Last summer I went to the fascinating city of New York and it was an
amazing experience. Coming from a small town, seeing that vast and chaotic
city, always full of people, was really weird. I went there on a study trip for two weeks, the other students and I were all
divided into groups, each with its own group-leader. The first thing I noticed
was that on my other trips I always had to walk in line, but in New York it was
literally impossible! Sidewalks are huge, but there are too many
people around and apparently New Yorkers are always in a hurry, so we bumped into lots
of them lots of times!
During the first week we visited Little Italy and Chinatown in Manhattan, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art; we also went to Central Park, Wall Street with its
‘’Charging Bull’’ and the 9/11 Memorial Museum which was my favourite because
it was really emotional. The heart of this monument is Ground Zero with its two
pools, ‘’The Reflecting Pools’’, which cover the
exact footprints of the original Twin Towers and all the victims’
names are carved on the bronze parapets. At the entrance of the museum there
was a dark atmosphere, the only light was that of some video
projections of the immense tragedy caused by the terrorist attack and there were also
recordings of some calls made by the victims. I had full body chills
when we heard, through the handsets, how
desperate they were. Inside there are remnants
of the Twin Towers, images and videos of the attack and
five huge walls covered with all the victims' photos and objects.
Another place in New York which I enjoyed a lot was the
Empire State Building. At first I was terrified because of my fear of heights,
but on the 86th floor the amazing view of “the Big Apple” cleared my
mind of all negative thoughts. On Sunday we went to Washington D.C., the capital
city of the United States, where I could admire The White House, Jefferson and
Lincoln Memorial, the National Mall and The Campidoglio.
I also liked the American Museum of Natural History in New York,
especially because I had seen the movie ‘’Night at the Museum’’ which is set
there and I could take a picture with ‘’Gum-Gum’’, one of the main characters.
It was also great to see the Statue of Liberty, in fact we took a
ferry for Liberty Island and then we walked across the Brooklyn
Bridge.
Times Square, the heart of the city, was simply unmissable!
We went there at night and were surrounded by big screens, incredible lights, giant shops
and skyscrapers. People were everywhere and there were road shows and folks in
disguises. There I clearly understood why New York is called ‘’the
city that never sleeps’’.
To sum up, the place I enjoyed the least was the Guggenheim
Museum since I’m not a big fan of modern art, but there were some works I loved and some others I wanted to see like Amedeo
Modigliani's “Jeanne Hébuterne with Yellow Sweater”.
No doubt it was one of the best experiences in my life, I’ll never
forget New York and I hope I will go back there one day.
Elisa Tranquilli, 4^C Linguistico
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