Hello, New York!

It took a lot of sweat, tears and waiting around in airports, but I am finally in the Big Apple.

Waking of at 4:50 AM and still almost missing your flight is not a fun feeling. But the real test of my patience came with a four-hour (later turned five due to delay) layover in Baltimore. Having never been to Maryland, I would have loved to see some of the city. Unfortunately, the windows of the airport showed nothing but tarmac.

After all the wait and flying, I made it to LaGuardia and to my hostel. Staying off Broadway on 55^th, my room for the week is around the corner from The Ed Sullivan Theater. I got to enjoy the amazing Original Ray’s Pizza, one of my favorite places to eat in Manhattan.

For my first full day here, I made my way to the American Museum of Natural History. The five-story museum was unlike the one depicted in Night at the Museum, but stunning nonetheless. There were many different exhibits for the different native people around the world, as well as the wildlife. The large dinosaur exhibit with other prehistoric mammals was both exiting and shocking. The size of the dinosaurs was epic and there were rhino and elephant ancestors even larger. But by far, my favorite part of AMNH was the Rose Center for Earth and Space. The interactive experiences were fantastic and it was great to just wander around and see the different meteorite, galaxy and Earth displays. I got to see how much I weighed on different planets and suns as well as test how jumping up and down would effect a seismograph.

After the museum, I made my way across the street and purposely lost myself in Central Park. However, when you do so, you actually get lost. When I finally used my phone’s GPS to find where I was, it turned out I had walked all the way around Central Park to the other side. The great thing about the park is how quiet and relaxing it is. I stopped to finish reading the book I had with me and got to lie down and relax after all the trekking I’d done. While in the park, I watched a street performing team break dance and had one member do a back-flip over my head. Let’s just say I was less enthusiastic during that situation than when I was just watching. I didn’t get to see Strawberry Fields, but I plan on spending a lot of my free time there within the coming months.

Overall, I’m so excited to be here in the city. Tomorrow is my first orientation, this one with MTV Network. I’m really looking forward to meeting some of the interns and learning more about what my internship will entail. :D