Woodbury Common

When the whole class decided to go to Boston, me (Therese), Daniela, Jenny, Kathy and Maja decided to go shopping instead.

We called a cab that came at 10 am and he drove us to Woodbury in 30 minutes. When we arrived we were like crazy, we did run to all the stores and it was so much fun because everything was so cheap!

So I will definitely recommend all to go to Woodbury common! And I will definitely go back soon!

Happy Shopping!

Already a family

We’ve been here for almost 3 weeks and it feels like we have known each other for so much longer time. We are already acting like a family and its very comfortable to feel that you can trust 17 new people who, out of the blue, appeared to form part of your history.

For example Jenny (the best roomie ever) got sick the first week and we were all very concerned for her health, some of the girls brought her a big bag full of things to do & eat while she was resting so she would not get that much bored at the Super 8. Also last week was Nora’s 22 birthday and we had many surprises for her that day, Jacopo created a FB group just for planning her birthday, and I’m sure that Nora loved her birthday and all of her birthday presents!!

We have traveled as well to Boston and New York and we have had an amazing time!

Everyone is different, but we are the perfect combo! Differences brought us together. We are having a great time, and time passes so fast, we are already searching for the internships!!

Italy, Sweden & Mexico united in the Super 8 motel.

Trip to Hyde Park

A while ago four of us Swedish girls went on a schooltrip organized by ESL (English as a Second Language). We went in a yellow schoolbus, and one of the teachers were talking in a microfone all the way. I think I wasn’t the only one who got flashbacks from middelschool.. We arrived at the Roosevelt Mansion, where Franklin Roosevelt were born, raised, and also buried. It was very interesting walking around the house. They had keept furniture, clothes, books etc. from when he lived there.

The next stop was the Vanderbilt Mansion which was beautiful and had a very nice garden. Maybe more in an european style. The Vanderbilt family built 40 mansions around the US and this was the smallest one, only 54 rooms. The Vanderbilt couple who lived there during the early 1930s just spent a few of months there every year during spring. A niece inherited the property when William Vanderbilt died in 1938, but she didn’t want to live there and tried to sell it, which wasn’t easy during that time.. She asked Roosevelt for some advice and he recommended her to donate the mansion to the organization today called the Central Park Service. And so she did.

Kingston

Because of the little time we have left in New Paltz (only 12 days until we live New Paltz), so I want to make the most of it. Minerva and I decided that we want to travel around to and see the towns close to New Paltz and we choose to visit Kingston which is about 30 minutes bus ride. The town is nice you can feel that is a small town when people in the bus station asks what you are doing here and advice you to go back. But we ignored them and took a cab down by the Hudson River and walked beside the river until we found a nice restaurant where we had some dinner and looked out on the boats that passed. The time just flew when we looked at the time we realized that we had to hurry to the bus station to catch the last bus back home.

Niagara Falls

Last weekend Johan, Sara and I rented a car and drove from New Paltz to Canada. After six hours driving, we finally arrived at the border between USA and Canada (Ontario), where the Niagara Falls are located.

I must say that this is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever visited. It is really hard to describe how powerful, and at the same time elegant, the falls are.

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A Manhattan Weekend!

Every other weekend we seem to travel somewhere. This weekend the 17 of us split up and while some went to Canada or Boston I was one of those who went to Manhattan.

We arrived to Manhattan on Friday evening, ready to hit the first rooftop bar. It had an amazing view and I, who haven’t been on a rooftop bar before, was stunned.

Saturday we decided to explore Midtown Manhattan. Well okay, explore might be an exaggeration as we went shopping all day.. A not so student-friendly way of exploring Manhattan I would say. The evening ended in a similar way to the night before. We ate dinner and went to another rooftop bar called Le Bain.

Sunday was a perfect day for walking (again). So we went the opposite direction from the day before and headed towards East Village. East Village is, according to me, the best place in Manhattan. When you’re walking the streets there, you feel almost like home. In comparison to Times Square, with all the tourists and high buildings, East Village has a slower pace with a lot of vintage stores, and cozy cafes.

20.00 pm it was time for us to take the bus home to New Paltz..

…..Now I really need to get back to my studies. First exam is only 1 ½ weeks away from now.

Long Weekend!

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So here it is! another long weekend in New Paltz just one week after our first long weekend, and I love it 🙂 and actually it will coincide with a very mexican festive day!

September 16 it’s independence day in Mexico, and I think it is proper to say it is our most important festive day, because we celebrate our independence from the Spanish empire in the XIX century! In every town in Mexico there’s a party because of this, this year we will honor 202 years of independence; I’m gonna be missing home this weekend !!

But I thing I wont worry that much because Karen and I are going to Boston for the weekend, trying to take advantage of the 4 days off we have from school to get to know every big city we can; the past long weekend was Washington, now Boston, I’m very excited about it! So I think I wont even have time to miss the mexican parties, or maybe we will celebrate it our way in Boston, who knows!

Also some of our friends will be going to Toronto and some other to NYC, so I’m sure there will be a lot of things to talk about next week 😉 hope everybody has a great weekend and take a lot of pictures!

NGA in Washington DC

[slideshow]After the recent burst of posts about DC, Philadelphia and Atlantic City I bet you have already found out how we’ve all extremely appreciated the long weekend (and of course Labor Day)! You’ve read about the Capitol, Washington Monument, and Lincoln Memorial…but something is still missing.

So, for those of you who have a passionate love for art: here you go! A drum roll please…the National Gallery of Art!

It is a magnificent Gallery made up of two buildings, the West one (1941) and the East one (1978). It is situated right on the National Mall, so it’s quite easy to find it… and, once you’re in, it’s definitely hard to leave it!!

The West Building host a temporary exhibition and the NGA’s main collection and it’s here that I’ve spent the all day. The main collection includes a remarkable Italian section (thirteenth- to eighteenth-century), a Spanish one (thirteenth- to nineteenth-century), and a Netherlandish and German one (fifteenth- to seventeenth-century). There’s also a British section (eighteenth- to nineteenth-century) and of course an American one (eighteenth- and nineteenth-century). But one of the richest collection is the French one: from Watteau, Delacroix, and Ingres to Courbet, Manet, Cézanne, Monet, Degas, and Renoir…the gallery hosts a copious number of the most famous paintings.  No need to say that if you go through the corridor, from one room to the other, you’re gaze is like enchanted by the paintings inside them and you can’t decide where to go first!

I’ve particularly enjoyed the impressionist gallery, but I guess everybody has different tastes and different opinions about art…so if anybody has visited the NGA, what do you think? Which is your favorite painting? Hope to hear from you soon!