Day 1 in New York

Friday May 3, 2013

Hola from New York!

   We have safely made it to New York City. For those of us who have not seen it before I think we were quite shocked by the size! We had an interesting change of travel plans due to the fantastic midwest weather we have been having lately (it's nice and clear with no snow in New york). Our original travel plan was to leave from Waverly to Des Moines at 1:45 AM Friday so we would arrive by 4:30 AM.
  Travel Plan change #1- Well due to not so ideal travel conditions Dr. Book asked if we would be willing to leave at 3:00 PM Thursday, she asked us at 9:00 that morning. Needless to say the majority, if not all of us had not even started packing yet.  Our class energy soared and I think we may have lost most of our focus for the rest of class (sorry, Dr. Book :]). We managed to get all packed, the vans loaded, and on the road to Des Moines by 3:30 and spent the evening in the Days Inn.

 Travel Plan change #2- Our flight ended up being delayed leaving Des Moines. The wonderful winter weather pushed our flight back a couple of hours but in the end I think we all appreciated the extra couple hours of sleep!

  We arrived in New York around 2:00 this afternoon. We broke into three groups for shuttles on our way to the Hostel we are staying in. The last shuttle to leave (I can't speak for the rest) had a very interesting driver. He was a tech junkie who had a collection of 18 i-pods containing over 41,000 songs and 700 movies, 4 GPS systems, 5 watches, 2 i-pads, and 2 laptops. He explained all these fancy programs he had a friend set him up with as well. It was an interesting trip.

   After checking in and freshening up a bit we set off for the city! As a class we went to visit the ground zero memorial. It was a very beautiful place to visit. In the places that the buildings stood they created water falls. The water falls down from the top into a large square pool where it slowly lowers to another square. A memorial worker told us that the smaller square is 24 feet deep and that the water cycles through the fountain. On the outside of each fountain is a list of all the people that lost their lives due to the 9/11 crashes. It was definitely a site to see, if you ever venture to New York check it out!

  Next on the list was a visit to Lady Liberty. We ventured towards the Staten Island Ferry and rode that out to see the Statue of Liberty. The first time around it was sunny and bright. The second Ferry ride back we saw her as the sun set. It was very beautiful site. (Again, highly recommended!)

 Most of us are pretty exhausted and ready for an exciting week in the schools and the city, look for more details and stories to come, maybe even some pictures!