Day Two: The Fun Continues

Today is only day two of my trip here in New York and I'm already captivated by it. Our day started off with an moderately early wake up call at 7:00 am. Once everyone was gathered in the lobby, we proceeded to have breakfast. We headed to the café next door, where the everyone ordered a light breakfast. Unfortunately, the majority of us were still semi-full from last nights dinner. After breakfast we went back to the hotel to freshen up before we continued our excursion for the day.

In reality, the weather seemed to be in our favor because even though the air was relatively warm and growing hotter, there was a nice cool breeze that kept the atmosphere cool. Our first surprise of the day came when Ms. L announced the we would be going to Times Square. Excitement immediately filled through all of us. We proceeded the local subway station and were off.

 

All of us having fun in Times Square

Upon reaching the station, we were able to see some iconic subway musical performances. After we headed up the stairs and finally obtained our first glimpses of the marvel that is Times Square. Jumbotrons everywhere advertised countless products, events and locations. The biggest sensation there I felt was astonishment. I was completely blown away by the grandness i was beholding. As a group, we took advantage of our time there to do a little bit of souvenir shopping. He headed into a local shop and bought a few post cards of iconic locations in N.Y.C. After we all headed to the the Hershey were we found out that Hershey is behind many other candy brands. Immediately following our visit there, we all headed to the m&m shop were we were overwhelmingly greeted by high enthusiasm and spirit by the staff upon entering. We looked around for a while and then headed over to the Toys R Us store. The layout of the building was amazing and completely unique as far as I had ever seen. It was so large that it had multiple stories and a Ferris Wheel in the center. After which we were forced to conclude our visit there due to time restrictions.

The New Years Ball drops at the top of
this building

We once again boarded a subway shuttle that took us to Grand Central Station. I had long heard about its uniqueness and beauty but I never expected to see the spectacle I beheld. Marble walls and a elegant design make it completely astonishing. I was completely bewildered why anyone at one point would have wanted to demolish such a beautiful building. We were able to take multiple photos of the concourse area and see the unique clock that rest atop of the informational booth in the center. Incredibly, the station is celebrating its centennial so there were multiple signs that advertised the accomplishment. Overall it was a great experience.

Once Ms. L obtained our tickets, we headed over to the food area to grab something for lunch. Once again everyone's appetite was still very small, so consequently we all ordered very light lunches. When we were all done with our lunches we headed off to the track to catch our train in order to continue our journey.

The ride over to our destination, Bronxville was not really that special. It was relatively short, only lasting about 30 minutes. However, once we reached Bronxville, the attitude of everyone was completely uplifted. The small community had a older college town feel to it and appeared to be very peaceful. It was the complete opposite of the sensation New York gave off. Our reason for being there was to attend a informational session and take a campus tour of Sarah Lawrence College, so after exiting the from the train, we promptly got into to taxi's and headed towards the campus.

Welcome to Sarah Lawrence College

The first thought that came to mind was how exquisitely beautiful the campus environment seemed. It was so peaceful and relaxed that I could actually see the possibility of applying there after finishing high school. We headed straight for the main building in order to receive our informational session. The presenter was a recent graduate of Sarah Lawrence, very effectively and passionately discussed key elements of the school academics. She talked about how at the college, there are no majors at all. Instead the school has "concentrations" that acted like majors but are more liberal. The curriculum is more individual oriented in the sense that, you choose what you want your education to be. There are no core classes that are required to be taken and overall the curriculum is very individualized in a way, while still keeping a very high level of professor student connection. Other topics that were discussed during the session were the abroad study courses available, ranging everywhere from La Habana, Cuba to Oxford, England. We all received very insightful information that is Sarah Lawrence.


Immediately following the informational session, we proceeded to take a extremely educational tour of the campus. Our tour guide, Shelby, an up coming senior at Sarah Lawrence, was an amazing tour guide. She explained everything about the school in such great detail and in such a interactive and comical way. She told us many jokes and stories about her experiences at the college and really provided a very in-depth explanation of how the school functions. The most surprising element of her tour, was that in each story she told, she successfully remembered the names of each of her professors, even the ones from when she was a first-year. This was incredible and also confirmed the claim that Sarah Lawrence has a very good faculty to student relation. Through this tour we were able to see how well developed and equipped the school actually is. There are many housing areas for the small group of students the school educates and every student is made to feel more integrated into the college. Even though the tour did take longer than expected, around 2 hours and 30 minutes, it was greatly packed with helpful information.

After leaving Sarah Lawrence and catching the two train back to the hotel, we were given some time to calmly get ready for the big dinner we had tonight. We were set to meet four members of the Yale Alumni Association. At around 7:30 pm, we departed to the restaurant where we would be dining for the evening.  After a quick train ride and a few blocks of walking we arrived at the door of Del Frisco's Steak House, a beautifully styled building that emanated a modernistic vibe. Once at the restaurant we met some very exciting and knowledgeable people. The four alumni we met were Mr. Chad Berkowitz ( a 2000 graduate who has a BA in Ethics, Politics and Economies and History), Mr. Max Kushner-Lenhoff ( a recent 2012 graduate who has a B.S and M.S in Chemistry), Ms. My Luu ( a 1996 graduate who possess a BA in Russian and E. European Studies and Political Science) and Ms. Tracey Ober ( a 1985 graduate who has a BA in intricate field of English). All four of these alumni were great and kind people who really showed an interest in teaching us all about Yale and whatever other topic we asked them about. I had the pleasure of having interesting and mind-boggling conversations with each of these four alumni. Even better is that we were able to witness a full on discussion between Max and Chad over copyright, trademark, and patents which really depicted their incredible knowledge and debating skills that have been finely tuned to perfection thanks to Yale University. I learned so much from all four of these alumni, and each one completely blew my mind in their own ways. Each new topic I opened up for discussion led to in-depth synopsis that made me think of it through a different perspective. They gave me advice on how to write an optimal personal statement and how to really make it standout among others. 

Overall the night was amazing and I really enjoyed it very much, and frankly was sad when it ended and we had to say goodbye. The entire day as a whole, I would say, was also amazing. We were able to learn about Sarah Lawrence's completely different curriculum mindset in terms of education and were able to see some iconic sights around New York City. This day was astonishing and I look forward to the adventure that is to come tomorrow.