The Clock is Ticking!

The last Tuesday has up and passed already! No one can believe that time has passed so quickly.  Where did our weeks go? Well, today in class we discussed an article about Lyndon B Johnson and his John Hopkins address. We discussed the effects of his rhetoric, speech, foreign and domestic policies, and other items.  It was an interesting day because in my school, I did not learn much about LBJ so I liked that we got to learn more about him. Many times in traditional high schools, we focus on the big names like Washington, Lincoln, and FDR but don't give importance to people like LBJ.

Statue of Liberty!

Also we had a chance today to go to the other library for social sciences, Lehman Library.  I think I am so much more prepared to use libraries. Now that I can navigate the stacks, which are rooms and rooms full of books, at Butler and Lehman library, I can do anything. There are so many books available and so many resources in general that it is very difficult to choose what you need and what you don't. If I had more time here I would honestly spend some of it exploring these libraries because they are fascinating places.  There are rows and rows of books on at least ten floors.  College libraries are simply amazing and the library at my high school looks like a shack compared to the main library at Columbia, Butler. 

After class today we planned to go on a boat trip around New York City on the rivers. The entire Columbia cohort met up at 4:30 PM to take the subway down to Times Square to meet Mrs. L, from where we took the bus to go to Pier 83.  We had a wonderful early dinner at a restaurant nearby the pier. The burgers and fries were delicious! Right after we ate, we went to get on to the boat and from there we had a two hour boat ride around the city. We saw the Statue of Liberty, Ellis island, World Trade Center, Empire State Building and many other items! It started to rain and even though we were covered by a plastic roof, it was not enough because I was sitting on the side and the wind was pushing the rain on to me.  I did get a little wet but the trip and the beauty was well worth the little bit of random New York rain.  I just realized that we are actually pretty lucky with our weather here. It has only been really hot for a couple of days and barely ever rained at Columbia, so we are lucky! 

View from the boat!

Gloomy but Beautiful!

I still miss the good old Bay Area weather though, but there are other aspects of New York that make up for the weird weather. I can not believe that we will be back in California on Saturday.  It seems like we have been here for a year and we should stay for another year. I just know when I go back that I am going to have dorm withdrawals and I am going to miss everyone!