Exciting news to share with you all! People from Her Campus Georgia Southern went to New York through one of the schools alternative break trips. The trip costs $475 and it includes your bus trip to and from NYC, as well as the hotel room at the Holiday Inn in Times Square. The Hotel provides breakfast every morning so that’s one meal you do not have to provide for yourself. The trip is really a free for all trip. I went with fellow Her Campus member Imani Winston and two of our other friends. The trip does have excursions you can go on with the advisors but they are not required. The only thing you have to do is text/check in with your assigned advisor 3 times a day; 9am, 2pm, 9pm.
We decided that we did not want to go on the excursions with the group so we bought a city pass and did all of the tourist stuff on our own. The Citypass is a book of tickets that gets you into certain city attractions, such as the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Metropolitan Museum, etc. Every major city has them. It is cheaper to get the Citypass for $116 then to go to all of the attractions by themselves.
The trip itself was a blast. Being in the city was so exhilarating. It is extremely true when they say everything is fast paced. There is always a horn blowing, people are constantly walking or driving, and there are vendors everywhere. We got around by using the subway system, which was confusing at first, but once we got the hang of it it was pretty cool.
When it comes to the weather we were blessed with it not being TOO COLD until the last day. The last day the high was 22 degrees fahrenheit. Talk about cold; the wind went straight through my jeans every time I went to walk somewhere.
This is another thing. The walking…. You walk SOOOO MUCH. Everywhere. Even when you take the subway, you end up walking three blocks once you get off. You spend majority of your day walking to the attractions. I think that is something we didn’t anticipate; how exhausted we’d be after walking all day. We would have 12 hour plus days constantly on go and then get back to the hotel and crash, just to get up and do the same thing the next day.
Don’t get me wrong the experience was amazing and I would do it again in a heartbeat but through going to NYC I have come to have a great appreciation for the south. At one point we met someone who was 28 and had never even had a learner’s permit, she said she didn’t even know how to drive. I love my car and i love driving, especially compared to walking. In the north everyone is just in such a hurry and you meat some friendly people but most just bypass you. In the south you make a friend wherever you go.
New York was a great experience and I will definitely go back one day, but I will go back and experience it on more of a local level. I will find more hole in the wall places. We got A LOT done in New York but we didn’t even hit on half of it. I can’t wait to go an experience more.