For spring break, my three girlfriends and I traveled to NYC, so of course we had to pretend we were the girls from Sex and The City and watched episodes during our downtime. One of my friends brought her boyfriend too, but he doesn’t have Mr. Big’s red flags, don’t worry. Even though we love the show, there is a big age, monetary, and time gap between us and the women from Sex and The City (1998), so watching the show doesn’t really directly tell college kids on a budget how to have fun in the city. However, the show does provide exquisite fashion inspo and sends us the message that time with our friends should be cherished and that there’s no one better to take on the city with.
My friends and I packed a lot of fun into our short and sweet trip of two days to New York. Our itinerary consisted of a bunch of fun activities to do in the city for college kids under 21, so I thought I’d share!
One of the best parts of New York is how all the food is just better! The highlights of places we went to eat were Applejack Diner, Tony’s Di Napoli, Tearoom by Calmplex, and Broad Nosh Bagels.
Applejack Diner: such a cute, cozy place to get breakfast and it’s right near the Marriott we stayed at on Broadway, so it was very convenient. The waitstaff were lovely as well.
Broad Nosh Bagels: New York bagels are superior, so bagels are a must get. Broad Nosh Bagels had a crazy variety of cream cheeses to choose from, from garlic to mango. Also, the chai I had at this shop was the best chai I’ve ever had. I’m a chai connoisseur, so I would know.
Tearoom by Calmplex: On our second day in the city, we had been on our feet all day shopping, so my friend had the idea to go to a quiet and quaint little tea shop, which had an exact opposite atmosphere from the perpetually nosy city. I got this white chocolate matcha that I loved even though I don’t even really like matcha that much normally. You could get a singular tea like me or a cute little tea set with a mini teapot and little cookies, which a few of my friends did.
Tony’s Di Napoli: The first thing I’ll say about this Italian restaurant is that it’s family style, and the reason why I emphasize that is because we didn’t read the fine print and ended up ordering too much food! The food was to die for though. You MUST get the fettuccine Alfredo. This restaurant was on the pricier side, so this was a splurge of the trip, but if you can squeeze it in your budget, it’s definitely worth it.
We managed to squeeze so much into our two day trip! Below are the best activities we did!
Central Park: We were so lucky to go on the few days in New York it was around 70 degrees out in mid-March. I actually got a little sunkissed, which hasn’t happened in months going to school in Connecticut. Central Park was lovely to walk around in, and the main attraction was people watching. Dogs promenaded through the park wearing little shoes, bows, and dresses, we passed French men in suits and pondered about where they would be headed next, and saw many New Yorkers excited about the first warm days in months.
One of my favorite attractions in Central Park was the Alice in Wonderland Statue, which I had seen before in the Netflix tv show, Dash and Lily, where it was a hiding spot for the journal passed back and forth between the love interests who hadn’t met each other yet, so it was fun to see in person.
Belvedere Castle was a cool miniature castle in Central Park. Some of our best photos came from going to the top because of the amazing view of a pond and the city in the background.
Right outside Central Park is The Metropolitan Museum of Art where students from New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey can pay however much they want over $0.01 to get in. I absolutely loved visiting. The place is huge with so many departments. We chose to visit European paintings and Greek and Roman Art. It was so fun to take the time to look at historical art, and there’s also modern sections as well. The MET has so many different departments, and we even saw people painting live in the museum. We wondered if they were art majors from NYU. My favorite piece I saw was the 1st or 2nd century CE Roman Marble statue of Aphrodite in the Greek and Roman art exhibit.
On our first night in New York we went on The Best of NYC Circle Line Cruise, which provided us with a guided boat tour of all five boroughs of New York. We got an amazing close-up view of The Statue of Liberty during sunset and the tour guide was funny and interacted with the audience. He called me Phoebe from Friends, which I thought of as the highest compliment of course!
Shopping is always a must in New York. Some of my favorite stores we entered were: Glossier, which has so many testers and a neat, clean, and pink atmosphere. I also loved the small little bookstore we went to, called McNally Jackson Books with the kinds of books the cool girl in your creative writing course who wears wide-framed glasses, unique belts, and Doc Martens would shop at. One thing I wish we did more of was go to cute little boutiques that are unique to New York. We went to one called Mystique Boutique, but sadly it’s closing pretty soon.
We were able to find a comedy show at a club we didn’t have to be 21 to go to, called New York Comedy Club which allows ages 18 and up and 16 and up if you have an adult present. We went to see Jessica Kirson live, and laughed so hard we cried. There were four comedians in total that did stand up and I liked the variety. There was also a lot of audience interaction, especially for those sitting in the front rows.
I think Carrie Bradshaw would approve of our trip and applaud me writing about it to inform other people of the hidden gems of New York! I loved exploring the city with my friends. Think about New York as the destination for your next trip with friends!