The HUGE Apple!

New York was everything I wanted it to be (except warm) and more. It was new and exciting but at the same time very homely, it reminded me immensely of London, a city I've grown to adore. It was nice to feel like I could be back there. But it was also amazing to know I wasn't there - I was in NEW YORK. Now before I get into the nitty gritty of it all I'm going to give you a quick lesson, one I wish I had been given before I arrived there...

New York survival 101: 

• The green man does not mean it is safe to cross, it is never safe to cross. 
• When you think you have enough layers on, add one more or possibly two, you can never be dressed 'too warm'. 
• Times square at New Years is over rated. They don't allow alcohol or let you use the toilet for eight hours, don't do it to yourself. 
• Plan your trip ahead of time, way ahead. The subway system is great but the signs suck. You have a lot to learn New York.



The tip top of the Empire State Building 

• The food is good so eat, calorie count tomorrow. 

Although I was only there for three short nights I got to see the must-haves of the city but still I can't wait to go back! We rented the downstairs of a small apartment in Williamsburg owned by a lovely couple, a man from South America and a woman from Canada. My only regret it that is it was a fifteen minute walk from the subway station in below zero temperatures and taxi's in Williamsburg are not existent despite how much I was willing to pay to avoid frost bite. But as they say you get what you pay for and being students we don't want to pay for much... Next time I will definitely stay in Manhattan, and would recommend that to anyway who has the money to do so. Williamsburg is full of youngsters and who wants that!

As you can see from the photos above I got to visit the Empire State building and climbed right to the top! (Not really, we took the lift and only climbed the last seven flights of stairs). We were roped into buying a fast-track-skip-the-queue-nonsense pack by one of the street venders that accosts you as soon as you leave the subway but it was so worth it! We got a virtual tour of New York and didn't have to stand in line outside in the freezing cold for three hours. At the top the view was incredible and I finally got the chance to truly appreciate my fantastic camera. I think what took my breath away the most wasn't how high we were but the vast expanse that is Central Park, it is HUGE. Seeing it from above forces you to realise that.

On New Years day I also got to go to the top of the Rockefeller Center, one of the main sightseeing attractions in New York due to the view from the observation deck. Despite being there, and loving it, i'm still unsure of exactly what the buildings purpose is apart from tourist use, not even google seems to have a definitive answer, so don't ask me! To the left is me, at the top, with my favorite view of Central Park behind me.

During the evening I was lucky enough to experience a night of cocktails in a speakeasy in Manhattan. For those of you who don't know speakeasy's were small, secret bars people had in their basements, houses etc during the prohibition when alcohol was illegal. Can you even imagine? Granted it was probably not one of the originals as it was towards the front of the building with too many windows but it maintained the right atmosphere with its very strict rules; no more than four to a table, no cameras, no shouting, no eating - only drinking. Essentially it was a very posh, and expensive, cocktail club. One of my friends had a met a lawyer during his stay who told him about the place, if someone hadn't told us we wouldn't have even known it existed, which I guess is the whole point. We entered through a small door, climbed some very steep stairs to a casual chinese restaurant, on the far left side of the restaurant was another small, normal wooden door. There were no signs or flashing lights (unusual for New York), just a door. Behind the door was this secluded bar with low lights, low jazz music and only a few tables. There was no waiting area, if there were no seats you had to leave and come back and you weren't allowed to simply 'look around'. I indulged myself in a chocolate whiskey cocktail after all you're only in New York once right? Wrong, I am going to be there as often as possible.  

On my last day I took a quick trip to Times Square, ooed and ahhed, got lost, cursed the subway and fell totally in love with the city just in time to leave. It is undoubtedly one of the busiest, loudest and most colourful places I have ever seen and I can only imagine how intolerable it would have been on new Years Eve! I felt quashed in the daytime let alone on the busiest night of the year, but each to their own.

The total experience:
I'll be honest, at the time it felt very surreal and hard to take in, we had already travelled to so many different places in such a short period of time that the reality of being in New York hadn't hit me yet. I look back and the photos now and I am so grateful for my experience there with great sights, great food and most importantly great friends.

The Endless Night..

As I mentioned in the last blog before we could hit the heights of the Big Apple we had to survive the lows of a 12 hour Greyhound bus ride. As with any trip reliant on public transport there were minor hitches.. Like the fact the non-stop ride actually consisted of three stops or that 12 hours really meant 14. But we got there in the end and that's all that matters right? Maybe, but I will never do it again.

My first experience of Greyhound busses in the U.S was a short (six hour) trip from Chicago to Detroit. Now despite one of the girls booking the wrong bus and having to pay extra to be on the right bus nothing really went wrong. The bus was on time, we were on time, and I was actually surprised that there was free WORKING Wi Fi onboard! We were even pleasantly surprised to find out the six hour ride was really a five hour ride due to the time difference between Illinois and Michigan - Bonus!

However we were not so pleasantly surprised to have all our bags rummaged through and our persons scanned with metal detectors before we were allowed on board. Now, seen as I am not a criminal this was not necessarily a problem for me except of course for the fact I was tired, hungry, grumpy etc etc but nothing I couldn't get over. It was just amazing to me that I had to show so much proof of ID and go through so much security just to get on a bus. Its not even that difficult to catch an internal U.S flight but obviously the roads are a greater threat, either that or they really want to protect Michigan because on the way to New York we could have smuggled whatever we liked, security was non-existent!

So we rock up to the Detroit Greyhound bus station overly excited to be going to New York only to find there were several busses departing to New York at 6.30pm and the drivers hadn't quite decided which tickets were for which bus. After much deliberation they finally decided to let us on board only to tell us the Wi Fi isn't working, he was only the bus driver, how was he supposed to know why something on his bus wasn't working? And we paid extra for this great service. I felt like I was on Mega Bus!

So I tried to sleep as best I could on a crowded, smelly bus with several stops that we weren't supposed to make, two of which we were forced to get off the bus, wait for at least half an hour and then get back on again. Needless to say a nap was in order when we finally reached our brooklyn apartment.

Now all of this may seem very trivial, and it is, I shouldn't really complain but how boring would I be if I didn't?

Detroit, MI

So after a busy, exciting and draining week and a 6 hour (or 7, I don't remember) bus ride from Chicago to Detroit we were quite ready for 3 nights of relaxation in a beautiful hotel. And it was beautiful. We'd been catering for ourselves for the past seven days, and cooking for seven people of different cultural tastes is no easy feat, and then we got to indulge in fine dining, room service and the rest at the hotel for 3 nights, it was blissful.

Other than eat, drink and be merry we decided we should probably make our trip somewhat educational, being students and all, so we took a trip to the Henry Ford Museum. Now i've never really been a car kinda girl, I mean some of them are beautiful but i'm not going to bend over backwards to see them, but this museum was really good! We not only got to learn about the start, rising and future of Ford and what it meant for America but we also got to go on a factory tour... Unfortunately all the workers were off for Christmas but it was still cool to see what goes into making a Ford F1 Truck. Living in Oklahoma I have seen enough trucks to last me a lifetime, now I also know how they're made, I am officially one step closer to being a true country gal!

Seeing many of the first Ford cars made me truly appreciate the safety and strength of the cars I drive around in now. Seeing the way they toppled around driving along the old dirt tracks was enough for me, I would not want to ride in one. But they are beautiful.

And that would be all for Michigan, next stop was the big apple! First to survive a 14 hour bus ride... Oh the joy.  

The 24th is the New 25th

This year my life and mind have been expanded culturally, not only to American customs, but to to that of other European countries also. Although other European countries seem to be culturally closer to us than they are to America there are still some major differences I have been shamefully oblivious to my whole life. One of those things is the celebration of Christmas Day.

It was a few weeks before we left for Chicago in a casual conversation about Christmas day dinner (its also about food with me) that I discovered not everyone celebrates on the 25th, in fact a lot of European countries celebrate on the evening of the 24th. So in an effort to compromise we decided to give presents on the morning of the 25th and have Christmas dinner consisting of traditional dishes from each of the five countries we represented on the 24th around 8pm, the result was this:

My contribution to the feast was cauliflower cheese and roast potatoes! The roast carrots and smoked ham represented New Zealands, the Swedish meatballs with lingonberries and eggs were provided by the Swedes (of course), mini sausages from Austria and the Chicken I believe was generic. Our starter, which unfortunately I don't have a photo of, was a traditional Spanish cold soup with just about every vegetable you can imagine blended together with vinegar - it was delicious. Lindor chocolate was the obvious chose of desert, not that I could have stuff anything else in my stomach if I tried.

I must say it felt slightly strange not having this meal to look forward to after opening our presents but you have to try everything once!
                                                                          However. One thing I could not get my head around is if you open your presents on the evening of the 24th after being in the house all day whilst mummy and daddy prepare a huge feast how does Santa get down the chimney to leave your presents without you noticing? Quite a large flaw in the plan if I dare to say it. When I proposed this question the answer was pretty simple really - magic. 


Seen as we were just about the cheesiest bunch of international tourists making Christmas our own little was we just had to throw in some extra cheese in the form of CHRISTMAS JUMPERS!
We're just the cutest.

Once we were quite overwhelmed by our food comas we proceeded to vegetable on the sofa and watch a special hour long Christmas episode of Donald Duck.. In Swedish.. Without subtitles. Now that is being cultured. Apparently slightly different variations of this movie are aired in Sweden every Christmas Eve, most families will even plan their meal around watching it.

And that my friends was my European Christmas in America.

Super Bowl Sunday!

I interrupt this Christmas holiday catch-up with an important announcement from last weekend - It was the SUPER BOWL.

Now for most (I've learned not to generalise with 'all') American's this is one of the most exciting Sunday's of the year and I was pretty excited to experience it. For those of you unfamiliar with the Super Bowl it is the final game of thr NFL (National Football League) football season. The game was held in New York and I am told the venue changes each year. This year the two teams fighting for the championship title were the Seattle Seahawks (From Washington) and Denver Bronco's (from Colorado). Statistically the Bronco's were the favorites to win... But like always, statistics can be wrong.

I was lucky enough to be invited to an American Super Bowl party held at a girl from my sororities apartment... Like at any good American party there was chilli, chips (nachos) and queso (cheese sauce), and of course the Super Bowl. Now after much deliberation with my Scotish neighbour on who we should support in this game we knew nothing about we decided on the Seahawks as they are from the same place the Oklahoma City Thunders basketball team originated from, and everybody loves them so we should love the Seahawks right? Wrong. As I often am about these American things. I was surrounded by girls cheering on the Bronco's, who when we arrived close to half time were loosing 5-0. They powered through for the rest of the game continuing their loosing streak until the girls, like probably the rest of the country, gave up.

Half time show: The reason most people from states who didn't qualify for the game watch the Super Bowl. Last year I'm told Beyonce stole the game with her performance and this year Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers in their highly controversial outfits did the same.

Commercials: Another reason to watch the game if you have absolutely no interest in the sport. The Super Bowl commercial slots are one of the most expensive on American TV and for good reason, the whole country is watching. Therefore they are famous for being elaborate, funny, and simply something everyone can look froward too when their team is loosing, sorry Denver. This year Coca Cola caused great controversy (like any good advert) with what I believe is a beautiful commercial with people from all different cultures singing 'America is Beautiful' is all different languages. I'll leave you with this link so you can make your own mind up http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/coca-colas-multi-lingual-super-bowl-ad-inspired-a-racist-mel.

All in all it was a sad day for Denver who lost 43-8 to the underdogs of the match, I for one am glad I picked the right team, maybe next year I'll back them the whole way through!

Chicago

So far I have only complained (in true British fashion) about the weather in Chicago however i failed to mention how beautiful it is. The above photo was taken outside the Chicago Aquarium, behind me you can see the beautiful skyline perched on the edge of one of the great lake's.

When I was walking along the Navy Pier it was hard to believe the incredible mass of water in front of me was a lake, all I could see was water, a sight which to me resembles the ocean. I later discovered I was staring into the depths of Lake Michigan, only the second largest of the two great lakes, Lake Superior being the largest (who knew this would be a geography lesson). Although temperatures were below -10 the sky was still clear and the sun was up for the majority of my stay which made sightseeing a lot easier.

To the left is the Chicago Bean, formally known as the 'Cloud Gate Sculpture'... The best part about it is it acts as the perfect mirror to take photos of yourself in. All Americans seem to be well acquainted with the idea of the Bean as a tourist must-see however the first time I heard of it was when someone asked me if I was going to see it while I was there. My claim to fame came when I found out it was created by a British Sculptor, you're welcome America. It was here that we watched the Chicago Gay Choir perform an array of Christmas Carols under the moonlight - very festive indeed.

Another must-see for us travellers was the view from the ninety second floor of one of Chicago's tallest towers. While we were there it was only polite to treat ourselves to very expensive, and very strong, cocktails. Speaking of cocktails their menu had the craziest cocktails I had ever heard of, some of which even contained actual bacon (I naively assumed from the menu description they didn't mean the cocktail would contain two floating pieces of streaky bacon, alas I was wrong) but I stuck to the classic Long Island Iced Tea. To your right is the best view in the restaurant which is where the designers made the natural decision to place the ladies toilets.

My personal favourite part of Chicago is the Cultural Center! The building we strolled into thinking it was the library was in fact so much more than just a library. The first floor was dedicated to all different pieces of artwork by different artists, a cafe, tourist advice center and a public area for everyone to sit and warm up for free (a must-have). The second floor had some visual light art, very contemporary and fun, and a huge room with a dome roof  decorated with contrastingly old style stained glass. The third and my most favourite floor held an exhibition of Chicago street art which I learnt is an escalating trend in the city. There was a DJ playing all different kinds of music (taking requests) from hip-hop to Jazz and a dance floor where people of different ages and cultures were just dancing, amazingly well, to this music that they so clearly loved and connected with. It was an amazing scene, I could of stayed there and watched all day.

And that, in a very small nutshell, is the beauty of Chicago.