This is a pithy, almost scripted, beginning to our trip. What better way to start a trip on cities in China than with a detour to America’s most famous city? It’s the perfect chance to end our last trip in America, by walking around in New York City, in preparation of spending time in China’s closest equivalent, Shanghai.

Our flight got canceled because of a snow-removal breakdown at Houston. This being Houston, freezing temperatures that create ice on windows and runways and such are usually not a thing. This makes things difficult on the rare days when it becomes a thing, such as on the day we left. Delta eventually got us another flight to New York, where we eventually spent the night.

We spent several hours waiting in LaGuardia for transportation to our hotel, then spent about half an hour resting before going out into the city. This, by the way, involved an Uber ride that cost $80. The Political Science department is paying for that, but it’s still kind of awe-inspiring seeing that on my phone.

We walked around Manhattan for a bit and saw the famous buildings. We didn’t go up them, because that shit is expensive. We did go in the M&M’s center in Time Square (that place is definitely super-touristy) and rode on a giant ferris wheel–OK, some of us did. The rest all sucked, obviously, because they didn’t get on the big indoor ferris wheel.

We ate dinner at a ramen place, where I had curry and ramen. Because when you’re in New York, you eat ramen (just kidding: first of all, all the food in New York is good, and second of all, the ramen was good, so it’s all good. I just used the word “good” way too much. That’s not good).

If you want photos of the beautiful New York skyline, you’ll have to look on Wikipedia. I brought my phone. You see, just taking photos of cool stuff is less my style–stock photos will do a better job than an amateur like myself ever will. Photos are really only worth something when there are people in them. And that’s taken care of because the editor of the YEARBOOK is on this trip. I suspect Anya will be completely capable of taking photos on the behalf of every single person on this trip.

That said, here’s a picture of me in Central Park.

See? This is why Anya and Matt, with their professional real cameras, are going to take care of the photos, while I, with my cell phone, will limit myself to novelty photos and gratuitous selfies.

I’m rather embarrassed to admit that I’ve actually been to all three of the cities we’re going to visit. However, I think context is important, too. I’ve only visited with parents before, and that is enough for me to want to visit without parents. Also, last time I visited New York was in the summer for a college touring trip (that is, back in high school).

Here’s my admission. I can’t get behind New York. It’s just not my city. I can’t get behind the feel of the buildings. I just don’t really like the whole Gilded Age feel of the early skyscrapers or the art-deco of the Empire State building or the 50’s modernism. This was how I felt last time I was here, and I still felt like that this time around.

The Apple Store was pretty awesome, though.

No minced words can hide this fact: New York was a detour from our main trip. We were not prepared to really “learn” anything per se from New York, because we honestly thought we were going to be in Shanghai by now (so we didn’t study it). It was still kind of cool walking around New York, though, even if it was frickin’ cold.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2015 at 9:18 pm and is filed under 2015 Class, Enroute. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.