I ♥ NY

If we had more time there was so much more we all wanted to do...China Town, Brooklyn Bridge, Ice Skating, Broadway and many more!

New York was worth every penny. £700 was a reasonable price to pay and I had the money saved up since I got the letter about it! New York is so cheap to eat out as well as travelling as everything is walking distance! 

After going to NY it really made me realise the wider world of fashion. Looking at the same old shops in the UK does get boring and there’s no better place to look at fashion than NY. All the shops and attractions are so much brighter and appealing then London!

If you get the chance to go to NY either with Uni or just as a holiday than definitely take the opportunity! If you are planning on studying FCP at NTU then make sure you have the money saved up as you do not want to miss out...I actually think going with Uni made it more exciting as we had the opportunity to go to Ann Inc (which none of us would of been able to do!) and its a great chance to strengthen your bonds with your coursemates! I will unquestionably be going to NY again!


My one word of advice is wear the most comfortable shoes...as you will do a lot of walking!

I’ll leave you with my last picture of tickets and leaflets from the places we visited!

Day 4 – Macys, Shopping, Times Sq, Travelling home

This was the worst day as we knew we had to go back home. As we did not want to miss the coach to the airport we decided to stay near the hotel. 

We headed to a few shops near us such as Levis and Victoria Secret. To be honest I found Victoria Secret a bit tacky and it didn’t meet my expectations. Maybe this was due to the sale season but I was still unimpressed!

 We then headed onto Times Square (again!) to do some last minute shopping and present buying! Stopping in Toys R Us, Hershey’s and the M&M store!

As our feet were so dead..let alone our shoulders and necks from carrying bags and cameras we decided to go to Macys! To say it’s the biggest department store I was not impressed! I thought the layout was a bit confusing and it was so boring..there was no colour or life in there! We then retreated to Starbucks where we stayed for a while as we were so tired...

I’m not going to bore you again with travelling as it was the same as the way there! I think everybody was quite glad when we arrived back at Nottingham to finally get some sleep!

Day 3 – Chelsea, Skyline, Central Park, Guggenheim, Empire State at Night

As our days in New York shortened our energy levels dropped but we could not give up so off we went for another action packed day!

Walking through Chelsea and the townhouses made me feel like I actually lived there. We then found the Antiques Garage Flea Market we were looking for. I was a bit apprehensive as I’m not a market sort of person. I was quite overwhelmed how busy it was and how many things were on offer! There were old cameras, magazines, clothes, jewellery, furniture and other vintage items. Although we didn’t buy anything it was quite an experience to see it!

Carrying on with a quick stop through Chelsea market and Anthropologie we headed to the Skyline. It was a lovely view from the top and I wish we could have walked further on it to fully experience it but we didn’t have enough time!

 
We wanted to experience the American lifestyle truly so we had to have lunch at a diner! Ok it wasn’t the best..but we had another thing checked off our list.

We then felt we had to catch the subway..to fully experience NY. We caught it in Chelsea up to Central Park. We then had a well deserved rest in Central Park as we all so shattered! We then slowly wandered up to the Guggenheim and visited the exhibition there. Maurizio Cattelan was the main exhibition which was various things hanging from the ceiling. To be honest I didn’t really get it!

We then walked down to the shops on 5^th Avenue and we had to get a taxi back as our feet wouldn’t walk anymore! We then decided to get a takeaway pizza slice and take it back to the hotel...we then sat and watched trashy American TV for a while..and believe it or not they have more cringy ad breaks than the UK!

After our rest we then ventured to the Empire State the moment we had been waiting for all day! We were all so excited to see NY at its best. I have to admit the lift going up 80 floors in high speed was pretty scary! When reaching the top it felt like a magical moment all the lights were memorising! I cant really explain it much as its one of the moments you need to experience. Here are some pictures from the top (although most of them were blurry as it was so windy up there!)

Day 2 – Magazine Cafe, FIT, Buffalo Exchange, Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, SoHo

We decided to head off to this magazine shop first as it was only a few blocks away from our hotel. I was actually amazed at how many different magazines they stocked. Being told about all these magazines in lectures seemed daunting but seeing them in the shop made me want to get all of them..but I didn’t  think my baggage would allow that! I decided to buy the Hunger magazine..(I know its English but I had never seen it before!) We all took the opportunity to stock up on magazines and we had to make a stop back at the hotel as they were so heavy! Definitely a recommend!  

After our quick pit stop we walked to FIT – Fashion Institute of Technology. We were lucky to catch the Daphne Guinness exhibition the day it was finishing. The exhibition showcased some of Daphne Guinness’ personal clothing and shoes. There were outfits from Alexander McQueen, Karl Lagerfeld and other designers. Personally, I really enjoyed this exhibition as you never get to see these sorts of clothes in person (unless you can afford to buy them!) and we just settle to see them in the media. Here are a few pictures to give you an impression of the layout (pictures are not mine as no photography was allowed)  

We then went on to look at a shop called ‘Buffalo Exchange’. It is a swap shop/charity shop so you can buy, sell or swap! I was quite surprised of how much clothing was in there and some decent brands too! This is not a typical charity shop and without a doubt I would shop there if they had these stores in the UK. 

Our next challenge was flagging a taxi down..some people think it is really hard to get one but I was quite surprised we got two at once! We then headed down to ground zero to see the new memorial. Although we did not realise you had to wait to get a ticket so decided to have a look at Century 21 whilst we there. We were all reluctant to look in there as we heard it wasn’t that great...and we were right! It was horrid..clothes over the floor, squashed racks and no room to walk! We headed out as quickly as possible!

 As we were near we decided to walk to see the Statue of Liberty. Although myself and another girl get seasickness we decided to give the ferry a miss and just look from the bank! If I didn’t get seasick I would have gone closer! After seeing the statue it almost made it real that we were in New York.

Finally, we decided to head up to SoHo to meet some other girls. Although we didn’t get to meet them we had a quick look around SoHo and we all loved it. It had a different feel from the other areas we had visited and had more quirky shops and graffiti on the walls. I took a few pictures of some window displays and I really want one of the funky shaped sofas! Also the bottom picture was taken in the vintage store ‘What goes around comes around’.

We eventually got so tired we couldn’t even stand or walk so had to get a taxi back to Times Square where had a quick bite to eat before heading to bed asap!

Day 1 – Ann Inc, Times Sq, Library, Bryant Park, Grand Central, 5th Avenue, Hard Rock Cafe

Ok so being ready for 8am was a struggle but hey we finally got to see NY in the light! Our first stop for the day was Ann Inc. Walking through the offices to get to the presentation room felt like we were walking through the building where Ugly Betty works! The presentation was very interesting as none of us really knew much about them beforehand and I’m really thankful we had the opportunity to do this. Before heading out for the day we had a quick look in their Times Square store which was below their offices..Here are a few pictures of the interior of it...although honestly we were not impressed as Loft was meant to be aimed at younger people than Ann Taylor but we did not entirely agree!

Walking through Times Square was unreal..I still didn’t feel like I was actually there! After lots of snapshots we popped into Forever 21. Having never been in one I was quite surprised..although it did feel like H&M/New Look! 

After a quick chat with a local boy and many others we finally found our way to Grand Central Station..whilst stopping off at Bryant Park and the Public Library on the way! Although we did highly excited when we realised Carrie from SATC got married there (well tried!)

We then decided to make our way to 5^th Avenue for the afternoon. Trying to do research on the shops was so hard as we just kept getting distracted! I think we all agreed we could have spent all day going up and down! My main highlights on 5^th Avenue were seeing Tiffany’s and all the bright window displays.  After walking up and down for hours and drooling over all the designer shops in which this Miu Miu display took my eye so I had to take close up pictures we decided to move on!

When reaching the end of the shops it had turned dark so we decided to have a quick look at Central Park. We knew how big it was and by then we were all so tired so decided to only venture to the little bridge! On the way back down we really fancied going Ice Skating at the Rockafeller but we were way too tired for that!

Our last stop for the night was dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. I have never been in one before so I was quite excited to see what it was all about. After a very big dinner we all slowly sauntered back to the hotel..and I think we were all ready for bed after a very long day!

Back to Uni and Travelling

Ok so after the long Christmas break I was sort of dreading going back to my halls as they are so noisy...but thank god two of my flatmates do FCP too otherwise returning to an empty flat would of been worse.
Well after not getting much sleep due to excitement and worrying I would not hear my alarm, it was time to go! It felt so weird knowing I was going to be in New York that night after years of longing to go.

After last minute packing my suitcase was ready to go...

After an long coach journey down to Heathrow...we were one step closer. Having never been to any ‘big’ airports like Heathrow I was quite apprehensive to see what it was like. Firstly, using the online booking machines was a new step (didn’t help that about 90 of us were all trying them at the same time!) after the cufuffal of it freezing on us our bags were gone! After the agonising two hour wait we were called to board. Grabbing a few free magazines before we hopped on the plane (in which most of us FCP students jumped at the chance of a free Wallpaper magazine!) 

On the plane I was so surprised how much they fed us...everytime I tried to sleep or got into the film I was watching they brought out something else! After landing, the faff of passport control and baggage claim...we had arrived! After a quick coach journey with a tour guide teaching us the American slang and attempting to show us the landmarks in the dark we were at the hotel! Here is a picture of the interior...a bit old fashioned but different to say the least!

With all of us crammed in a lobby the task of getting our key was next...when successfully reaching our room it was time for bed!

Nearly There!

Ok.. I know it was a month since I went to New York but I have finally got around to do this!
Just finished sorting out which pictures to post as I took 540 and so should be posting over the next few days! Hope you all enjoy reading about my trip! :)