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6am Monday morning, needless to say I was exhausted I left home ready to embark on my adventures in the US. I arrived at Heathrow in plenty of time to spend all the change I had in my purse, and have a quick look around duty free. After a slight delay I boarded the plan got comfortable in my window seat, and got a little bit too excited by the fact that not only did I have my own TV but I could choose the films as well, perfect! 7 hours later after 2 and a half films and a bit of a nap we landed at New York's JFK airport, although I did for a minute think we were landing in the Atlantic Ocean as the runway is located right by the sea that all I could see from the widow was the ocean. After queuing in Immigration for an hour and a half, I collected my bag and managed to navigate my way to the hostel which consisted of taking the airtrain, a main line train and a subway and then walk one block, needless to say I was extremely proud of myself for managing to find my way there by myself and without getting lost. As this was the first time I have stayed in a hostel by myself I was a bit anxious that I wouldn't meet anyone and no one would be friendly and as I arrived these concerns deepened as I saw these Chinese families checking in at the same time, and all I thought was what have I gotten myself into this place is full of families and no one my age. I decided that I would stay for the 3 nights I had paid for and then I would decided after that what I wanted to do. That evening I decided I would go have a wander around Times Square and try and make it back in time to go to the pub with the hostel. When I arrived at Times Square, I saw crowds of people who were waiting to catch a glimpse of President Obama and Bill Clinton who were in town unfortunately all I managed to see were the dozens of police cars. I was so overwhelmed, bewildered and fascinated by Times Square, I couldn't get over how light it seemed despite being night time, by how much activity was going on, by how many people were there, so I completely lost track of time and unfortunately missed going to the pub with the hostel, Times Square won me over completely.
Tuesday, I decided to go on 'Jerry's Grand Tour' of New York, organised with the hostel. Costing ony $10, Jerry a 75 year old New Yorker made us all two promises; the first that you will enjoy this tour and the second that you will never regret going on this tour. He definitely lived up to both. The first stop of the tour was Brooklyn, we wandered around Brooklyn Heights saw the old city council building, and went to what appeared to be a small supermarket to buy lunch. Before we went into the shop, Jerry said it's a great shop you can get sandwiches, salads etc. As we walked in we were all shocked by how much of everything there was, you could get freshly made sandwiches, there was a massive salad bar with so much choice, soups and hot food. After about 20 minutes of shock and indecisiveness we all bought our lunch and headed to sit by the harbour so we had a spectacular view of the Manhattan skyline, Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty and Staten Island, it was a very scenic lunch. After lunch, we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and into Manhattan, again taking in the spectacular views of this amazing vertical city. We then walked to Ground Zero, where the World Trade Centers once stood. There we went into St Pauls Chapel and also saw the five new buildings, including two new skyscrapers; one of them just recently overtook the Empire State Building as the tallest skyscraper in Manhattan. Jerry explained to us that these buildings have been built to be able to withstand a plane hitting them again or a truck bomb, costing billions of dollars of course, but they truly look like they will be magnificent buildings. Unfortunately, we didn't see the memorial inside for the 9/11 attacks only a picture of the two water fountains which have the names of all the victims. After Ground Zero we continued our walk towards Wall Street where we saw the Stock Exchange. After that we headed to Battery Park to catch the Staten Island Ferry which gave us a view of the Statue of Liberty and a different view of the New York Skyline. When we returned to Manhattan we then took the subway to Chinatown and wandered through there as well as Little Italy, which truly is heaven for a lover of Italian food and finished in SoHo. After SoHo, we headed over to the East Village for dinner which for myself and my new friend Sarah was sushi. The tour then continued and we went to see the Flatiron building and also caught a glimpse of the Empire State Building as well. Our final stop on the tour was Times Square, where we went into the Marriott Hotel, honestly the nicest hotel I have ever been inside. However the dream of staying there was short lived and we returned to the hostel at midnight, all of us completely exhausted and worn out.
On Wednesday, I met up with Sarah, who I met on the tour the day before, and Colin, a guy from Leeds who is on the same BUNAC programme as me. We decided that after our busy day that we would take it easy that day, however there is far too much to see and do in New York for that to happen. We began the day by catching the ferry to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty up close, unfortunately they are renovating the Statue so we couldn't go up to the Crown. After Liberty Island the next stop was Ellis Island, and yes I did manage to get my picture of myself next to the Ellis Island sign! We had a quick wander around the museum and then went back to Manhattan. We then couldn't decide what to do, so we ended up just getting on the subway and decided to see where we ended up. Union Square was our destination and grabbed a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel. After Union Square we walked around the Greenwich area, in order to search for the Fat Black Pussycat as it had been recommended in my travel guide as a spot to visit, it was only as we read the information that we discovered it was actually just a Mexican restaurant, so it suddenly became less desirable. We still walked around seeing the NYU building, beats Leeds student area and definitely Bordeaux 3 any day. In Greenwich we found a lovely square called Washington Place Square which had a fountain in the middle which you could sit and also bathe in (but there only seemed to be kids actually bathing there). After sitting there for a while, we continued our stroll, got a pinkberry frozen yoghurt and then walked up 5th avenue and bought a few souvenirs. That evening we went out on a night out to a bar and a club that the hostel had organised. We went to a bar with $1 pints, and people playing beer pong, it was very American. Afterwards we went to a club in Greenwich, right by the square we had been in earlier.
On Thursday, the weather again was beautiful so we decided to go on the free tour of Central Park, again with the hostel and saw the various bridges, the fountain, and the boathouse. Our guide explained to us how the park was designed to have windy paths so that people do get lost in the park and can forget they are actually in the middle of the Manhattan grid. This was something we discovered for ourselves later in the day. After the tour we grabbed a salad for a picnic lunch in the park and did a bit of tanning before heading to the Central Park Zoo. Everyone had said to us that this Zoo isn't very good but we still wanted to go and give it a try and I'm so glad we did. They had an amazing pool with sea lions, a polar bear, a snow leopard as well as penguins and various birds. In my opinion, it was money well spent. We then walked along the Upper East Side of Central Park, after we eventually navigated our way out. We got to the Met museum and had our gossip girl styled photo taken on the steps of the Met. As we were sitting there these street artists who described themselves as 4 Black Guys and a Puerto Rican began performing on the street, they were leaping over people and doing various other tricks, they were also very amusing. In the evening, we went on a pub crawl with the hostel, but as I was too tired from the night before I was the boring one who left early to go and get some sleep, and by early I mean 1am, I think that's a respectable time.
Friday was a very dramatic day in New York. It begins on Monday when I arrived I set up what I believed to be a T-mobile prepaid plan, which means you pay a certain amount a month and then you get an allowance of texts, minutes and web data. However I went to a T-mobile authorised dealer as opposed to a T-mobile store, but he had all the T-mobile information and I trusted him. He asked me if I was a student and promised he could get me a 15% student discount, he promised me he would get my activation fee waived and claimed he was doing me a favour. He discussed with me the plans and I decided to get the blackberry one. However during the week things just seemed to be a bit dodgy, and I got suspicious so I went onto the online account he had helped me create and I discovered he has put me on a 2 year plan, which I obviously did not want. So Friday morning at 930am I went down to the BUNAC office which is located in the hostel I was staying in to ask for advice. I immediately called Mastercard who were useless and couldn't cancel the transaction as they claimed I knew what I was paying for. I then went to the official T-mobile store and they said this is all wrong but luckily as it is within 14 days I can cancel it, however the dealer has to be the one to do this. So back to the hostel I go and I ask someone from BUNAC to accompany me and after much reluctance and denial on his behalf he eventually cancels the plan, but refuses to give me any confirmation of this and claims the money will be sent back to me. We then go back to the T-mobile store to confirm it has been cancelled and ask about how I will get my money back, they say it has been cancelled and I won't incur a charge but they also say that what he charged me for the other day was him it was not T-mobile so T-mobile wouldn't refund me. It was now 1pm, we had been going back and forth and waiting around all day, and in effect this dealer had stolen my money as well as being inappropriate towards me and lied to me and took confidential information he shouldn't have so we did the next logical thing and called the police. So we called 911 as advised to do by the T-mobile store, and we met the police at the dealer about half an hour later. I am naturally a very assertive, loud and opinionated person, also known as lairy as described by some of my friends; therefore I refuse to take any nonsense from anyone. The police ask me what went on and I explain the whole story for them, and yes I was very lairy, and almost shouting, actually I probably was shouting, I do have a naturally loud voice. The police say there is very little they can do as it is a civil matter but their presence alone meant that he did in fact refund me the money that he illegally took off me. He's obviously running a dodgy business but at least it has now been reported to T-mobile and then can handle it. I returned to the hostel very full of fire and in definite need of some retail therapy. After sorting out my legitimate prepaid plan I took myself off to 5th avenue again and went into the Abercrombie and Fitch store. 1 hour and $150 dollars later, I emerged very content and happy with my new purchases. I then continued wandering down 5th avenue and eventually went to Macy's which was enormous, they were even handing out maps of the store. In the evening I again went out to a bar/club with a group from the hostel and returned at 3am, in order to get a little sleep before setting off on my travels to Maryland in the morning.
And that was my New York Adventure, I will upload pictures soon!
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