Well it’s done. I’ve been, I’ve seen and I’ve come back. I can honestly say that this was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I’m a bug traveller but travelling in a university environment with a large group of people whilst engaging academically with the surrounding culture was an experience I doubt I’ll have again. I had planned to visit America in the future, and this trip certainly cemented that idea.

Apart from the specific things on the itinerary that I enjoyed, what I liked the most about the University trip to the USA, was the overall structure. The mix between academic and tourist activities always kept my interest and energy up. I never once felt that I wanted to relax in the hotel or just stay in one place. The free time woven into University planned events was one of the best things about the experience.

As a tourist, my favourite things were quite varied. I’m usually not one for the stereotypical tourist activities (I didn’t even go up the Empire State Building) but Central Park was probably my favourite moment in New York. Meandering around the park with some friends, just having a laugh and soaking in the sun is something I’ll remember for a long time. Other moments I really enjoyed was the famous NY pizza and the walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Although MIT was by far my stand out moment of my trip to Boston, the tour of Fenway Park, home of the famous Boston Red Sox, was one of my favourite activities. Although I’m a New York Mets fan myself, just to be able to see a baseball stadium and soak up the history was an exciting moment for a sports fan like myself. I had some amazing times in Boston, I probably enjoyed Boston more than New York in all honesty, and it was things like the New England Aquarium and the Boston Tea Party Museum that really made my trip.

From an academic perspective however, the trip can be seen in a whole new light. The 9/11 memorial museum, for example, was incredibly interesting, both from the academic and the emotional side. To see where it all happened and to engage emotionally with the event is something that I doubt will ever leave my memory. The stand out activity that the university organised has to be the visit to the UN. The initial tour in and out of all the different chambers was really eye opening and it was fantastic to peek into an actual conference on Climate Change that was happening at the time. We also had an absolutely fantastic guest speaker talk to us about a lot of the UN’s projects and his personal beliefs. As someone who would like to go down that sort of path as a career the chance to hear from such a speaker was eye opening.

There were countless things on the trip that were amazing, I’ve made plenty of friends and have an insane amount of pictures to look back on. But for me, the chance to reflect on the trip in two different lights, both as a tourist and academically is probably what made this trip so great. Not only has it fed my appetite for travel, but it’s also given me a chance to enhance my personality through cultural engagement as well as improving my CV. All of this is invaluable and I’m incredibly happy that I ventured out and did it.

So, I’m back in not so sunny Lancaster and just yesterday I was sat in sunny Central Park, isn’t the world surreal! New York was definitely a whirlwind of an adventure; it didn’t feel like we ever stopped.  In between the scheduled events that we had we packed in as much as possible. This meant that with the four days we had in NYC we covered all of this: Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge and pizza in New York, Grand Central Terminal, UN Visit, Rockefeller Center, Lancaster Alumni Event, meeting with a Lancaster Alumni who co-founded the company comScore, Central Park and also we went to the 9/11 Museum and Memorial.

In terms of fitting in the top tourist destinations I think we did pretty well on our first day, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge and Grand Central Terminal, not bad ey?! A group of us headed off to catch the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and despite being somewhat hounded to pay for a ferry that would take us directly to it, we all agreed to take the free ferry that gives you a view of it rather than pay $30 to stand near it. Afterwards we began walking uptown and went past Wall Street etc and eventually began to realise just how big New York is. We were heading to the Empire State Building and decided it would be best to take the subway after walking along for about an hour and realising we weren’t even halfway to it. Nonetheless, we made it to the Empire State building eventually!

We made a slight error going to the Empire State Building peak time as it meant we paid extra to skip the queue and ended up going through all these things before actually getting to the top, including a simulator that flies over NYC…(not worth it, don’t be persuaded, just go in the morning!) but it was such a beautiful day and we got a fantastic view of New York. It’s one of those views that I’ve seen so many times in films etc and to actually see it for myself was so exciting! I could also pretend to star in my very own Sleepless in Seattle scene (I hope you know the film or that reference will make zero sense…). One of our friends was a little shaky about being so high up so once we’d enjoyed the view and got our photos we made our way back down and headed downtown to meet up with Chris and everyone who wanted to cross the Brooklyn Bridge.

After consuming an awful lot of pizza at Grimaldi’s in Brooklyn we headed back over the bridge. It was the perfect time to walk back over as it was just when the sun was setting so we got such a beautiful view of the New York skyline. Seeing New York at sunset, can’t really complain can I?!

Another part of the trip that I really enjoyed was visiting the UN. Before we went I wasn’t particularly bothered about seeing it but I was happy to go all the same. When we arrived we were split into two groups and we got a tour of the UN, we got to see all the chambers and even nosy in on a discussion relating to the economic and social impact of climate change. My favourite part was when we had a UN talk afterwards by someone who worked within the Political Affairs department. People from the group asked really good questions asking about the general workings of the UN, international relations, how to work towards a career within the UN and the guy was brilliant at answering the questions and he really made me think about the UN and the role it plays in international relations. He was very honest and said that quite often the UN can’t enforce much on countries but that, at least within his departments and with regards to conflicts, the UN can try their best to keep people talking rather than fighting. All in all, I was extremely impressed by the UN visit and I would definitely recommend it should you visit New York!

The same day we had an Alumni Event in the evening and I was looking forward to it as just before we were having a lecture by my old seminar tutor from first year who is a New Yorker, so it was really cool to see him again after two years!  Also, the location of the event was pretty spectacular. Can you guess where we got to spend our evening………?

Only the top of the New York Times Building!

Even with it being a pretty cloudy evening it was still a fabulous view of New York and it made me kick myself slightly having paid for two views of NY (both Empire State and Rockefeller Center) and then to have this one for free! I comfort myself with the fact that neither of my paid for views were cloudy so it totally makes spending that money okay…..right?

Anyway, I did some mingling meeting Alumni and it was quite similar to the one in Boston in that these people had spent a year in Lancaster doing a Masters or an exchange year so it was great to meet them and hear about their years at Lancaster, all of them had fond memories which they enjoyed telling us about. I spent most of the evening chatting to a man called David who did an exchange year in Lancaster. What was brilliant about him was that he was just as interested in finding out about us and our lives as he was about telling us about his life, if anything he was extremely modest considering what he has managed to do with his life. From teaching to working in politics to travelling the world, he had quite a story to tell! He had such enthusiasm for life and kept coming out with wonderfully profound quotes. We chatted about so much and a great moment was when he asked us about an opera and Lee admitted to having never heard about it, calling himself uncultured. David immediately said something along the lines of “no, you’re not uncultured and at least you’re honest about not knowing and now this is something you can research.” I was definitely sad when the evening ended and we had to leave him, I did my best to encourage him to come and visit Lancaster again!

Now jet lag is quickly taking over so I must end things here, but I hope I’ve given you a flavour of our adventure to New York City, albeit a brief rounding up. I found that going with Uni meant I got to do things that I wouldn’t have done if I’d been doing NYC as a solo traveller, for instance, the alumni event above or the talk in the UN. I’m now going to sort through my pictures and perhaps put together a little film about the whole trip from the videos I took, we shall see! This all depends on how long I can work through this jet lag…here goes mission stay awake!

Well it came and now it’s almost gone. I write this on the evening of my final full day in New York City. With this being my first ever trip to the Big Apple I honestly didn’t know what to expect. Yet the sheer size of the place really left me awestruck. The supersized buildings and the mass amounts of people is really something to marvel at. In order to get everything I wanted to do here I would need at least a month but what I managed to see was worth the wait.

We started our New York experience with the first day completely free to ourselves, left to wonder the streets and take in as much of it as we could. Although I loved the Staten Island Ferry, and the Brooklyn Bridge offered some incredible views, by far my favourite part of that day was Central Park. By spending hours walking through it I realised how it is somehow woven into the city life. It somehow feels like New York, but just a little more peaceful.

It was important to remember that this trip is primarily an academic one. So to start off the flurry of academic excursions we set off to the 9/11 memorial museum. The events on that day hold a huge significance to many people and how we go about our daily lives. To finally see the place where it happened was both intriguing and moving. 9/11 has certainly changed my life in many ways and visiting the museum, I felt, was an excellent way to assess the event in a way not available in history books. To actually look at the crushed vehicles that suffered on that day and the stories of those affected has definitely had an impact on how I see and analyse the tragedy.

Today, our third day, was by far the busiest. To start we had a tour of the UN headquarters in New York. As a student interested in international affairs this was hugely exciting. To be able to see the halls where deliberations took place and briefly look into a UN meeting on Climate Change (even if it was just briefly) was an amazing thing to see. Although I have to say, the UN may be committed to keeping the peace, but their gift shop prices are criminal.

To finish off the day we had a Lancaster University alumni event on the 43^rd floor of the New York Times building, the views from which were incredible. We went in the late afternoon and to be able to see the New York skyline transition from day into night was simply stunning. Lancaster University organised this event to facilitate a networking opportunity. It was honestly fascinating to hear what previous students had ended up doing and the possibilities that were available to me as a current student in the future.

Although tomorrow is our last day, I’m quite relieved to be finished. The amount of walking these past 9 days has really exhausted me and the constant learning and cultural exposure really does a number on you, but if I was offered the chance to go back and do it all again next week and jump at the opportunity. I still have a half a day left however so I plan to fully stock up on baseball memorabilia before the trip home (I’m a Mets fan).

It’s time to say our goodbyes to Boston and as much as I know we’re moving onto New York, I’ve become so fond of Boston…and it means our trip is quickly sailing by!

I hadn’t really researched Boston as much as New York and I didn’t know anything much about it apart from Harvard University being close by. However, I’ve found (along with most of my friends I think!) that we became pretty attached to the city, even if we were only there for around four days. We were pretty good in squeezing as much as possible into to the time we had there. From seeing Boston University, exploring Lexington and Concord, eating at the famous “Cheesecake Factory,” to getting to see Harvard University, Boston is well worth your time!

Our first activity was visiting Boston University which was our first proper experience of Boston. We had a small tour of parts of the University campus where we got to see some of the main sites of the University, including a buffet lunch in their student canteen, what more could you want?! My favourite thing about this day was the alumni event in the evening which we had in the Boston University “Castle” – not quite a Castle, but still a pretty fancy building if I do say so myself!

We got chatting to some of the alumni and the first people we met were a couple from Boston who actually met each other at Lancaster. She told us how he’d been captain of the Lancaster Rugby team and she’d taken quite a fancy to him. It was so fun meeting people who went to Lancaster as we had lots to talk about and they clearly enjoyed telling us about their time at Lancaster, as well as asking us how things may have changed and what has stayed the same. All in all, a great evening meeting Lancaster alumni, it definitely gives you comfort being a third year who is about to graduate that people have managed to sort their lives out!

My next favourite thing had to be the Boston Tea Party Museum. In extremely simple terms it’s a museum about the Bostonians who protested against the taxes imposed upon them by the British. They protested by throwing the imported tea overboard, hence the Boston Tea Party! It began with actors pretending to be the historical figures from the American Revolution (which is the kind of thing I love!) and we each got given a character, too, which was pretty fun! I was a revolutionary called Ebenezer MacIntosh– what a name!

After a rallying speech from our very own Samuel Adams we were off to start the ripples of a revolution by throwing the imported tea off the merchant ship. As far as museums go this has to be one of the best for presenting things (at least that I’ve been to!). Everything was brought to life, for instance, two portraits that spoke to each other depicted both sides of the Revolution; it was like being in Harry Potter! We also got to see one of the original containers that the tea had been in, too, which had been preserved after all this time.

It was this evening that a few of us decided to get a good view of Boston so I did a very simple Google of “night view of Boston” and ended up finding something called the Skywalk observatory which gave us a beautiful view of Boston at night. It was only $13 as they accepted our student cards from Lancaster. We were able to see so much of Boston including Fenway Park and various other places we’d already explored or were going to explore. Once we’d taken in the view and done all the other activities up there (they had quizzes/history displays etc) we decided to take a long walk home to see more parts of Boston.  We explored the gardens of Boston for a bit and ended up walking down this street which had all the trees lit up with fairy lights, it seemed a lot like Christmas, especially with the piles of snow!

On our last full day in Boston we decided to explore the “Freedom Trail” which leads you around Boston taking in all the historic sites. We had a leaflet that explained each spot and Faye got us to take it in turns reading out the information about each site, including their opening hours! It was pretty cold today but we kept ploughing on nonetheless and it proved very entertaining. It took a lot longer than expected but we got to do some pretty cool things along the way, our second to last stop involved us climbing 294 steps in the Bunker Hill Monument we gave us a view of Boston, and also some much needed exercise!

As much as I know we’re heading off to The Big Apple, I am definitely sad to leave Boston and it’s a place I know I’ll definitely want to return to at some point. It had such a mix of old and new (or at least “old” for America….) and I loved that contrast. You’d walk down a street of skyscrapers and then quickly happen upon a building of some historical significance. In terms of NY, we’re definitely travelling there in style, leather seats on the coach, and plug sockets! (It’s the little things…..). I’m gradually getting more excited as we get closer, it’s kind of hard to believe I’m actually going to be in New York in a couple of hours, how crazy is that?!

Talk soon!

So I’m sat in my room surrounded by clothes and a packing list attempting to pack everything into my suitcase and it’s slowly hit me that I am actually going to the USA tomorrow. I applied for this trip back in January and now the times come for me to actually go! Second term has definitely flown by.

I’ve been to America once before, we drove down the East Coast to Florida and then stopped off on the way back in Washington, but I’ve never visited New York or Boston. New York has always been somewhere I’ve wanted to go, and after further research, I can’t wait to visit Boston as well! What’s good about going with the University is we’re getting to do things I wouldn’t have planned by myself and attend events organised by Lancaster University’s Students’ Union. For example, we have a whole day at Boston University so I’m excited to see what that involves as I love seeing other universities (mainly because I’m just extremely nosy…). I think we’re going to get a chance to see Harvard University too which should be good. I’ve also been looking at other things to do in our free time when we don’t have events planned and I’m very tempted to try and see the Boston Public Library – only 14 minute’s walk from where we’re staying!

As for New York there are a gazillion things I would love to do in our free time but I’ve tried to whittle it down, most of them are sights that are free so they should be fairly feasible. I want to try and fit in the following: Central Park, Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge, Empire State Building, Grand Central Terminal, Rockefeller Centre and the New York Public Library, so we shall have to see how much I can do! As for our scheduled activities they include a tour around the UN. It is another one of those places that I always see on TV and when I return home it’s another place I can add to my “I’ve been there!” list, plus it’s political significance (or lack thereof) too!

In New York we’re also having a guest lecture which just happens to be from the seminar tutor I had in first year for Philosophy, so it’ll be fun to see him again! We have most of the evenings free in NY so I’m not sure how we’ll spend them but no doubt we’ll figure those kind of things when we get there. I want to do either the Rockefeller Centre or the Empire State Building on an evening anyway. Plus there has been mention of a pizza evening over in Brooklyn!

I don’t know too many people on the trip but there are quite a few fellow third years who I’ve had seminars with and things, plus two of my good friends are going. Even then, it’ll be nice to meet lots of new people from all the different years. From previous experience travelling, it doesn’t take long to make friends once people get chatting away, so here’s to hopefully making lots of new friends!

Anyway, I best return to packing, as the weather has been pretty bad over in Boston and New York with them having their worst winter for decades I’ve been packing plenty of layers and have my thick winter coat ready. I think there shall still be snow around, which I’m excited to see, even if those from Boston and New York are sick of it by now! I checked the news too and I think they got more snow fairly recently, so I just hope travelling there and around there works out okay. I’m sure it will!

Until next time! 🙂