SPRING BREAK: NEW YORK CITY
Madeleine Brooks • March 14, 2020
“Wherever you look, there are still things we don’t know about and don’t understand...There are always new things to find out if you go looking for them.”David Attenborough
To begin Spring Break, Yara, Nikki and I went to Carytown which is a district in Richmond. It has lots of really nice vintage shops, boutiques and restaurants. We bought some really good cupcakes from Carytown Cupcakes, and then had dinner at a restaurant called Greek On Cary which had amazing food!
Day 1:
On Monday morning Yara and I started our trip to New York! We took FlixBus as it was so much cheaper than a flight (only $7?!) which we thought was definitely worth the longer journey. We arrived in New York and went straight to our hotel, POD Times Square. I’m really pleased I booked this because it was in such a good location and was so nice. After we checked in, we walked to MoMA. We spent two hours there and then went and bought some New York pizza. 🍕
At about 10pm we went to Times Square which is about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. Yara and I bought cake from a really nice bakery and ate it in the middle of Times Square as it turned midnight, which was a really cool way to celebrate turning 20. 🎉
Day 2:
Today is my 20th birthday! Yara and I started the day by making our way to Brooklyn on the subway. We explored DUMBO and Brooklyn bridge park. The weather was so nice today which was really lucky as we expected it to be cold. For lunch, we went to Timeout Market New York which has some great food and an amazing view of the Manhattan skyline. We sat sunbathing on the decking for an hour after lunch and then walked back to Manhattan over Brooklyn bridge. We then took to the metro to Central Park for a walk at around 4:30 before heading back to the hotel. We went to Times Square again late this evening to sit and people watch, but we were really tired after such a long day!
Today we were notified that Spring Break is going to be extended for another week because of Coronavirus. To be honest, everyone was really happy. We were also told that classes would be taught remotely for the foreseeable future...so it seems studying abroad for this second half of the semester isn’t going to be quite the same experience. But at least we get a really long Spring Break!
Day 3:
Today we started the day heading to Little Italy. There’s a really nice breakfast/lunch place there called Two Hands that I wanted to go to, and they had amazing food. We spent the rest of the morning walking around Soho. We then visited The Doughnut Project which is somewhere I’ve followed on Instagram for ages so I’m really glad we could go! The doughnuts were insane. After, we took the subway uptown to the Guggenheim, then went back to our hotel for an hour and finally headed back out for a comedy show this evening...but once we arrived, we got told it was cancelled because of Coronavirus. 🙄 So, we went to get pizza and some drinks and spent the evening in our hotel room watching tv.
Day 4:
It’s our last day in New York and the weather was so nice today. We checked out of our hotel at midday and then made our way to the Vessel at Hudson Yards. It was really cool and looked especially beautiful with the clear sky around it. We spent an hour or so there and then went to a place called Friedman’s for lunch. Of course, the food was amazing again. In the afternoon we went to Bryant Park.
A lot of the conversations we’d heard this week have been about Coronavirus; I’ve received a lot of emails from VCU and UWE about the current situation. Unfortunately, some of the other international students have been told that they have to leave Richmond which is really sad and frustrating. I’m very much hoping to continue studying at VCU and finish the semester out here! Everyone in New York seemed very relaxed about the health situation, especially in comparison to what I’ve been seeing on social media from England and other countries in Europe. People were continuing to go about their day to day lives, eating out at restaurants, and going to events around the city.
The past few days in NYC have been so nice. We explored a lot and found some really cool places that aren’t typically touristy. Each day in we walked a LONG way, but it was worth it because we saw so many spots you wouldn’t see otherwise. I’m also happy about spring break being extended because I think I need a few days rest after eating a lot of food and walking so much.
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” - Marcel Proust
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
Marcel Proust
“I determined never to stop until I had come to the end and achieved my purpose.” - Jacques Yves Cousteau
“It’s good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end.” - Ernest Hemingway
“The sea is dangerous and its storms terrible, but these obstacles have never been sufficient reason to remain ashore.” – Ferdinand Magellan
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” - Henry Miller
“Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” - Miriam Beard
“When overseas you learn more about your own country, than you do the place you’re visiting.”
Clint Borgen
“One day I undertook a tour through the country, and the diversity and beauties of nature I met with in this charming season, expelled every gloomy and vexatious thought.” - Daniel Boone
“The wonderful things in life are the things you do, not the things you have.”
Reinhold Messner