New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of. There’s nothing you can’t do, now you’re in New York.
As our coach driver announced that we are in New York, Alicia Keys and Jay Z’s ‘Empire State of Mind’ was on replay in my head! We were finally in New York City after a 4 hour-long coach journey. Our hotel was right in the middle of Midtown opposite Madison Square Garden. Soon after checking in our rooms, we headed out for a stroll down Times Square. The brightly adorned billboards and skyscrapers felt like dejavu for the countless times these streets were featured in blockbuster movies.
The first day in New York was a free day and we had a lot planned out! We explored the whole of New York City with the Big Bus Tour. It was a hop on hop off tour; therefore we could stop over at any points of interests. We started our adventure by stopping at a river cruise to see the famous symbol representing the United States, the statuesque Lady Liberty herself! The river cruise included a magnificent view of the Brooklyn Bridge and magnificent Manhattan skylines. Central Park was our next stop. It was indeed a breath of fresh air in the hustle and bustle of New York City! The calm blue lake by the Strawberry Fields was my personal favorite spot of the day.
On day 2, we visited one of our own Lancaster alumni, Gian Fulgoni – the founder of ComScore, a digital marketing company. He shared about how ComScore was founded and one of the interesting takeaways from his message was for us to understand the importance of leveraging technology and constantly think of how to leverage it regardless of which field we are pursuing. Besides that, he talked about the importance of bias for action for entrepreneurs. We were indeed proud of his achievements and were inspired by Gian’s startup story.
Later that evening, we were invited to a Lancaster alumni event at the New York Times Building. We were thrilled to be at the 43rd floor overlooking the stunning view of New York’s famous buildings. We had the opportunity to interact with Lancaster alumni from around New York. Being an accounting student, I was thrilled to meet a Lancaster University Business Economics alumnus who is currently working in assurance at PwC. She was generous to share insights and advice about the world of accounting and the Big 4’s.
Day 3 was another exciting day visiting Kaneka, a leading technology oriented Japanese manufacturing company involved in chemicals, functional plastics, synthetic fibers etc. We were given insights into the company culture besides an overview of what they manufacture. It was interesting to hear about the corporate culture of a Japanese company based in New York.
Later on, we visited the 9/11 Museum and Memorial, which was emotionally overwhelming especially witnessing the personal stories of friends and families of victims as well as the personal belonging of victims such as the dusty shoes from the day of the event. One of the quotes on the wall of the memorial that struck a chord with me was Virgil’s ‘No day shall erase you from the memory of time’. Later that afternoon, we visited Santander who was the main sponsor of our trip. A representative from Santander Universities shared with us the inspiring work they do with Borough of Manhattan Community College.
Day 4 was my personal favorite! A trip to the United Nations including a tour and a guest speaker sharing insights into working in the United Nations. Working for UNICEF has always been one of my dreams and this visit particularly strengthened that aspiration. We were also able to stamp our passports with a United Nations stamp, which we were all very excited about.
On the last day, we spent our time shopping and exploring some more of New York City! It was truly an incredible experience and Lancaster University Student’s Union (LUSU) ‘Your Global Exploration’ made it happen! Part 3 of this blog series will share my personal favorite moments and the lessons learnt from this trip.