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.