Hey there Delilah what's it like in New York City...

Our first (and last) Spring Break is all over! Whoever invented that was a genius, everyone's exams and most papers due before the break and then a week of fun. Everyone goes somewhere and does something, even if it's just going home. All of the on-campus residences actually close, so people have to leave, and lots of the shops shut down too. The town really is a student driven place! 


So, we started off in Orlando, Florida. Both of us desperately wanted to check out Harry Potter World, in Universal Studios, so we decided that factoring it into our break would be cheaper than going down to FL. on a weekend trip...  And it was well worth the extra spending!

We flew in our Carolina gear, and watched the Duke game in our hotel room, cheering so loudly as we won by a huge margin. GO HEELS!!! (despite their poor poor performance last night.... wont mention that.)

The Sunday was spent in Universal. Such good fun, we just spent the day being complete children and going on all the rides, getting soaked on the rapids, enjoying the sunshine, drinking butterbeer... I'm not ashamed to admit i'm a huge j.k.rowling fan so it was all just a bit too exciting..
:D
Then Monday we flew to Manhattan. 
We stayed in an amazing hostel, with evening events like comedy shows and free tours in the days, along with a huge kitchen, dining areas, sofas, computer room, and tv screen. And really helpful staff too. I didn't really know Kara hugely before we left, but we luckily have similar interests and enjoy doing similar things so it worked well. She's really easy going and kind and enjoys meeting people and making friends, so we had a lot of laughs...!


We went for a long stroll around Central Park the first day, seeing all the statues and fountains etc in there. I'd just studied Tony Kushner's Angels in America, and actually seen a performance the week before leaving, and one of the central places/monuments that feature in the play is the angel Bethesda statue in central park. Its always cool to see places you've read about, I can never really think of things as real until I see them, they rely too much on my mind's portrayal... Then we headed down to pen station and did some shopping. Lots of shopping! 


Wednesday we went to Times Square, and then across to Staten Island on the *free* ferry, there's not much over there but you get views of the statue of liberty and Manhattan etc. on the way across. Then we wandered around the harbour, and went to the skyscraper museum and museum of american Indians. One thing that really struck us was the lack of substance to the Native American exhibitions. There was very little to see at all, considering how much art and memorabilia there must be in the U.S., despite the fact tribes still exist. The museum also took an incredibly romanticised perspective of native american life. It failed to acknowledge any of the damage caused by Americans to the Native American tribes, the imposition of western ideas, the transmittal of lethal western disease, the destruction of their whole culture... The whole place was weirdly in denial of it all. There was a whole section just devoted to the horse, and its spiritual value to tribes, its history, and the development of their use in labour, etc. Interesting, yes, but slightly random? yes also.


We watched the comedy act one night when we were back earlier, which was cool. Nice to have be able to go back and not feel like we were wasting the evening staying in. It gets tricky when your under 21 in the city, they're tough on id. But there's so much to do -- the shops stay open till midnight!

Thursday I went to visit some friends in Long Island and Kara went around the UN building. It's actually my Granny's best Greek friend, who came over to the U.S after the war whereas my Granny came to the U.K. She and her husband are older now but so lovely, and seemed so pleased to see me :) They also have cats. amazing. I took the Long Island Railroad over which took about an hour.15. Was nice to spend some time in an actual family house! And speak to someone who can talk to me about people I know at home... 


When I got back we just hung out in Times Square for the evening, went to M&M world, and inquired about some shows and generally stared up at all the bright lights... The two of us just stood there in Times Square, in silence in the middle of it all for a long while... 
Friday we did some more shopping, went to the photography museum, had a tour of the national library - so cool, they have the original winnie the pooh! he's tiny -, went to the Rockefeller centre, and Lego world.. We also queued up at 9.30 on Friday morning to get Broadway tickets - $26 for Memphis! A definite highlight of the week. And got asked out for drinks by a police officer by the theatre hehe. We had such fun, ended up in the front row, which had "limited views" but we didn't really care, even a short-y like me could still see!
  
The views on the plane home were incredible, too. We got close ups of the empire state building and the Chrysler building etc., and full on views of Manhattan as we flew around it! Amazing.


It was so nice to get away for a bit, I love Chapel Hill a lot but the size of the area which is easily accessible (Campus-Chapel Hill-sort of Raleigh) is so small, and things can get a bit intense and claustrophobic. Its then that I miss London! But NYC definitely gave me my injection of city life again.... 


Brillianttt break, in wonderful company xx