NYC Travelogue

By Jen Bayliss

Wednesday morning I woke up at three, having to be at the school to meet everyone by quarter past four. We were due to leave the school by half past, however one person was late, but it was not a big deal. We arrived at Logan Airport a bit after five or so, and waited a bit for Mr. Trudeau to organize our tickets.
We finally got to the security checkpoints. We had to remove cameras, cell phones, iPods/MP3 players - anything metal from our bags. We were only allowed to bring one carry-on bag, to avoid checking our belongings. We also had to remove our shoes and jackets. I nearly lost my scarf in the mess of trying to handle everything. I was quite surprised the security people did not go through my bag, seeing as I had an umbrella in there. They checked some of my schoolmates’ bags, Ryan Hennigan even had all his toiletries confiscated, even his toothbrush. That was odd.
We got on the plane and sat on the runway for a while. I shall admit, I was frightened. After take-off, I took some pictures of the sunrise as it began to show. Overall, it was a nice flight, though there were some funny noises [imagine me gripping the armrests for dear life at those times]. After landing at JFK, we waited around a bit, then headed off to the hotel in airport-rented vans.
The Marrakech hotel was rather dark and sketchy, and I fell up the stairs a few times. Typical me. Our rooms were not ready so we sat around the lobby for a while. Headed off to Columbia University for our sessions. Attended three lessons before lunch, then went to a local deli. Of course on the way back from lunch, one of our classmates nearly got hit by a cab. Neal Meyer [who’s headed off to Harvard this upcoming fall] began to walk across the busy intersection when the “Don’t Walk” sign was displayed. Of course, common sense has nothing to do with academic intelligence [sorry Neal!]. As one can imagine, when you walk into a busy intersection, you must dodge a few cars and cabs to make it safely across. Hence, Neal skipped to the centre median after nearly being hit by not only a SUV, but a New York City cab as well. You can not put a country boy in the city, I tell thee. After lunch, we had one class left, then we went back to the hotel and changed into nicer clothes. We took the subway to Times Square, the journalism class went to the Olive Garden for dinner, then walked around Times Square. Did some window shopping and such after eating around Times Square local shops.
All of us attended a Broadway showing of Hairspray at eight. It was quite funny. Many sexual innuendos every other line. The man playing the main character’s mother was hysterical; he and the man playing his husband began to laugh onstage because of the audience’s reactions. I’d definitely see it again if I got another cheap ticket - we only paid $35 for them. It’s times like these where connections are most appreciated. After the show, we walked around a bit more [Mr. Trudeau obviously trying to wear us out] and went past Radio City Hall and stopped at Rockefeller Centre. Rockefeller was very lovely; the lights above the statue were gorgeous. Walking back to the subway, we went past the famous Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, which was gorgeous with it’s many spires stretching towards the heavens. We took the subway back to the hotel and basically no one slept, as some were running around the mysterious hotel. It was like a maze! I, of course, stayed in the hotel room with two mates who quickly fell asleep. Our room was already a mess of clothes by this time.
Thursday we woke up and headed out to Columbia University for the first session at nine. I attended a Photoshop class which was very interesting [hopefully I learned something] then skipped second session to get the breakfast. I tend to not be a morning person after going to bed late. Mel Nogler and I ventured out and got a bagel and Snapple [my first Snapple ever!] instead. I enjoyed the Snapple too, that’s rather important. She and I attended more classes until lunch, and then hung out about the library for the rest of break. Last class attended, we returned to the hotel and it was slightly raining by that time. Fortunately I had my handy heart-printed umbrella! We headed out to Ground Zero afterwards and the American Express memorial for the eleven employees inside that building. The American Express memorial was touching, with “tear drops” falling into each name of the person who died.
Afterwards, we broke into groups, most people went to Times Square where we would meet at half past ten… and it was only around half past five in the evening… I wonder what they were doing that whole time. I personally went to Canal Street with Lauren Mulkern, Chelsey Monks, and Katie Jochems. We met Katie’s Godmother along Canal Street. She was actually a New York detective who had just gotten off work and still had her gun on her hip in the holster. As long as we stayed close, no one would be able to mess with us. Of course it was pouring rain, but hey, I had my umbrella!
We were treated to Starbuck’s by Katie‘s Godmother. Their cocoa is delicious! It even had a vanilla flavoring added to it, with lots of whipped cream. However, we were shocked there was no Dunkin’ Donuts in New York - I only saw one! We continued our shopping until half past seven, then we were driven back to the hotel, passing through Greenwich Village, to drop our things off. Then Katie’s godmother brought us back to Times Square where we saw a few of our guy classmates, Jim Hutchinson, Steve Hughes, and Russell Brandi walking across the road. We jumped out with them and stayed with them for the night. [Girls were not allowed out unless they had a guy or two with them.] We went to a few shops and M&M World! Five floors of everything M&M related! Adoring M&MS, I nearly died. We met up with two more guys from our group, Ryan Hennigan and Nick [Papadopoulos??], so our group grew to nine.
We decided to go back to the hotel early, seeing as it was pouring rain, so we called Mr. Turley saying we were heading back in a large group. But! Of course we couldn’t find the correct subway! We could only find the downtown subways, when we needed uptown! Hutch actually gave Katie, who had a broken toe, a piggy-back ride through several blocks. Finding the correct subway us ages until we finally got on the right one, well two, seeing as we had to switch trains. We called Mr. Turley again, and everyone else was already back at the hotel. We were on the train and were jested about because of our Red Sox gear and accents. We even saw rats in the subway! It may seem disgusting [which it was] but you haven’t been to New York unless you’ve seen rats along the subway lines! We finally got back and we stayed in each other’s rooms until about midnight. We even had a formal noise complaint lodged against us!
Friday, it was snowing and our flight home in the afternoon was already cancelled first thing in the morning. We were sent to our final two sessions at Columbia and came back in the snowy-rainy mix to pack our things. We were now taking Amtrak home, our train leaving at one. The weather was already worsening and not pleasant to even walk the ten yards through to the subway station. The weather became even worse, heavy snow falling, so of course, so it took ages to get home.
The ride on the train was nice, even though it was more than five hours long. I certainly enjoyed the train ride home compared to the flight. I didn’t have the urge to grip the armrests for my life which was lovely. I finished my book and got mocked for reading Anne Brontë by Mr. Turley, praised by Ms. Connolly. I listened to music on my MP3 player, then when Andrew Kulik, whom I was sitting with woke, we chatted whole we crossed Rhode Island. Such a wee state. Got off the train and got picked up by the school bus and took about two hours to get home. The weather was so horrid, driving conditions even worse. We saw one car nearly get hit by a train. That would have been a site in itself. I think by the time we arrived back at the high school, we were all ready to go home and go to bed.