Dear readers of October in New York

A year has passed since my latest post and I have had yet another lively group studying American Studies with me in Helsinki, Finland. After reading both novels set in NYC and guidebooks, and visiting e.g. the American Resource Center and the Innovation Center in the American Embassy in Helsinki, we finally flew to New York in mid-October.

This year was pretty special: we had the chance to experience the Metropolitan Opera for the first time with the whole group, as well as to visit MoMA when it was closed to the public. I know that in time, if not already, my students will realize how extraordinary things they got to see and experience during our week in New York, even though some of us were a bit disappointed not to be able to climb up the Statue of Liberty due to the government shutdown.

Furthermore, I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who participated and was involved in making our stay so memorable – all our guides in various museums and tours were of top quality being able to show us how amazing the history and the present in New York and around the world can be. Also, thank you my lovely “co-pilot“ Kristel who tirelessly chaperoned and supervised the group with me. Let’s hope the postcards will reach our near and dear one day.  Thank you students! You were complimented not only by your language skills but also by your insightful comments and questions on our guided tours – not to mention your stylish looks. I am proud of you!

Till we meet again, New York!

Love,

Mervi

Brooklyn Bridge

BROOKLYN BRIDGE

The Brooklyn Bridge is an amazing old bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn. It was built in 1870-1883 and it´s about 1 826 meters long in total. We walked through the Brooklyn Bridge on Thursday 17th October. It was a sunny and warm day but a little bit windy. The views were beautiful! There were other people, too, but I don´t think that it was too crowded. We took some photos like any other tourist would do and enjoyed the views. I think walking it through went quite quickly or at least it felt like it. I definitely would walk it through again and I really recommend people who are visiting New York to do it! It was an experience that I´m really happy to have had. 

New York Public Library

The New York Public Library

We visited the New York Public Library and had a guided tour there. The library building was very big and impressive from the outside and the stairs in the front of the library were full of life and people who were enjoying their day. As we entered the library we could recognize the lobby from movies like Sex and the City in which Carrie was going to marry Mr. Big and from the movie The Day After Tomorrow.
  Our guide, Nina, told us a lot about how you can loan books there and that you can find there many, many books and different language news papers and lots of maps from the different areas of the world. The reading room was huge and its ceiling had a beautiful and very large painting. The whole library was very beautiful from inside also and there can be held weddings and other parties. The library is open to the public and anyone can use its services. It is located on the corner of 5th Avenue and 42^nd Street and it is the third largest public library in the world. 

MoMA Thursday October 17

                                          MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

On Thursday morning we went to the MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art) which is located in midtown Manhattan in New York City between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. When we arrived at the museum it was still closed to other visitors so we got a private tour. Our tutor was an energetic and cheerful young lady. The way she introduced the works got us interested in art. She asked questions for example “What do you see?”  before she told us the facts about the works. The museum was full of different kinds of works from different artists and different eras. I recommend this museum for everyone even for people who are not art lovers. 

Jersey Gardens

Jersey Gardens

Sixth day of our journey was Thursday and the main trip for that day was to go to Jersey Gardens Mall. There we had a chance to do shopping and get something to eat for about four hours. When we went in to the mall everybody split up and went to search for their favorite shops. I went to Tommy Hilfiger, Hollister, Abercrombie and Fitch and American Eagle’s shops first. I found a lot of cheap and cool clothes compared to Finnish ones and at the end of the four hours I had about six full shopping bags in my hands. The shopping mall was huge and there were all kind of shops where everyone could find something for themselves. When we met at the bus stop at the time we agreed to, we noticed that the bus was full and half of the group would have to wait for an hour at the bus stop. We played different games there and the waiting wasn’t so awful. Everyone was very tired after a long shopping experience but it was worth it.

Metropolitan Museum Wednesday October 16

On Wednesday morning we headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Arts. There we were divided into two groups. Our group went with Kristel and a nice quide lady. First we went to watch some ancient Greek and Roman sculptures. Metropolitan is designed very nicely and the halls are all made to look like places where the artwork could have formely been. The quide also asked questions so we were well concentrated on the round all the time. We saw a room whose walls had been found from Pompei and then an Egyptian temple with its pharaos and everything. It was amazing. Some of the students wanted to see mummies so we shortly visited them, too. Then we went to see a painting that presented the death of Socrates. Those of the students who have been in philosophy course had seen a picture of that painting there so it was interesting to see the original artwork. And then after one Picasso painting our tour was over. 

We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Wednesday. It is the largest art museum in the United States. It has about two million art pieces in its collection.  The museum was really e because of its large selection of art. There were sculptures, paintings, modern art pieces and even a temple from Egypt. In addition, the guide of my group was very good and made us think and analyze the art pieces very much which made the tour very pleasant. This was the best museum visit on our trip in my opinion. 

 

Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages

On Tuesday night we went to see a musical called Rock of Ages. I have to say that I wasn’t expecting very much, because I’ve never liked musicals that much. Rock of Ages changed my mind. I was blown away by the atmosphere that was in the theater. People sang along with the actors who were amazingly good at what they did on stage. The voices of the two main actors became one perfect entity. I’m sure that we could all say that this was most definitely one of the best events that we experienced in New York City.

 

American Museum on Natural History

American Museum of Natural History

This museum is one of the biggest and best-known natural history museums in the whole world. It's a huge place and they have things, such as stuffed animals, skeletons of animals died in extinction millions of years ago and items that belonged to people from ancient cultures, from all over the world. The museum also contains a library. The museum is located in New York, Manhattan, next to Central Park in Upper West Side.

I think the museum was amazing! I could've spent there a whole day, there were so many interesting things to see. And what surprised me was that although the name is American Museum of Natural History, they had something from every continent. What I liked the most were the exhibitions of mammoths and North American indians. Also the building itself is beautiful, in my opinion. It's a shame we had so little time there, now we had to run through the whole place to see everything... What also upset me was that we didn't get a chance to go and look at the whale exhibition they had since it was not included in our tickets. If I ever get the chance I'll definitely go back and explore the whole place without any rushing. I recommend everyone to visit the museum even if you're not so fond of museums because I believe that there is something for everyone and that there is no person in the world who wouldn't learn something new there. And make sure you have enough time!

Cathedral of St. John the Divine

Cathedral of St. John the Divine

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, officially called the Cathedral Church of Saint John: The Great Divine in the City and Diocese of New York is tied for the title of being the fourth-largest Christian cathedral in the world alongside the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. It is located between Amsterdam Avenue and West 110^th and 113^th streets in Manhattan’s Morningside Heights neighborhood. Activity wise, the Cathedral is a major center for several concerts annually, including regularly held organ recitals during select weekdays at noon and on Sundays at 5.15 pm. Other activities include St. James Recital Series, which feature local pianists and other musicians’ performances on select Sundays. All of these concerts are free and open to the public. The cathedral is also a fairly popular tourist attraction for its massive size, great Neo-Gothic architecture and impressive glass windows made of thousands of glass pieces. The cathedral also features a basement, which occasionally helps with feeding the poor and the homeless, with the addition of having crypts and occasional meetings.

Columbia University Tuesday October 15

On Tuesday morning, October 15th, we headed towards Columbia University. First we had a lecture about the university and university life. The lecture was really interesting, we were told about the practical things, such as tuition fees and studying at a university. It was cool to find out that Barack Obama had studied there.

Later on we went on a walking tour around the campus. Our group had our own college student, Marissa, who showed us around. The campus was huge! There were several coffee shops and dormitories. I was really fascinated about the university, it would be awesome to study in a place like that!

Norma at the MET October 14

Norma at the Metropolitan Opera

On Monday evening, October 14, we went to see the opera Norma. The girls had beautiful clothes and high heels on and the boys wore suit jackets. We looked glamorous. It was nice to see how everybody was all dressed up and tried to look their best! The opera house was fabulous both inside and out. The opera hall was big and there were lots of people. We sat at the top, so we were able to see all the musical instruments and people who played those during the opera which was great. It was also nice that there were subtitles in front of us so we were able to understand what they were singing about because they sang in Italian. The opera was a good and educational experience! 

Columbus Day Parade October 14

Columbus Day Parade

On Monday we get a mission to take pictures of the Columbus Day Parade.  The parade is a celebration of the Italian-American culture with over 35000 people participating. We saw just a small part of the parade but I think that it was impressive. There were lots of bands, cheerleaders and different contingents. The Columbus Day Parade is arranged in New York once a year and it begins on Fifth Avenue at 44th Street and continues north along Fifth Avenue to 72nd Street. It was very colorful and clearly arranged with care.

Central Park

CENTRAL PARK

On Monday before and after Guggenheim we walked through Central Park. We stopped by a lake which I think was artificial. It was huge and there was some kind of fountain in the middle of it.

   It was Columbus Day so the park was full of people. There were lots of joggers, walkers, and cute dogs, for example. After walking for some time we found ourselves in front of the Boathouse. It looked exactly how I had pictured it. There were people playing music and others were just enjoying the weather. We also gathered in a group photo in front of the famous Bethesda Fountain.

   By the Boathouse there was a little pond which was green and it smelled gross. However, people were rowing boats there.

   After walking around awhile we sat on a rock to listen to our teacher. The view was fantastic because there were trees and nature combined with high skyscrapers. You don't see that in Finland.

   All in all, I think Central Park was just what I expected, amazing.