Hey!!! I'm BACK!
It feels like forever since I last posted and I'm actually excited to post! Haha the only thing though is that I am super disorganized right now! I feel like during the week and a half that I was gone, a lot of things occurred back at home that I have to figure out.
I also was being dumb (like always lol) and I put a lot of stuff off till after I got back from spring break since I knew the deadlines were at the end of April. . . Well here we are.. almost the end of April and I'm stuck with all that work... haha! I really regret putting things off now, but I'm trudging through it since I know that after my AP exams, I will be free!
My whole trip to New York can kinda be split into two parts.. one part business (which was also fun!) and the other part real fun! I will be sharing the business part first today. My business portion of my vacation was actually a visit to NYU for their admitted students day/weekend on the square. I knew from the start that this visit would probably be the last time I see the college before having to decide whether or now I would actually spend my next 4 years there. It was a scary thought, but I'm glad to say that after seeing the school, I have come up with a final decision! (which I will share at the end!)
My mom and I left for New York Friday morning and were fortunate enough to not hit much traffic. We arrived in Chinatown and immediately made a dash to our hotel which was a little bit over an hour away via subway.
So I'm new to booking hotels and I actually didn't realize how inconvenient the hotel that we booked would be! The hotel was advertised as being a 10 minute bus ride from a subway station so I thought it wasn't a big deal. The only problem was that I could not for the life of me figure out the bus system so my mom and I ended up
hiking half an hour twice a day for the majority of our stay! The hotel itself was pretty isolated from any stores and actually took quite a while to find. The hotel itself was very nice though on the inside .. though the location was interesting haha.
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The little dragon is a gift for someone.. haha |
A lot of the hotels in NY at that time were soo expensive!! I'm thinking it was because it was spring break... I mean the hotel that I stayed at last time
literally doubled in price to $300+ per night and there was no way that we would be staying there! This was in my mind, a good quality hotel for the lowest price. It actually cost the same per night as the Hilton, but just not at high end.. ohh I just can't believe how these hotels raise their prices like that!!
Our room was super nice as well! It had a cozy home feeling in my opinion. The bathroom was pretty sweet and the bed was HUGE! I loved the fact that it came with free breakfast and free wifi!!
My mom and I loved the hotel, but we didn't have much time to explore as our time in NY was short. We wanted to visit NYU more than once so I could see the school and so that we wouldn't get lost trying to get there the next day and end up late. It turns out that on top of the walking time, our subway ride to get to NYU was about ~50 minutes!! It wasn't that big of a deal though because I actually really enjoyed bring a "true" city person and taking the subway... though I do have to say that
some very strange things can happen on the subway...
I finally made it to NYU that day and spent some time just walking around and taking it in. I spoke to some current students and got their opinions on the school. Overall most people said they liked it there which is good to hear!! My visit to the college that day had to be quick since we needed to get home before dark!
The next morning, my mom and I woke up pretty early (around 6) so we could get ready, eat breakfast, and ride the subway to get to NYU before 9. We were actually told to get there 15 min before 9... but my mom and I could not figure the transportation out and we went the wrong way and got to the school 15 minutes late lol. =)
When I finally made it to NYU, I literally saw sooo much people there! It was quite overwhelming, but exciting! It took us a while to figure out where we were going, but as soon as I saw the arch of purple and white balloons and long line of students, I knew where I belonged! I got in line and as soon as I got in, I was given a NYU t-shirt!!! I wanted to wear it right away haha!
I'm not going to go into too much details about my weekend on the square, but my overall experience was a positive one! The presentations that were given by the school were very impressive!! There are a lot of talented students there!! We were also very fortunate that day since the weather was perfect. I spent a good deal of the time just walking around Washington Square and soaking up the sun! I also toured the campus again and took another look at the dorms. I have to say that the school is very nice
... however....
It hurts me to say this, but even though I loved everything there, something about the school didn't feel right to me. It took me a while to figure out what was off, but it eventually hit me that I really missed the feeling of a community. The square was beautiful, but it felt too open.. I looked around and saw people there that weren't students and I didn't like it. I thought I wouldn't mind it, but it just didn't feel like a college to me and it really bothered me... I kept thinking back to Uconn after this day and I think I am realizing now that I want a typical college experience and NYU would not give me that sadly... It gave me the city which I love, but not a campus...

After my wonderful day on the square, my mom and I headed back to the hotel. Along the way back, we stopped for some dinner! Well these photos are our dinners for the past two nights haha. The pizza in the first row is what we are the first night and the second night, we went out for chinese food! Getting food is so convienient in the city. There is literally a restuarant on every block and we actually had trouble picking which store to get pizza rather than trying to find a place that sold pizza!
My visit to NYU was well worth it and gave me a true taste of life there. I actually also went to Uconn's Husky-For-A-Day yesterday and got to follow a current student around. (It was lots of fun was well!! )
Both college were impressive, but the major difference between the two was the location and campus. Even though I wanted to be in the city for college, I wanted a true college campus
more.
College only happens once and the city will always be waiting for me!
I'm proud to say that I am 100% sure that I will be a husky next year!!
How has you week been so far?
What is the most interesting thing you have seen on the subway/bus?
Favorite food from the city? =)