Boston

Hey, 

I was in Boston this weekend, which is the capital of Massachusetts (yep, I can actually pronounce that). I went there with American International Tours and really had a good time. 

On Saturday I had to wake up at 6am to take the bus at 6:45. Reaching the bus I just wanted to sleep, but if course I couldn't. I wasn't on the passenger list, but after a discussing with the bus driver he agreed to take me to Manhattan, where I had to talk to there your guide. Luckily she could solve the problem and however I was on her list anyway. 

We reached Boston around 11am and did a guided bus tour at first. We drove along the freedom trail and stopped at a few sights like the Beacon Hill and at the Trinity Church, where our free time started. 

In my free time, which was about 3 hours long I walked along Newbury Street, where I ate one of the famous georgetown cupcakes and did a little window shopping. Afterwards I walked thru the Public Gardens, a park in Boston, which is known for its bridge. I went back to where I started along Commonwealth Street, when I realized that I still had around 2 hours left. 

After a quick coffee stop at Starbucks googling what to do, I decided to walk along Newbury Street again, but in the opposite direction. On my way I bought some authentic european rolls, which were delicious and Swiss pralines. I really felt like eating good food that day. :D 

The pralines were kind if expensive, but definitely worth it. I can't tell you how much I miss German/European food... When I finished my food shopping I stopped at benefit next, before I went back to the bus. 

We arrived in the hotel around 5pm with the opportunity to take the bus to Quincy market at 7pm. Related to my food obsession that day, I decided to go there and have a nice dinner. I searched for a nice restaurant for a long time, and even if there were so many, I didn't find one - stupid me. Therefore I ended up in Dicks last resort. A restaurant famous for being unfriendly. However the salmon I ordered was really good and tasted awesome.

I was eating there on my own, and that might not have been my best idea, because the waiters are also known for mocking the people and giving them hats with insulting quotes on it; mine said: Best Date Ever. Eventhough I wanted to have a nice and formal dinner I really enjoyed it. It was a new experience and definitely funny. 

Afterwards, at 9pm, I took the bus back to the hotel, looking forward for a nice sleep. And so I did until the next morning. 

On Sunday the front desk called us at 7:45am, telling us to wake up. I still felt really tired, but excited as well, so I stood up and prepared myself for the day. 

We left the hotel after breakfast around 9:30 and took the bus to Boston centre again, where our first stop was the Tea Party Ship. We just took a few photos there and drove to the Italian district afterwards. 

There we walked along the freedom trail and visited the Old North Church, which is supposed to be the oldest church of Massachusetts. 

Afterwards we visited the USS Constitution the oldest and biggest still sailing ship in the world. The tour we took there was really interesting, but it was similar to the story I heard on London a few years ago. 

Later that day we visited Harvard and the MIT in Cambridge, next to Boston. Especially visiting the Harvard University was a life dream coming  true. Of course I took a picture with the Harvard statue, or should I say the statue of the 3 lies? 

Anyway, at Harvard I met a few people with whom I went to dinner and around the Campus. 

I also bought one of those sweaters everybody has, but it really was a must. 

I enjoyed visiting the MIT and the Harvard Bridge as well, but I was to exhausted to really appreciate it. 

After all it was a really nice trip. I enjoyed it a lot and must say the Boston is one of the most beautiful cities I ever saw. 

I arrived back on Campus here in Tarrytown around 8pm and went to bed immediately. I was so tired. 

See u. 

P.S. Sunday photos are still missing

Metropolitan Museum of Arts

Hey, 

Yesterday school ended early and I decided to go to mana hat and visit the Metropolitan Museum of Arts. 

I took the train at 2pm and reached the Met an hour later and to my surprise I could choose how much I wanted to pay; lucky me. As you might know I usually plan my trips to the city, so that I won't miss something, but this time I didn't planned anything in particular so that I was really shocked, when I saw how many exhibitions the Met has. I was there for about 2,5 hours and I wasn't able to see a half of them! 

At first I went thru the Egyptian exhibition, which was really interesting and reminded me to my childhood, when me and a friend of mine wanted to become Egyptologists. I was thrilled to see the temples and coffins exhibited. 

The next exhibitions I saw was "Death becomes her", and exhibition which nearly plucked my heartstrings. The exhibition included old, but beautiful moaning dresses as well as quotes about death and people dealing with it, which were really really good chosen. 

Afterwards I searched for a map of the museum for the longest time, walking thru the exhibitions about China, Korea and Japan. I myself didn't liked these exhibitions that much, but maybe that's just because I'm not in any relation with it. 

When I finally found a map I made my way to the European arts exhibition, which pleased me so much. Some of the portraits painted in difficult times were soo good that I had to Herut thru the exhibition to not loose any mascara. 

The contemporary art exhibition wasn't my cup of tea, but I always preferred the more classical arts. Therefor I just walked thru them quickly making my way to the exhibition about European decorations, in which they rebuild typical european rooms and chambers. 

The Musuem was about to close, when a man asked me, if he could sketch me. Since I didn't have any further plans I agreed and we lakes to a nearby tea house "teavana" were he bought me a tea and drawed me. To my surprise the drawing is soo good, that I could actually recognize myself. And even if I felt a little uncomfortable at first I was so glad, that I agreed, because now I have a memory no one can take away from me: beeing drawed by an New York artist. 

Later that day I did a little shopping before I took the train back. 

All in all I really enjoyed that trip and I must say, that the trips I do on my own are somehow always the most interesting ones. 

See u. 

New Years in New York

Hey, 

I finally made my dream come true! I celebrated NYE on Times Square and saw the Ball Drop live! 

The evening was really exhausting, but for me it was worth it to wait 6 hours in the cold to see a tiny ball dropping. And after all the time waiting went by so fast! You ask yourself why?

Well, because of all the people! 

In the middle of the crowd between 50th and 51th Street on Broadway we met so many interesting people from all over the world, who made the evening so much fun. 

But, to start at the beginning: 

We finally reached our spot around 5:30 pm, 6,5 hours before the event and after 1 or 2 hours of freezing and boredom, we decided to sit down for a moment and out of the nothing about 10 other people decided to sit down as well. At first we just sat there and talked and than we started to play charade, which was so much fun! At 8:30, 3,5 hours to go, we stood up again, because the police opened a gate, so that people were able to move closer to Time Square. When the crowd calmed down again we sat down again, but this time with less people. This time we were just the 3 girls of us and a boy from New Jersey, whose friends went back to their hotel. We tried to make time pass, with the craziest ideas: We hat a camp fire, on his phone; we counted my walnuts and celebrated every passing hour. Of course we also played charade again, and this time other people joined us again. 

When I looked on my watch the next time it was already 11:15, 45 min to go. At this point I finally realized: I'm on Times Square! On NYE! I am going to see the Ball Drop, LIVE! 

We played one final round of charade before we stood up at 11:45 to prepare ourselves for the upcoming event. 

11:59, the countdown started and we all felt relieved. The Ball Drop was finally happening, directly in front of us, in our view. It was a childhood dream coming true! 

As soon as the ball was down and the firework ended we made our way to the nearest restaurant: Applebee's. 

We and all the strangers we spent our evening with rounded this special NYE off with some nice conversations and dinner there. At 2:30am we left the restaurant and hurried to Grand Central to drive back to Tarrytown. Reaching my bed I felt asleep immediately.

The next day I woke up at 8am to watch the New Years Day competition of the Four Hills Tournament, which seemed crazy to a lot of people. Afterwards I spent the whole day in bed! Just for dinner I stood up again. 

After all this was a really special NYE for me. I really enjoyed it, but I'm already looking forward to spent my NYE in a warm climate some day. 

See u.  

Extended Christmas Time

Hey, 

On the 27th of December I went to the David H. Koch theatre to see Balachines Nutcracker. 

The ballet is a really classic and I enjoyed every second watching it. Of course I want able to take photos while the play, so I have not that much to show you know. And I'm not even able to tell you a lot about it. 

All I have to say is: If you enjoy going out to see a ballet, go out and see the Nutcracker! It's worth it. 

On the 28th of December I went to Manhattan again. This time to have Lunch at my favorite restaurant "Brasserie Ruhlman" at Rockefeller Center. 

I looked forward or it, since I got it as a present on December 6th, Nicolaus Day. 

I ate Hanger Steak, which I love and which is best there! And while I ate it I decided that this Lunch will make up for the unchristmas-y food of the last days. 

And at the end when I wanted to order the check, the waiter told us, that there is no check for me today. My father already paid for it, so that we were able to just leave the restaurant without paying afterwards, which made me feel soooo special. 

Afterwards we did a little window shopping on 5th Avenue before we went back to Tarrytown. 

See u.

Christmas Time on Campus

Hey, 

This years Christmas was definitely a whole new experience. It was unusual and after all not really Christmas-y, but it showed me to value the last Christmases and the future Christmases with my family. 

First of all, for those who don't know: In Germany we celebrate Christmas over 3 days! The Christmas Eve on 24th, 1st Christmas Day on 25th and 2nd Christmas Day on 26th of December. Every Christmas days has its own traditions in my family, like Eating goose on the 1st Christmas Day and going out for Dinner on the 2nd Christmas Day. Related to my stay here in the U.S. I wasn't capable of celebrating a usual Christmas, but I tried to make the best as possible. 

On Christmas Eves Day I skyped with my family for about 4 hours. I skyped with them while they unwrapped their gifts and while they had dinner. I nearly felt as If I was there.

Afterwards a friend of mine and me wanted to order Pizza for dinner, but unfortunately the Pizza shop wasn't open so that we had to eat in the Cafeteria. Yeah! :/

In the Cafeteria we met some other friends and we decided to go to the cinema with them. We decided to watch "into the woods" because of its really good cast, e.g. Johnny Depp and Meryl Streep.

The movie itself was good as well, even if I was really surprised, because it was kind of an musical. They were singing the whole movie and I still have its catchy song in my head. 

On 25th I just watched some series and slept in. And in the early afternoon I went to the grocery store to buy some vegetables and pasta for dinner. 

When I thought about my family eating goose right now, I felt pity for myself eating pasta, but hey! Pasta was still better than eating in the cafeteria. 

I can't really remember what I did on 26th of December, but I think that it wasn't 

Christmas-y.

In the night time I went out to the "the Raven" club in Meatpacking, which was a advisable  club! I really liked the music and the atmosphere there. I went to the club with some other students and met up there with a friend from Miami, who currently was in New York. We partied all night so that I came home pretty early in the morning around 9am maybe. 

After all it was a good night anyway. 

So, finally to say my Christmas time wasn't like Christmas at all, it was more like trying to pretend that it's Christmas, then actually believing it.

See u. 

    Christmas Tree at home

Christmas Gift Scavenger Hunt

Hey, 

On the 23rd of December my father send me on a Scavenger Hunt to find my Christmas present. I had to solve quests at different spots in Manhattan to find it and it was really fun. I learned stuff about Manhattan I didn't know before and I had a good time walking through Manhattan with a plan I didn't know about. 

The Scavenger Hunt started at 11 am in Grand Central, where I had to find the Campbell Apartment. Afterwards I walked along the 43rd Street towards the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, which plays main a actress recently won a Tony Award. My next task was to find out, which actress spent time on Times Square in context with the movie "how to marry a millionaire". Answer: Marilyn Monroe.

Next I had to find a shop which sells Victor Vasarely as well as Keith Haring -> MoMa Store. I bought some magnets for my father there before I had to solve the next quests: "What's the name of the pub my NY friends went to?" I was clueless, but I think I solved it correct. 

The next task was kind of a hint, I had to go there, where Holy Golightly had Breakfast. The solution was Tiffany's. 

My final destination was Tiffany's 6 floor, the customer service, where I finally got my Christmas present: a ring out of the T wire collection! I was so happy that I would have loved to wear it all day, but I wanted to unwrap it on Christmas Eve and so I waited patiently. 

Afterwards I didn't feel like driving back to Tarrytown so I went to Best Buy to replace something related to my Camera and back to the MoMa to finally see its exhibitions. 

All in all it was a interesting and exhausting day in the City, which I really enjoyed.

See u.