Don’t you just love and I mean LOVE arriving at an airport knowing that in a few hours you’ll be jetting off to another part of the world. Ever since being a child, it has been a favorite feeling of mine. But this time, the excitement for me was on a whole new level. I was going to the one place in the world I had always wanted to visit, New York.
My mother had kindly offered to drive me to Heathrow airport, and as we pulled up close to terminal 5, I was a guest to the view of the building’s light glowing in the night time sky, married to scenes of planes breaking off like birds from the runway into the distant sky.
The magic of arriving at the airport was kick starting its way into my belly and and leaped out of the car and ventured into the departures entrance, ready to experience all that New York had to offer.
Hours later, after disrupted aeroplane sleep, I was touching down in JFK airport. This was finally it! My journey was about to begin.
I arrived at The Wolcott Hotel, just off of 5th Avenue, along with 70 other very excited girls. We bounced into our rooms and after a briefing with our lecturer, I headed out with two other girls to MoMa, The Museum of Modern Art. Friday nights are a very special night for MoMa lovers, as for a few hours, the museum is sponsored so entry is free. After walking several blocks, we arrived at MoMa, and the queue for free tickets has to be the longest queue I have ever seen. It snaked itself around the building, and continued its body for a good few blocks. I was in absolute awe for the New Yorker’s appreciation for Art. This made me fall in love with the city a little bit more. I couldn’t however, help but make comparisons to London. I could not even imagine witnessing this absolute crave and desire to attend art galleries in London. Whenever I have been to galleries such as The Tate or The National Gallery for example, and most of the time entry is free, I have not noted masses of people snuffling eagerly to get inside. The excitement that was taking residence on the streets of New York was incredible.
After a long search for the end of the queue, we joined the back and began our journey to the Museum’s entrance. The exhibition that I was intending on seeing was Inventing Abstraction, 1910 – 1925. And it was incredible. I was particularly interested in this of my study of Abstract Art previously at university.
After all of the travelling, we were starting to get very tired so we decided to make the Rockefeller building our last stop. I was pretty tired and dazed because of the jet lag, however I literally caught my breath when I got to the top and saw the whole of New York lit up before me.
I just kept breathing the word wow, as I could see the Empire State building, the Statue of Liberty shining in the distance and Times Square emitting the most enormous mass of light. My first night in New York was coming to an end, and it exceeded my expectations much more than I could have imagined.
