Student Blog: My Week in New York

For my spring break this year, I ventured into my first-ever solo vacation. It was my first time on a plane in two years, and my first time flying alone - as alone as one can be in Laguardia airport, that is. 

But it’s not entirely accurate to say that this was a solo vacation. My sister, Mallory, goes to school at a conservatory in Connecticut so the main purpose of my trip was to visit her. Yes, although I last saw her at the very beginning of January, three months can feel like an eternity no matter how often we FaceTime. 

I started my trip by flying to New York on Saturday morning. I landed and was with all my luggage by 11:00 a.m., but the real challenge was getting a ride from LaGuardia to Grand Central Station, where I was about to meet my sister. I ordered a shuttle from a service I was recommended, but after a half-hour of trying to refresh a Safari page with questionable links, I figured it would just be better to stick with Uber Shuttle. This unfortunately, would not be the last time I had a shuttle debacle. 

I met up with my sister at Grand Central, where we then walked over to our hotel to leave our luggage: my suitcase, my backpack, and my dance bag paired with her simple overnight bag. Then, we hit the city. 

We started our day in the city by walking over to Chelsea Market, where I had the best roast pork steam bun I’ve ever tasted, paired with a raspberry lemonade tea. We walked though some of the local shops, including a bookstore and a local artisan market. While I restrained myself from buying any books at this point in the trip, I did get each of my siblings a small notebook made from vinyl records from the artisan market. 

We ended up walking around Chelsea Market for a few hours before deciding to head back to the hotel and refresh ourselves for a moment. I was still a bit tired from traveling throughout the morning, so it was nice to rest for a moment. We eventually ended the night by going to the AMC in Times Square. You may be thinking, “a night in the city and you go the AMC?” Yes. The theatre is five stories tall and I’m an A-Lister. Simple as that. 

The next morning, we hit the Magnolia Bakery in Grand Central and boarded our train to Connecticut. The trip was only about an hour, which was the perfect amount of time for us to sip on our drinks, eat pastries, and catch up. By 11:00 a.m., we were in Connecticut and I was getting set up in my Airbnb. We ended the night by having dinner at a local restaurant with a couple of my sister’s friends, and then having a sleepover in my Airbnb. 

The next couple of days were filled with excitement, because while I was on spring break, my sister wasn’t. Although she still had her busy class schedule, we still spent plenty of time together... because I ended up going to her classes. She’d gotten permission prior to my visit for me to join her classes and oh my goodness, it was insanely fun. 

The nature of my sister’s college experience is vastly different from my college experience. I have 9 a.m. lectures about design; my sister has 9 a.m. community warmups where they do intense conditioning. I have an afternoon stage management class; my sister has an afternoon scene study class that’s over two hours long. 

Despite the differences, I had such an amazing time, and I feel like I did better than expected in her classes (with the exception of gymnastics... I can’t even do a cartwheel). I certainly didn’t sing in her vocal classes; I much preferred getting to watch her and her classmates perform for the class or observing her one-on-one vocal lessons. However, I did participate in the warmups, the dance classes, and two acting classes.  

The dance classes were definitely up there in terms of favorites. Ballet, jazz, hip hop, and tap were the classes that we had throughout the week, and I loved each of them. The warmups were fun too; a challenge for sure, but it was nice to do workouts I normally don’t do. Even a few weeks later, I’ve implemented some of the workouts into my own routine. 

But this blog is titled “My Week in New York,” so we’re focusing on the city activities. 

On Wednesday, we headed back into the city for dinner and a show. We ended up going to one of my sister’s favorite burger spots, Diner 24, where we of course had to get a milkshake. After this, we went and saw The Outsiders. And oh my goodness. 

My sister had seen the show a few times, but this was my first time seeing it. I knew it was good, but it was jaw-dropping. The choreography, the technical elements, everything about it was amazing. Weeks later, I’m still thinking about it.  

The next night, we were in Connecticut watching Mallory’s school’s opening night of A Chorus Line. A Chorus Line is a show I’ve always loved, and this production only solidified and reminded me of that love for it. The choreography and talent in the cast was incredible, not to mention the number of times I cried in “At the Ballet” alone. 

Friday was another day of classes and spending time with friends, but Saturday was our day back in the city. For the majority of the day, we spent out time at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a.k.a. my favorite place ever.  

Mallory and I both saw some of our favorite pieces, including the 1794 plaster of “Cupid and Psyche”, “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” by Caspar David Friedrich, “Madame X” by John Singer Sargent, and the early 1800s marble statue “Perseus with the Head of Medusa.” Needless to say, lots of photos were taken. 

After this though, we had another theatre-focused night. We went to Gramercy Theatre to see The Rescue’s concert, featuring Caissie Levy, Michael Arden, and Patrick Wilson. It was an unbelievable experience. We sat in the second row in awe of The Rescue's performances. And of course, we also got the first pieces of merch for The Lost Boys Musical. 

The next morning, though, was my flight back home. Mallory and I walked to Grand Central and sat on her train for a while before my Uber was scheduled to pick me up. Unbeknownst to me, this was also the day 42nd street was closed for a marathon. So in lieu of an emotional and teary moment where I settle into my Uber Shuttle, there was a chaotic rush to maneuver around the marathon in order to meet my driver and climb into the car with all my luggage. 

Since returning and getting back into the swing of things at university, I’ve reflected a lot on the trip as a whole. I feel a sense of independence thinking back on this trip. While I’ve been lucky enough to visit New York City before, this trip felt different. Instead of being with my entire family or someone else’s entire family, it was just me and my sister. Gearing up to graduate next year, I’ve been thinking a lot about my future, and New York has always been a dream to live in. And as I grow more confident in myself, my careers, and my future, I start to consider that maybe that dream could be a reality.