Like every student on a student summer job, my friends and I decided to visit the "Big Apple" at the end of the Work and Travel program.
Before leaving for New York we hadn't slept all night, because we had to pack our bags, and we were leaving at 5 in the morning so that we would have more time for sightseeing. This was the first time I would see buildings many times bigger than any I had seen before, and so many people in one place – I had never even dreamed of it.
Entering New York, I felt like I was in a fairy tale. I just didn't know where to look or what to photograph. It was an incredible feeling that made me fall in love with this city from the very first moment I saw it. After we parked in the center of Manhattan, our adventure began. We wanted to see as many of the city's sights as possible and knew we had to move very fast. Our journey through this glittering city started at Fifth Avenue & 42nd Street. From there we headed to one of the city's symbols – the Brooklyn Bridge. This was the first place that opened up an incredible view of this captivating city. Then we headed to the Statue of Liberty, taking a small boat that dropped us off on the island so we could see it up close and admire the view toward Manhattan. After that we wanted to visit Little Italy and Chinatown, but to do so we had to take the subway. We bought tickets and went into the subway, but we didn't know which train to take, since it had several levels. After looking at our Manhattan map and asking a few people, we found the train we needed, but we didn't check which direction it was going, because we didn't have time and didn't want to wait for the next one. As soon as we got on, one of my friends said she thought we were going the wrong way, and it turned out we were heading to Brooklyn. We had to get off and take the same line in the other direction, but we didn't want to exit the subway – we wanted to transfer directly, because we didn't know where we would come out or whether we would be able to catch another train. We explained this to several Americans, but they all just told us to get off and take the next one, which wasn't what we wanted. Finally a woman overheard our conversation and told us that at the next stop we could transfer directly to a train going in the opposite direction, and that's what we did. After about an hour on the subway we arrived in Chinatown. This neighborhood looked quite creepy, and we quickly headed to Little Italy. Little Italy has the spirit of a small Italian town. There are numerous restaurants with the delicious smell of pizza and other dishes wafting from them. After that we had to take the subway again and go back to the place where we had been dropped off, because they were supposed to drive us to the hotel where we would spend the night. We were among the first to arrive at the agreed time, and to our surprise we saw that our car was unlocked. We checked our backpacks, but everything was in place, and then we saw a note on the windshield saying that our car had been searched by the police and that for more information we should go to a certain address. When the whole group had gathered, it turned out that two girls' suitcases were missing, and they were supposed to fly to Bulgaria from JFK in the morning. It turned out that the driver had left the window open, and the Americans suspected a terrorist attack after seeing so much luggage in the van. At the address we went to, they told us they had to hold the girls' suitcases for 24 hours, but they were flying in 18 hours. I don't know what happened to them, but we set off for the hotel where we were spending the night, because the evening was only just beginning.
To be continued……
Toni