Tuesday, March 30, 2010

walking

Walking. Seems simple enough. But in New York City, it is simply fascinating. For a taste of our walking experience without the physical activity, here is a photographic taste of our wonderful week. I wish I had brought a pedometer to know how far we walked. One thing I do know is that I mentally traveled an immeasurable distance - and no photograph can capture that.




































view from the highline


It has literally taken me two days to recover from the trip and gather my thoughts and photos into an entry.

That being said, this past week has been honestly unforgettable. It's been amazing to have the opportunities we've had-- to see the things we have, to receive the tours that we have, to speak to and ask questions of the people that we have, and to have it all organized and explained to us every step of the way.

Furthermore, I found that I really had an appreciation for the students I was traveling with; it definitely made it that much more of an incredible experience to be able to always have an animated conversation with whoever was next to me and to have someone else's perspective explained. The genuine interest that everyone on the trip really contributed to how I felt about the trip, and it made it so much more exciting to see and hear the things we did, knowing that an engaging conversation was sure to follow.

I also very much appreciated the opportunity to meet the alumni on the last day of our trip. It was cool to hear how it was possible to get things together and how our trip came about. I think all of us students were in agreement that it was great to meet the people who made the trip possible.

on display at the metropolitan museum of art
daffodils planted in central park

just past the statue of the bull
amazing public transportation system


world trade center construction site
on our way to hear the New York Philharmonic Rehearsal





Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Hey everyone!

So, the very first student entry. This'll be a short one, as I don't really have much I can say other than wow. and sigh. and ouch. and zzzzz ( or what a lack thereof).

I did, however, want to let you know about a blog entry by a visual blogger Christoph Niemann who is German (incidentally, and lives in Berlin) and whose work I think is super fun. He runs a blog on the nytimes site called abstract city, and one of his entires (the link takes you there) is titled The Boys and the Subway and one we would definitely closely relate to after our first few days here.

I had an interesting discussion on the subway home today about what it was we felt we individual students were "getting" out of this experience. Reflecting on that now, I feel as though I spoke too quickly. I can relate what I had in mind when I applied, but it will take a while to really realize where the worth of this trip lies heaviest for me (other than the obvious ones of meeting you all and seeing the city for the first time period).

Friday, March 19, 2010

How to use this blog!

Hey Stanford-Spring-Break-in-NYers!
Here's how to post to this blog.

1) Megan has to add your gmail address to the blog and send you an invite. You need to confirm this invite by checking your gmail!

2) You can go to http://blogger.com, log in with gmail and click "New Post" to create a post.

3) Click on the photo or video icons in the posting area to add pictures or video directly to the post!

4) Click Publish when you are done - Save Now will NOT post your post to the blog, just save it for later!

5) You can also send a post to the blog via email (from your iPhone or laptop or whatever) using the secret email that Megan sent you!

Contact Megan if you're having issues.