New York, New York!

Well my class returned last night from our trip to New York City!  We had a great time in just a few short days!

It started at 10:45 am on Sunday morning (early for college students!).  We loaded the bus and headed north.  Our teachers predicted a 4 hours bus ride--gross underestimation.  We finally rolled up to the hotel close to 5:00.  The bus ride was ruined by an completely horrible movie about human trafficking that our professors decided we need to watch.  Finally after about 2 hours of depression, we revolted and convinced them to turn it off so our grand entry into the city would not be ruined.  Everyone's spirits were lifted when we got caught in traffic due to a random Polish Pride parade.  My teacher and two of our students our Polish and had no idea why there would have been a parade on Sunday--just a lot of Polish pride, I guess!

We unloaded the bus and checked into the UN Millennium Plaza Hotel (super nice!).  Lizzy and I were slightly annoyed by the two hour delay because it was already starting to get dark by the time we ventured out.  We walked up to Central Park and took a look around before night really set in and then walked down 5th Avenue and did some shopping.  After that, I turned in for the night while Lizzy met her cousin who goes to Columbia.

Monday was a great day!  We started off with a tour of the UN.  It was SO exciting to be there!  And, since the General Assembly is in session, there was quite a bit of activity going on.  When we went into the General Assembly, they were actually beginning their session so some of the delegates were entering the room and people were speaking.  I got to use the fun earpiece to hear the translation!  I kind of wish we could have gone to New York last week, when all of the Heads of State were at the UN but I would have to guess we wouldn't have been allowed in then.  It was still cool.  We had lunch in the Delegate's Dining Room and tried Icelandic food.  It was interesting, but I can't say that it will be the next cultural wave to hit the U.S.  After lunch we went to the Court of International Trade and spoke with one of its judges.  Then we headed BACK to the UN complex and had a speaker who is lawyer that takes lawsuits that restore stolen art and artifacts to their original countries.  At first she was really interesting, but I will admit that by about the 19th slide of some stolen artifact, my interest (and my classmates' interests) was beginning to wane.  Our whole group then went back to the hotel to shed our professional clothes and then went to Times Square to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.  After dinner a group of us just wandered around Times Square for a few hours before heading back for the night.

Tuesday we had a group of very interesting speakers.  The first works for the UN Commission on Human Rights, the second was a private practice human rights lawyer, and the third worked for the UN on climate change.  We broke for lunch and then traveled to the Baha'i UN Office.  They are a religious organization that does lobbying at the UN.  I was really interested in their presentation, but quickly became embarrassed by my classmates' behavior.  Several students started asking questions about the Baha'i beliefs on abortion, the death penalty, and same-sex marriage.  Our speakers tried to explain that their office didn't have policies on these issues because they work at the UN and focus on the rights of women and sustainable development.  But when pressed, the speaker did explain the Baha'i religious opinions on these subjects, which were, to say the least, a bit conflicting with my fairly liberal classmates' political opinions.  I completely understood the position of the speakers--they were trying to say that they don't concern themselves with such partisan, conflict-producing issues when they can be more productive and more beneficial in areas like development and human rights.  In addition, I can understand trying to balance one's moral/religious beliefs with political beliefs.  My classmates, however, were pretty rude and hostile to their responses and I was embarrassed by their behavior.  I am not sure how our professors felt about the discussion, but I would not be surprised if we have to be instructed on the proper way to ask questions and on how to keep questions relevant to the discussion.  Pretty sad for a bunch of intellectual students who are over the age of 20.  I was ticked.  Anyway, I left that behind me (after scolding some classmates for criticizing the organization WHILE WE WERE STILL IN THEIR HALLWAY!) and went to the next appointment.  We had a choice of where we wanted to go next--some students went to the Norwegian UN Mission, some went to the U.S. UN Mission, and others went to UNICEF.  I opted for the UNICEF group and enjoyed our speaker there, too. After that, we were free for the evening.  Unfortunately, I am still fighting a horrible cold bug and lost my voice completely on Monday, so I stayed in Tuesday night and chilled at the hotel.  The downside was missing fun out in New York, the plus side was getting to relax a little and being able to see the second Presidential debate.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was our last day in New York.  We left early for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  Neither was particularly thrilling, but it was still good to go.  You have to during your first time in New York, right?  Then we had the rest of the day free.  A friend of mine and I thought we'd try to catch a NYC bus tour, since this was the first time that we had been to New York.  Unfortunately, after a $20 cab ride across town, we got to the bus company and were told they didn't have any buses going out until Friday (even though we called and asked 3 times that morning and their brochure said they did tours every day until 7:00 pm..jerks).  So we found ourselves with time to kill and decided to walk up to Central Park.  We walked around the Park for a few hours.  During that time, I had the brilliant idea to find the John Lennon memorial and Liz wanted to find the Balto statue so we set off on a Central Park Mission.  BUT there are surprisingly few maps in Central Park and everyone we asked for directions sent us a different way.  Need less to say, we never found either one.  I have concluded that they probably don't' exist and the myth is just a funny joke that native New Yorkers can play on tourists.  It was a day of disappointment, but still enjoyable.  Around 5:30 we had to make our way back to the hotel, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and boarded the bus at 7:00 to return to DC.

The trip back actually was about 4 hours, and we pulled up to good ol' Tenley Campus at 11:07.  It was an exhausting trip, but well worth it.  Now...on to midterms and then to Europe!

Lizzy and me with the UN flag at the Peacekeeping exhibit

I couldn't find the real Secretary General.  So this is me with the portraits of Former Secretary Kofi Annan and current Secretary Ban Ki-moon

Group of girls in Times Square (Magda, Katie, Liz, Lizzy, and me)

A pretty ridiculous picture.  My friend, Katie, is a native of New Jersey and decided that since this was my first time in New York, I needed a Statue of Liberty crown.  I think it's more embarrassing for her, since she's a native!  Good thing Lady Liberty is in the background.