paintings and he told us how a lady that was painted on it hired someone to go paint over her, but the original painter just painted her right back on. He also talked about how a long time ago people in Harlem would be blasting music in the streets, and people would be out playing domino's on the street. This was a major puerto rican culture that was very passionate about their heritage. One thing we saw on the wall was John Lennon which symbolized peace. The picture of John looked like it was made of little pieces of marble that you could find in an upscale bathroom. After lunch we made our way through Central Park which is always fun, and is such a big park that every time i go there i see something new. WE made our way to the john Lennon Memorial which is called Strawberry Fields, and has a piece of art in the ground that says imagine. I also found out that Yoko Ono goes down there and she is the one who will put the flowers down every once in a while.