Before I can get into the amazing dance experiences I had once I arrived in NYC, I must first talk about the journey that was taken to get there!
Photo I took while crossing the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River!
The Drive
We left the house at 7:00 am so that we could get an early start! We got on the road and everything was going really well...for about forty minutes. All of a sudden, we heard a pop and then a scrape as one of our front tires blew out! Luckily there was a gas station nearby where we were able to get our spare tire on with the help of a kind stranger. We then drove to the nearest tire shop.... where they told us they didn't have the tires we needed, but were able to get them from a supplier that was an hour away. After two hours, new tires, and an unplanned (but welcome) brunch, we were back on our way! Seven hours later, we were crossing the George Washington Bridge and in New York City!
Photo I took of the hallway on the ground level of our apartment building!
The Apartment
After successfully maneuvering through the streets of Manhattan , we pulled up in front of our apartment building on west 106th street. We unloaded our luggage and began the daunting climb up the stairs, only to find that our key didn't work. After numerous attempts and mounting frustration, the door was finally opened...from the inside. A young couple politely informed us that this was their apartment, at which point we realized that we had gone up one too many flights of stairs (oops!). After successfully locating our apartment, we began the process of cleaning and unpacking. As I was cleaning my room, I looked under my bed and found a dead cockroach! (Yikes!) Luckily that was the only one we encountered! Other than that, the space was great! Though my younger sister and I were the only ones participating in an intensive, our other sister, three brothers, and both parents accompanied us for the first ten days, making the three bedroom apartment a bit....cozier.
Photo I took of the view out my bedroom window (featuring the fire escape!)
Adventures in Grocery Shopping
After we had unpacked and settled in, we decided to go out and get groceries and a few final things we needed for the apartment. For those of us (me) who aren't used to grocery shopping in a big city, it can be quite a shock. The first difference I noticed is that, in Manhattan, there is no Target, there is no Giant Eagle, and....there is no Walmart (WHAT???). We did our grocery shopping at Whole Foods, which, in comparison to the grocery stores back home, felt completely foreign to me at first. This is a place where your cart has a separate escalator (because, yes, there are multiple floors!), and you'll be hard pressed to find any name brand cereals (you'll be eating "Frosted Wheat Squares" instead of Mini-Wheats for a while), not to mention that it is also always super busy. We also went to Home Goods, where I witnessed a couple debating about whether they should carry the large desk they had just purchased three blocks home on their own, or get a taxi. While I'm on the topic of stores, if you ever enter the Bed, Bath and Beyond by Lincoln Center....be prepared. I felt like I should have had a map with me to navigate that store.
It was pretty late by the time we had finished our shopping and gone back to the apartment, so we didn't do much once we got back.
That's all for this post! Please be sure to check back if you want to read more about My Summer in NYC! In my next post, I will be writing about my first day of summer intensive! Thanks for reading! :)