Arrival at New York City

I woke up at 2:20 AM today- ten minutes before my alarm rang- out of my excitement to reach the East Coast. I arrived at El Cerrito High School at 3:45 PM. We weighed and labeled the luggage. Before we departed, we took a group photo. The bus arrived right on time once we were finished with the pictures.

The bus ride was fun, and it went by really quickly. The Vanderbilt Cohort sat together. It gave us an opportunity to bond together even more. We talked about our schools and told each other stories. When we arrived at the airport, I was a little nervous. However, the check-in process was quite simple. Chiamaka, Shanti, and I went through the pre-TSA approved line. We were separated from Mr. Mannix and Carson which made us a little worried because we were not experienced with flying. However, it did not take that long, and I was surprised that we didn't have to take off our shoes or scan the laptop separately. We waited for Mr. Mannix and Carson to come out. Then we got breakfast from Burger Joint. I decided to get a breakfast sandwich.

Afterwards we boarded the plane. I was seated in between Shanti and Mr. Mannix. I was really entertained by the plane take-off since I hadn't been on a plane for a while.The plane ride was smooth, but I felt a little sick in the middle. Once we reached the airport, we had to take a taxi to Beacon Hotel. We were delayed because the driver who was supposed to pick us up couldn't make it. There was a lot of traffic along with a lot of honking which reminded me a lot of San Francisco. We spent about half an hour in our hotel room to relax and unpack.

This is our hotel room.

Later on we had dinner at an Italian restaurant called Senafina. I decided to order theTagliolini Di Cortina al Pollo. I had a hard time pronouncing it. It was a tasty dinner, but I didn't have the capacity to finish it all. We had a great conversation. We started talking about the School Board

Once we had dinner, we went to Central Park. It was a really beautiful place, especially the lake. We did a lot of walking around the park; we even heard a concert going on. I realized that New York City looks really beautiful at night. I experienced a different environment than that of the West Coast. Even at 9:30 PM, people are still walking and jogging around. We took a long walk around the park as well as most of the city. We concluded today's journey by stopping at Pinkberry. I decided not to get anything because I was already stuffed from the meal.

Today's journey has made me even more excited for the upcoming days. I am looking forward to visiting Columbia University and having the Columbia dinner tomorrow.

This is Central Park