New York Diary - Day 1

Our New York adventure started with many weary-eyed teenagers dragging themselves from napping place to napping place as we went from the boarding houses to the 5am coach and then to Glasgow airport for our early morning flight. The excitement hadn’t quite settled in as we were all still rubbing the sleep from our eyes but the buildup of a rather lengthy flight gave us time to anticipate the adventure ahead. Alicia Keys was not joking with her comparison to ‘concrete jungles’ we were all in awe at the differences we could see between the UK and the US without even having left the airport building. We were quick to sample the American ‘cuisine’ with a pit stop at Dunkin’ Donuts whose sugary snacks fuelled us through the journey to the YMCA where we would be staying. With a swift turnover only stopping to grab our purses, we headed right to the heart of the city. We marvelled at the vastness of Central Park and let loose to find our way round for lunch and then to the Empire State Building which funnily enough some of us had trouble finding. We were grateful for the lift which took us up quickly to the top of the building where we learned a bit more about the history of the building. Then we spent a good amount of time marvelling at the city spread out below us and of course taking time to get the perfect tourist photos. Our first taste of actual American cuisine was at the amazing Heartland Brewery where we were greeted by endless streams of miniature dishes giving us the chance to sample more foods than one might have thought possible in a single sitting. By this point in the evening we were all exhausted considering it felt like 3am for our body clocks so walked the 32 blocks (to burn off our dinners) headed back to the trusty YMCA and collapsed on our bunk beds for a good nights rest.   


By Caitlin N & Carmen B-H

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