Moving into the city!

First week in New York City – CHECK!

First week of internship – CHECK!

First week of getting used to it – CHECK!

It´s been one week since we started our new life in the city. Everything is so different from New Paltz, and sadly a little more expensive. First things, first. Moving in. We arrived to the new place, we bought the food and installed ourselves. It is a very beautiful neighborhood and nothing like living in New York City. We started our internships which have been amazing! A lot of new things to learn and experience from the American culture. I really recommend you to first walk around and start getting to know the place. We all arrive and can get a little crazy with the shopping and the amazing restaurants, but believe me there is no need to. You live in the city were you have everything at the moment, there is no need to buy everything in one stop when you can buy one thing a day. Walk around, sit on the parks and enjoy it! It really has been a beautiful experience!!! I am amazed by it!

Let me know which places you recommend visiting!

thumb_img_6969_1024thumb_img_7037_1024thumb_img_6485_1024

 

 

Another exciting weekend @New Paltz!

And yet again, another week has gone by!! I can´t believe that in less than 3 weeks we will be working and living in New York City! This past weekend was also full of new adventures, and places to visit while you are at New Paltz.

It was Friday afternoon when the girls came up with the idea of going all together to the Cinema. Some of us had already signed up for the ISP Apple Picking trip whithumb_img_6637_1024ch was located near the campus in the afternoon and was really nice.

We were all going to wake up very early on Saturday so we thought this might be a great idea to hang out and don´t be so tired for next day. We went to the Apple Picking in the afternoon, and afterwards,Sully was playing anthumb_img_6649_1024d we decided to go and watch it. When I arrived I felt like I was in an 80´s movie theater as seen in movies. It was really different from the kind of cinemas we have in Mexico. We are used to big, and modern cinemas, where there are more than  10 movies playing and about 15 cinema theaters. Here at New Paltz there are only 4 or 5 movies and maybe just 4 cinema theaters. We arrived, bought our tickets, and of course popcorn and soda to watch the movie. Great experience!

 

 

 

7:00 am Saturday morning. Alarm went on. It´s hiking day! THE MOST AWESOME VIEW EVER!!!! The school took us to Mohonk Mountain were we met with the tour guides, and started hiking all the way up. We walked, ran, climbed on rocks, ate lunch in front of a beautiful lake, and everything was perfect. Could´t find a better way to end the outdoor wellness center activities. Really one should´t miss any of it! Register, register, register.

thumb_img_6738_1024

To finish up the weekend, let´s go shopping! We found out that there were huge outlet stores about 45min ride from New Paltz, so we decided to rent a car and go there. It´s called Woodbury Commons Premium Outlets.Why did we rent a car? We looked up for all the optionsthumb_img_6769_1024 to get there and the cheapest one was by car. We arrived and it was so big, that we thought we would´t finish looking, but we did. It is an easy way to go and buy some things before moving to the big city!

 

 

 

 

You wanted the bicycle? Now pedal!

This was my first weekend in the city as an Inter! The first week of work was over and I wanted to do something great preparing myself for a new week! So … my decision was to rent a bike and pedaling towards Williamsburg, one of the Brooklyn neighborhood.

After one hour walking around Williamsburg, my friend and I decided to stop to eat something and in a minute we realized that it was a great occasion to do our first “Sunday brunch” in New York! Simple Café

Our choice was a so nice restaurant frequented by many guys and families, it name is Simple Cafè (view the website clicking on the image).
From outside I saw fantastic bagels with eggs, bacon  and hollandaise sauce. Everything looked delicious and everyone seemed happy. Why not stop here?! In a few minute we sat down and we started to decide our orders. There were so many typical dishes for a fantastic brunch. So yummy! It was a strong decision, but at the end we decided for the classic dish that the waitress suggested to us: bagel with eggs, bacon and obviously pancakes with maple syrup for dessert. All was really incredible! A perfect lunch in a cool place in a wonderful sunny Sunday.

When we finished to enjoy our brunch, we decided to start a small trip along the East River: from Williamsburg to Dumbo, another amazing neighborhood in Brooklyn, exactly near to the Brooklyn Bridge. The distance is approximately 3miles, no more than 30 minutes by bike; we had time to take a lot of photos, do some shopping and explore the neighborhoods of Brooklyn before come back at home. The weather was perfect and quite warm..so, why not?! In this way we could appreciate the amazing view of Manhattan. It was like seeing a different city, with the chance to admire the beauty of its skyscrapers with much more calm and no traffic noise. In that moment I thought there could be nothing better, but I was completely wrong! In fact, at the end of our “trip”, we had a big surprise. We arrived at the Brooklyn Bridge Park in the late afternoon, when the sun was going down. The sky became red in a few minutes and Manhattan changed his appearance in short time. Around 6.30 pm all became dark and the city was turning on its light. I thought to have so much photos about that skyline, but that scenario was completely different from the previous one.

It was exactly when I took my camera that I realized…that ride was comparable to all my experience of the last few months: the departure two months ago from Milan where everything seemed surreal, the path (sometimes uphill) in New Paltz where I did many things and I met new people and now …  here, in New York City, for one of the most important result of my life. So now you can understand the reason why I choose the title ” You wanted the bicycle? Now pedal!”. It is a typical Italian saying and it refers to a situation where someone was dreaming of or striving for some goal/outcome, and once obtained it, he or she must to take all it entails – good, bad, overwhelming, or challenging as it may be.
That is exactly what I’m living here since two months, but now, half of my experience, I look back and I understand that the climb was exhausting, but from here the view is amazing!

Good luck to all my classmates and friends of IIB program.

Manhattan Skyline from Dumbo