Whooohooooo Day 1 in New York, and making it extra special it was my 18^th birthday!!!! Today as absolutely crazy, we began the day with a lovely breakfast of sausages, eggs and orange juice, then it was quickly onto the bus for the beginning of a crazy day.

We met up with our tour guide Garrett, at the New York Public Library. We were freezing, standing in the shadow of the buildings, but very excited to be in the middle of New York City. Garrett led us to the Rockefeller Plaza, where we especially admired the LEGO store and the sculptures in front of NBC studios. By this point our hands were freezing so we jumped back on the bus and headed over to Central Park.

In Central Park we took a stroll through to the Boat House (featured in such movies as 27 Dressed and Enchanted.) It was exciting to see the variety of people relaxing in the park. We saw a man preparing to propose to his girlfriend and models taking photoshoots. Finally we stopped at strawberry fields, taking some cool photos around the ‘Imagine’ plaque.

Group shot in front of the library

From Central Park we drove around the city in our tour bus, seeing sights such as, 5^th avenue, Time Square, Harlem, Museum Mile, St John the Divine Cathedral (the largest cathedral in the Western Hemisphere), Columbia University  and ending up at The Village for lunch.

After lunch we went to the Metropolitan Museum. Having only 2 hours, we sped through the exhibits, attempting to see as many of the 2,000,000+ artworks as we could. The Egyptian exhibit was particularly impressive, with whole tombs on display and the European students enjoyed searching for painting from their home countries.

Our final stop for the day was to Alvin Ailey’s New York Dance Studio, where we participated in a hip Hop class. By this point in the day everyone was very tired, but we gave it our best effort. We learnt some popping, tutting and slapping, ending the class with learning how to ‘Dougie’. The instructor was great and very energetic.

Finally for dinner we made it to the Hard Rock Café at Time Square! We enjoyed our long awaited dinner of cheeseburgers and Caesar salads and taking a look around at the cool displays within the restaurant.

For the last treat of the day, we had an hour of free time in Time Square. Dazzled by the lights we dashed around, trying to take in as much as we could. One particular favourite store was the giant three level M’n’M store. After taking 1 million photos of all the lights and screens in Time Square, we wearily headed for the bus to take us back to our wonderful hotel. 

Pia (Germany), Kat (Belgium), Trina (Norway), me, Oleksandra (Ukraine) and Selen (Japan)

Today was amazing, probably my best birthday ever, I especially enjoyed getting to dance at Alvin Ailey’s studio and my special birthday dessert at the Hard Rock Café.  It’s been great getting to know everyone and hear about both their own countries and their experiences here in America. Hope the rest of the week is just as amazing as today was!!! :D goooooooood night

---Stephanie, Australia