DAY #3: A RAINY ADVENTURE AROUND THE EASTSIDE

       As I arrived to Penn Station, I knew it would be a long, rainy, and gloomy day. I prepared before class and brought clothes indicated for the weather we were expecting. Our first stop was The Metropolitan Museum of Art located on 5th Avenue. It was quite an experience walking to the Metropolitan Museum under the heavy rain, and entering the museum covered in mud and rain.

       The Metropolitan Museum of Art, usually called The Met, is the largest, most comprehensive art museum in the world (BG, 326). The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 by a group of American citizens, who wanted to create a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. The Metropolitan’s paintings collection began in 1870, and 174 paintings in all, came to the museum.

The Metropolitan Museum contains everything from Greek, Egyptian to Medieval Art etc. As we explored the museum, we focused a great amount on the contemporary art in the upper floors of the museum where professor Don had great knowledge on the different works of art. I am not interested in contemporary art because I do not understand the meaning behind the different works of art.

However, in the end its art and the time put into the work is amazing. Contemporary art has to do with the feelings of the artist, and the message the work of art provides, which is pretty interesting on that aspect. Some of the artists we observed at the museum were Morris Louis, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, Chuck Close and many more. I didn’t seem to understand Mark Rothko’s piece called No.3, Oil on canvas. It seemed to have perfect straight lines, and squares that were colored perfectly in different colors with a blue background.

The message behind his art work as specified at the museum, represented the height and width of a human standing with arms, and created what he called “doors” and “windows’ in different colors. Mark Rothko was born on September 25, 1903 and died on February 25, 1970. He was American painter whose works introduced contemplative introspection into the melodramatic post- World War II Abstract Expressionist School and his use of colour as the sole means of expression led to the development of Colour Field Painting.

       After exploring the museum a bit, we later had an hour to explore the museum on our own. The most interesting part of the museum to me was the section of The Medieval and Byzantine, and The Egyptian Art.

The collection of ancient Egyptian Art at the Metropolitan Museum ranks among the finest outside Cairo. It consists of approximately 36,000 objects of artistic, historical and cultural importance, from the Paleolithic to the Roman period. In the Medieval Arts section the work was created from the 4th to early 16th century, roughly from the time of the fall of Rome to the beginning of the Renaissance (BG, 340). In addition, the information provided about The Byzantine Egyptian Gallery was extremely interesting.
It specified that the gallery is carved from the space between the great brick arches and walls that support the Museum’s Grand Staircase.Furthermore, the lightning in the gallery is dimmed in order to protect the old textiles on display.

       We later had a change of plans due to the weather. Unfortunately, we headed to Grand Central Terminal, instead of going to Central Park. I was upset that we didn’t have a chance to explore Central Park, and the beautiful Boat Pond as well as the sites associated with John Lennon. However, we had the opportunity to explore Grand Central Terminal.
Grand Central remains one of the world’s greatest railroad stations, and an enduring symbol of the city (BG, 228). Also, the Grand Central Terminal was constructed of glass and steel, the 100 foot wide by 650 foot long structure rivaled the Eiffel Tower and Crystal Palace for primary as the most dramatic engineering achievement of the 19th century. We also had lunch at Grand Central Terminal due to extreme weather we were encountering.

       Our next stop was the New York Public Library. The New York Public Library is officially the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, one of the libraries four major research facilities, world famous for its collections and much admired for the architecture of its building (BG, 207). I was amazed at the architecture of the library and the elegancy of my surroundings. I felt studious after sitting down in the main reading room in complete silence while I took down some notes and observed others completing their work.

       To end our rainy adventurous day, we walked through 5th Avenue a very upscale street. We passed the St. Patrick’s Cathedral, down to the Peninsula Hotel, then to the Tiffany store, and ended at FAO Schwartz.

FAO Schwartz was the highlight of my day, since it made me feel like I was a kid again. It brought back childhood memories of when I was excited to enter FAO Schwartz, and I will continue to have the same reaction until this day. It was a nice feeling looking around for toys, and playing the piano with my feet. Although the rough circumstances of the weather that didn’t stop us, I learned quite a good amount of information about the East Side of the City, and had a great time as well.

DAY #2: BODACIOUS BROOKLYN

        In the morning of our second class, I was not sure what to expect when it came to the borough of Brooklyn. My knowledge of Brooklyn is very poor since I have only been there a few times for a short period of time. I was a bit nervous, since my view of Brooklyn was a bit biased, but that changed once I got to explore this borough throughout the day.

      Our first stop was Coney Island, and I was excited to be able to explore and ride the roller coaster. Unfortunately, the roller coasters were closed since they were filming a movie on the boardwalk. Coney Island is a New York City neighborhood that features an amusement area that includes 50 or more separate rides and attractions.

Also, Coney Island was settled by the Dutch, who named it Konijn Eiland after the rabbits they found there and is the birthplace of the hot dog and home of the world’s most terrifying roller coaster, it is also a place remarkable for high energy and dubious taste (BG, 492). I was surprised to observe the boardwalk so empty when we arrived to Coney Island and the reason was due to the weather, since it is not summer weather anymore.

However, the beach and the boardwalk turned out to be what I did not expect, it was clean and extremely peaceful, it reminded me of the city where I live in Long Beach located in Long Island, NY. Before we left Coney Island, I got to experience and taste the delicious hot dogs Nathans is famous for having.

      We later headed over to The New York Transit Museum, a museum with a large amount of information about our New York subway system throughout the early 1900’s to present. The New York Transit Museum, one of the city's leading cultural institutions is the largest museum in the United States devoted to urban public transportation history, and one of the premier institutions of its kind in the world.

I thought everything in this museum was fascinating, especially how it was located underground as if you were heading down to a subway and be able to experience the real deal. I was impressed how subway cars varied from early in the 1900’s to the present. Every time I stepped into a different subway car I would mentally picture if I was from that year and it was an amazing feeling.

      Our next stop was a museum called Brooklyn Historical Society located in Brooklyn Heights. The Brooklyn Historical Society was founded in 1863 as the Long Island Historical Society. Brooklyn at that time was the commercial and cultural center of Long Island. It was incredible to see how buildings in Brooklyn Heights were mad out of historical rich brown stones. Before we got to explore the museum of Brooklyn Historical Society, our class was taken on an incredibly interesting tour around Brooklyn Heights.

I never expected Brooklyn Heights to be as beautiful and the history was absolutely appealing. We got to explore a good amount of places in a short amount of time which was exciting. What attracted my interest the most was how the TD bank on Court Street is the old building of what used to be Mechanic Bank of Trust. Our tour guy explained how the Brooklyn Dodgers signed their first contract in this building in 1827, and Jackie Robinson was the first African American on the baseball league to sign there as well. Also, what brought my attention was how the creation of the steam ferry changed everything for the wealthy people, since they now had transportation from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Although I was exhausted after the tour around Brooklyn Heights I was excited to continue exploring things I have never seen before. After our tour ended we continued on to the museum of Brooklyn Historical Society. At 128 Pierrepont St, at the southwest corner of Clinton St, is the Brooklyn Historical Society, founded in 1863 as the Long Island Historical Society (BG, 472).

I found both the exhibit and the library to be extremely interesting. The exhibit provided full facts about Brooklyn’s history and culture. The library on the second floor was exceedingly beautiful. I was amazed that the library was open to the public but books weren’t allowed to be taken out of the library due to old conditions.

       Our last adventure of the day was walking the entire Brooklyn Bridge, which i thought was going to be a lengthy walk. The Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883, and is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. The bridge connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn that spans nearly 1,595.5 feet across the East River and was the longest suspension bridge until 1903. We first walked through the beautiful Brooklyn Bridge Park and pier where my classmates and professors took amazing pictures with buildings and the Brooklyn Bridge in the background.

I was a bit nervous to cross over the bridge by foot since I have a fear of bridges, especially in the beginning where the walls were condensed due to remodeling of the bridge. However, in the end I was thankful I walked through the Brooklyn Bridge and got such a beautiful educational experience while walking. It was incredible to walk over a bridge and imagine the hard labor put into the bridges structure.

Dr. Russo stated before walking over the bridge that a woman was the one to finish the bridge, which makes me extremely proud, and demonstrates how women have the ability to accomplish goals as well. The Brooklyn Bridge took about 14 years to finish, employing approximately 4,000 people, and costing 15 million dollars (BG, 464). Also, not to forget how many workers died due to the caisson disease is extremely unpleasant.

As I saw the end of the bridge, I pictured a big tape through a finish line as if I was running a marathon. It was a great accomplishment since I have this fear of bridges and I was very proud of myself. I don’t regret walking through it because I learned so much and I would definitely do it again when I have the opportunity. Although at the end of the day I was exhausted as well as my classmates and professors, I was satisfied in exploring so many places in one day. I love how we are not only sitting in classroom learning, but also getting hands on experience to such beautiful places in New York I never knew about, and learning at the same time.

DAY #1: THE QUEENS LIFE

            As I arrived into Penn Station, I had no idea on what to expect from this New York Experience class. I had mixed emotions of excitement and nervousness all bundled up together at the same time. As I anxiously waited for all my other classmates to arrive, I wondered how my day would be like in Queens. I don’t get the chance to travel to Queens as much and don’t know much about it, but I was excited to expand my knowledge of this borough. As we headed to Flushing Meadow Park on the 7 subway line, I couldn’t help but be amazed at the amazing sights we encountered on the way there.

          After arriving to our destination, we walked through what was a beautiful boardwalk to get through to the Flushing Meadow Park.  However, it was quite a crowded day in that the US Open was taking place at the same time. In addition, Michelle Obama was around for the US Open and it was hard getting through the area since police officers were blocking entrances. However, this did not stop us from viewing the beautiful Flushing Meadow Park. I was amazed as I observed the vegetation and cleanness of the park.
As we walked to our next stop, which was The Queens Museum of Art, we came across the Unisphere.

The beautiful view of the Unisphere was one of my favorites, in how the magnificent structure of the giant steel globe and the fountain came together. I was amazed at the fact that the Unisphere is 140 feet high, 120 feet in diameter, and it weighs 900,000 pounds. As I took in the beautiful view and smelled the refreshing water on a hot sunny day, I was thankful to be able to actually learn about these new places.

         Another of my favorites was the panorama of the city of New York located in The Queens Museum of Art. I was astonished on the detail of every building, bridge, and borough.

This New York Panorama is an architectural model of the city, by Robert Moses for the 1964 World’s Fair updated in 1992. It contains 895,000 buildings constructed before 1992 in each of the five boroughs (BG, 497).  The Panorama was one of the most successful attractions at the '64 Fair with an average of 1,400 people taking advantage of its 9 minute simulated helicopter ride around the city. I was impressed by our guide at the museum that also expressed the fact that it was made by over 100 people, where planning for its construction began in 1962 and lasted for about 3 years.

            Following the wonderful learning experience we had at the Queens Museum of Art, it was finally time for lunch. I was scared when I heard we were having Indian food for lunch because I have tried it before and was not the biggest fan of it. However, it was a long day and decided to give it another chance. Overall the food wasn’t as bad as I expected, and I enjoyed trying new types of food.

            After lunch our class explored Astoria the home of young professionals. I was shocked at what Mike said on how property prices in the area are increasing and blue collared people can’t afford to live there anymore. We headed to the Museum of the Moving Image, which was an extremely interesting museum that I enjoyed a great amount. The Museum of the Moving Image was created to understand and appreciate art, history and technology of film, television, and digital media by collecting and providing access to moving image related pieces using multimedia exhibitions. The exhibit includes audio and visual objects to demonstrate its history.  I was impressed on how characters were made and animated throughout the movie, everything from the make-up to the clothing. Also, the old video games, such as Sonic and Mario from a Nintendo 64, brought back all my wonderful childhood memories.
             Finally, we ended up at 5 pointz an area in Long Island City.

Long Island City is a largely industrial neighborhood that has become a center for contemporary art, mainly sculpture, since its industrial architecture lends itself to the installation of large works (BG, 495). I am a big fan of expressive art, but I do not like how it’s expressed all over the walls of our environment which is considered vandalism. However, there was astonishing pieces of art that I was amazed by how much time and effort were put into them. When we arrived there was a group of gentlemen finishing up their work that really caught my attention. Their piece of art looked like Manhattan including our taxi cabs and buildings. The name 5 pointz signifies the five boroughs coming together as one, but because of its reputation as the epicenter of graffiti, the industrial complex united aerosol artists from across the world.Furthermore, our day was coming to an end as we headed to the waterfront of Long Island City.

Although many of us were tried from such an adventurous day, I was glad to be able to look at such an amazing view of the city beneath the sunset. Overall, our first class expanded my knowledge about Queens and even though I was exhausted at the end of the day, I was glad I had accomplished it and learned a tremendous amount of information.

I WANT TO WAKE IN A CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS

            There are a number of things that come to mind when thinking of New York City. I think of the tall buildings, the crowds of people, the yellow taxis, the city that never sleeps, and the beautiful lights and views at night in Times Square. My dream since I was a child is to someday live in the city that never sleeps. The Big Apple has a number of surprises under its sleeve, and living there could never be tedious. I would love the experience of walking through the streets of New York while listening to the sounds of an instrument or even observing the artistic aspects the city provides and actually calling it my home. Although I live on Long Island, which is approximately 45 minutes from the city, I really never have the time of traveling to the city as much as I would like to. However, I consider myself privileged to live so close to a beautiful city like New York and would like to find time to be able to explore it more often. Many tourists desire to have the opportunity to come to a city like New York where many dreams come true, and living so close is a true blessing.

            One of my favorite things to do in the city is shopping, the every girls desire. The city has so much to offer when it comes to hopping, from the streets of Soho to 5th Avenue and 14th street,to Broadway. Soho has the greatest concentration of cast-iron architecture and one of its denser concentrations of shopping opportunities, with stores ranging from high-end boutiques to sidewalk carts (BG, 98). It’s amazing to see the crazy and unique styles of these designers on mannequins through the multiple store windows. New York City is one the top cities when it comes to the fashion industry and clothing. It runs amazing and interesting fashion shows demonstrating pieces of all the different designers.

           The architecture of the New York City buildings and bridges is incredible. I remember as a child walking through the streets of New York and feeling astonished as I looked up at all the amazing buildings of New York. New York's architecture, from the earliest Dutch days to the beginning of the 19th century, wore the unaffected look of a vernacular evolved in accord with the basic needs of rugged colonial life and before electricity or gaslight, the natural rhythms of the day (BG, 8). Manhattan has so much to offer, from the major tourist attractions like Statue of Liberty and its history behind it, Central Park, the Empire State Building, Times Square and the Twin Towers that we lost on September 11, 2001. Although the Twin Towers are no longer with us New Yorkers, they will always be in our hearts, and will never be able to forget since they are a part of our history. There are many other things like the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Holland Tunnel the city has to offer and I could endlessly name.

           New York City also provides a diversity of cultures which is absolutely amazing. You could find from China to Italy and Mexico, and all types of other cultures all in one city! While many of Manhattan's other ethnic enclaves are shrinking or gentrifying, Chinatown is expanding eastward beyond its original boundaries into the Lower East Side and northward into Little Italy (BG, 107). I love traveling, and being able to learn new aspects of different cultures apart from ours in this city is extremely interesting. You learn something new everywhere from the delicious foods and restaurants, to the variety of languages, and the different styles.

          New York City is a place many tourists desire to explore and suggest should be visited. This large city has so much to offer starting from the different cultures, to the amazing architecture, the wide variety of restaurants, incredible fashion industry, and many more. I believe there are still large parts of the city I haven’t yet explored and history I have not yet learned. However, I hope to expand my knowledge of the city with this class of the New York experience, and be able to also learn about Brooklyn and Queens other then Manhattan itself. I am excited to start this class in the fall and be able to take in everything it has to offer.