New York, New York!

During the February half term, pupils studying A Level Psychology and Photography travelled to New York. While there, they visited the World Trade Centre, Manhattan and Ellis Island, to name a few of the visits on their whistle-stop tour of the city. Below is the report provided by Ella Roullier and Beattie Hooley, both of Year 13:

Early on Friday 15 February, Shiplake pupils studying A Level Psychology and Photography set off on our journey to New York City, accompanied by staff members Miss Mordue, Mrs Krause, Mr Ebbage and Mr Shaw. We departed on a 6:30am flight from Heathrow, and arrived at JFK New York at 10:00am local time. Once we arrived, we went through the strict US security and made our way to HiHostel on Amsterdam Avenue, West Manhattan.

Other than our feet, the main mode of transport while in New York was the subway, which was a real eye opener and gave an insight into the everyday life of New Yorkers: vastly different to the London Tube as we know it.

On our first full day, we took the subway to the site of the World Trade Centre. As we walked up the steps of the subway, we were touched by the view of the memorial site at Ground zero and the huge water pools in the place of the Twin Towers. The names of the 2,977 people who died on September 11 2001 are inscribed around the pools. The atmosphere of the area was extremely moving, with the realisation of how many lives were lost, but also the beauty of the memorial itself and the people gathered around to commemorate those who lost their lives.

We were all in shock and could not comprehend how terrifying it must have been. After we watched some videos and looked at the exhibition artefacts, we went downstairs and met a man called Roy who was working in the area the day of 9/11. Once we were given our earpieces, we stepped outside to start our tour of Ground zero. We first looked at the fire department memorial on the wall of the fire station by the main memorial, which stretched across the whole building with the words “Dedicated to those who fell and to those who carry on”.

Although we were tired by the end of our first day, we were excited to go to the Rockefeller building and to get a beautiful view of the lights of New York at night. After we went up a hundred floors in a glass ceilinged elevator, we arrived at the top with popped ears and feeling slightly queasy! The popped ears and queasiness were certainly worth the view, however! We got a good look of the Empire State building and the skyline of the other islands around us.

Our next day was filled with history; finding out about the people who made this unique city the diverse place it is renowned to be. A very windy ferry ride on the Hudson River gave us another panoramic view of Manhattan, not forgetting of course The Statue of Liberty, of which the sheer scale became clear to us: we were surprised at how large the statue actually is! This was followed by a trip to Ellis Island, where we looked around the museum and gained an understanding of the 15^th century people who started the colonisation of Northern America. Those who first emigrated from Europe were the Spanish and French, and later came many more such as African slaves from the 17th to 19th century.

That evening, just as the sun was beginning to set, we went to the One World Trade Centre Observatory, which is right next to the 9/11 memorial. We went through a set of strict security checks and headed to the lift, where there was a fantastic animation on the walls. As we headed up to the top, the animation showed the evolution of New York and the city being built up from nothing. Once we reached the top, we were all stunned by the view. After we had taken photographs and enjoyed the sunset, it was time to find somewhere to eat. We travelled on the subway to Little Italy and enjoyed a delicious meal together.

The photographers set off to Brooklyn, where we made our way to ‘Graff Tours’, a company which looks at the vast and ever changing Graffiti that characterised this area. Split into two groups, we had time to play with graffiti ourselves in a workshop where we found out that graffiti is a lot harder to do well this it looks! With help from the professional, we made our own slogans on a canvas that we all signed our names on. The second half of the workshop was a tour around the area, as we were given information about the history and ever changing art that lined the streets. It was interesting to find out the various tags and informal rule that had been developed in this abstract yet tight knit community which graffiti artists from all over the world come to spray the walls of.

While the Photographers were on their graffiti workshop Psychologists went on a food tour. We used to study eating behaviours and evolutionary reasons why we like certain flavours. We were given a tour by Steven from Food Tours of New York, which started with trying New York's best pizza slice. We then went to a place called Joe’s, which is where the original Spider Man was filmed (where Peter Parker got fired from). The pizza was delicious and most of us said it was our favourite meal from the whole trip.

The next stop was a talk about famous buildings in the area, and how the structuring of buildings had changed over time. We then tried a meatball in a family owned authentic Italian restaurant. We walked to another Italian restaurant, where we tried different types of pasta which was delicious. We then walked around some more, learning more about history of the area we even saw the cafe were the programme Friends is filmed. After that, we had dessert and tried some fresh cannoli, which was a perfect end to the tour, as we were so full!

After the graffiti workshop and food tour, we all met up under Brooklyn Bridge and took an evening walk, taking in the view and taking lots of photos. After we walked along the bridge and dodged the cyclists, we made our way to the Hard Rock Café for a meal all together. It was a lovely end to the day.

The next day, after a relaxing morning spent walking around Central Park, we made our way to the United Nations, which is located on the bank of the East River in Manhattan. Both Photography and Psychology students were split into two groups and we had a tour around the extensive site of the United Nations. The corridors were full of globally and politically rich artwork, which was explained to us by our tour guides. An example of the work the United Nations oversees is the global charity corporation UNICEF. The initial aim of this was to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II. During our tour, we were lucky enough to go into the General Assembly Hall, where leaders from around the world gather for conferences. With our tours complete, we were feeling very jaded and hungry!

We all went on to various restaurants around Broadway for our last supper in New York. After an enjoyable meal at American Diner, we made our way to the entertainment for the night: a Broadway performance of King Kong! All excited, we got our tickets and took our seats for the next two hours, as we were scared (and deafened!) by the spectre of King Kong. Overall, the performance was amazing, with note perfect singing from the main heroine Anne and the rest of the skilful actors. This was followed by an unexpected yet fun experience of Shiplake starting a flash mob in the Time Square subway station with a singer called Michael Cassidy. We were accompanied by some homeless gentlemen who fully entered into the spirit of this shindig. After this unexpected and strange ordeal, we were definitely ready to get back to the hostel for some well-earned rest.

On our last day, we all planned to go shopping on 5th Avenue. After a long morning of shopping, it started to snow heavily: the perfect ending to such an enjoyable trip. Once we had squished all our purchases into our cases, we helped each other by jumping on suitcases to make sure they would close. We then left our hostel to start our journey home. Finally, after a very long wait for security and a two-hour delay, we made our way home and landed at Heathrow at 7am. It was an amazing trip, both enjoyable and moving. We would like to thank the teachers who came with us for making it such a fun and memorable trip!