Life in the Big Apple

With the Journalism department at the University of North Texas I was given the opportunity to spend two weeks in New York City. Live like a New Yorker, eat like a New Yorker, tour like a New Yorker, and most importantly shop like a New Yorker, all while receiving class credit! A group of twenty students and one professor spent two weeks of May studying the Advertising Industry in New York City. (My mom came up the last day and I was able to spend another week in the city with her! So I was there for a total of three weeks!) This was an absolutely once in a life time experience that I will never forget. We stayed in the Upper East Side at Educational Housing Service dorms.

EHS:
These were the educational dorms that we stayed in. They were located in the Upper East Side and the location of them was decent for what we paid. They are open to students who are spending a summer or semester up in the city for school or interning. I would highly recommend them! 

Our "class meetings" in the library of our EHS dorms.

Our grade was based off of several things. Attending our class meetings and agency visits, cultural experiences, keeping a journal, and writing thank you notes. After completing our obligations for the day we were able to spend our free time however we wanted. Each day our class toured agencies and media outlets for a total of thirteen. These are a few of them:

Bartle, Bogle & Hegarty: When the world zigs, zag.

Kaplan Thaler

R/GA

ABC

Advertising Age

Arnold Worldwide

Ogilvy & Mather

In addition to the agency visits we were required to have several cultural experiences of our choice. These allowed us to get a true feeling of the city and everything it has to offer. By the end of the three weeks I felt like I was a true New Yorker. I knew the Subways like the back of my hand and had visited every part of the city, multiple times. I chose to go to several museums and Broadway shows.

{The extra week with my mom really added onto the cultural experience of my trip. 

We were able to hit several additional museums and a show almost every night!} 

Alexander McQueen Exhibit at the Met.
Absolutely AMAZING! Go see it! 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Riding the Subways day and night.

Catch Me if You Can at the Simon Theater:
We were able to catch a Wednesday matinee showing.
I thought this show was just mediocre.
I wouldn't recommend it.

Yankee's Stadium:
We were lucky enough to talk with the Marketing department of the Yankee's and receive a tour of the new stadium!
We ended the day with $5 tickets to the Yankee's v. Blue Jays (they lost 3-7). 

Class dinner at the Four Seasons. 

While at the Four Seasons we happened to run into George Lois.
Mr. Lois is an original Ad Man: an idol in the Advertising world.
My professor had the wits to go up to him and ask if he would speak to our class.
As we gathered around a large round table, he willingly gave our class a twenty minute inspirational speech about the Advertising world.
Everyone was in awe. What a one-of-a-kind experience!

The building of the new World Trade Centers.

Me and my mom in Central Park.

Colleen, Valeria, me and Zach in Central Park

Set in Style: The jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels at the Cooper Hewitt.
This museum didn't allow photography, but it was absolutely amazing jewelry.
Within each set of jewelry my mom and I picked out the "next piece to add to our collection." 

Fell in love with this room at the Guggenheim by Hans-Peter Feldmann

The Great Upheaval at The Guggenheim.

Jersey Boys at the August Wilson Theater
Loved this show!
I would highly recommend this if your going to the city.
The singing and dancing was excellent!

For my mom's 50th Birthday we got massages at  the Red Door: Elizabeth Arden.
Besides the delicious dried vegetables and cranberry juice while sitting in the waiting room, this place was nothing special.
My masseuse actually fell asleep while giving me my massage.
For the price we paid, I would suggest getting multiple massages at lower scale spas than one at this place! 

The morning of June 2nd my mom and I woke up to see Scotty & Lauren (American Idol Top 2) on the Today Show.
We got their extremely early and they didn't come on until close to 10am.
They sang a few songs, but we could barely see them... too many crazy teenagers.

We rode a pedi-cab to Junior's for her birthday dinner before going to see Wicked.
I loved the pedi-cab because we were able to drive through Times Square on the street and see all of the fun excitement while having the wind blow through our hair. Definitely much more fun than a taxi or the subway.
And Junior's is amazing. If you are going to NYC this restaurant is a definite.
The portions are extremely large, so share and the cheesecake is phenominal! 

Wicked is a must see while in New York. 
This was my second time to see it on Broadway and I would happily go a third.
Everything about it is absolutely amazing. 

We weren't able to do the NBC Studio Tour because it was full.
Instead, we shopped around in the gift shop.
I recommend getting your tickets in advance if you are wanting to do this.

Kleinfeld's is every brides dream.
We had to make a stop to this store after watching TLC's hit series Say Yes to the Dress!

The last night of my journey through New York my mom and I went to the NYC Ballet: Jewels.
This was directed by Balanchine and was a three act: Diamond, Emerald, and Ruby performance.
I was raised as a classical ballet dancer, so I thought this would be a wonderful experience.
My mom was able to knock the NYC Ballet off her bucket list, but as for entertainment... I would of preferred a Broadway show.
The two grandpas on either side of us snored (loudly) throughout the entire performance. 

Me at the Top of the Rock on our last beautiful day in the Big Apple.