New York Thanksgiving

With about a month left before the end of second semester I get one last break before the final push to finals. How am I spending this time? Packing up and spending five days in New York! Here is the view as my bus left Boston.


Eric met me down in New York at Penn Station since he had come down from Eastman School of Music (in super-upstate NY by the great lakes) the night before. He was able to stay with his friend at the Manhattan School of Music until I arrived. Then we headed to Grand Central Station to take a train to his uncle's house. I had missed taking a photo of the station during my first trip since I had only exited the station and never saw it head on.



Eric's uncle lived in Pleasantville NY, which was about a little less than an hour train ride upstate of New York City. Their house was built in 1905, and basically had 4 stories if you included the cozy basement, so it was a very different type of build than you find in California.


They were very nice to take both me and Eric in for the holiday, and we went over to Eric's aunt's side of the family for Thanksgiving. So I spent my 2008 Thanksgiving at my friend's dad's brother's wife's sister's house. There was lots of food and everyone was friendly so it turned out well.

The next day we took off to New York and took a detour through central park again









Spent a good amount of the day at the American Museum of Natural History. I pushed for it over the MET, and I will admit I am biased towards science over art because I go to MIT.



Theodore Roosevelt riding a horse in front of the museum

A plethora of huge bones of prehistoric mammals

Taking a break to look at the view ouside


Now the dinosaur bones




Tons of displays of different animals





Exhibits dedicated to all types of civilizatons




The meteorites section wasn't that great, but the minerals section made 3.091 Introduction to Solid State Chemistry seem somewhat relevant as the informational text described what we have been tested on. Crystals form flat faced surfaces because their atoms are arranged uniformly throughout in specific patterns. Pockets of minerals are found in caves because some hot substance cool very slowly over time, which gives the atoms a chance to arrange themselves in these uniform crystalline structures, which is the most efficient way to package atoms. Were the cooling rate to be sped up, it would solidify as an amorphous (irregular) solid and come out with a larger volume.





Tree ring from the Sequoias in California, which took 2 men 13 days to chop down

Space exhibit

We then went to Chinatown to eat lunch, and a period of time passed where I forgot to take pictures. We basically walked around clothing stores in a passive search for winter clothing, but they were packed since it was Black Friday.


For dinner I had my fix of New York Pizza


I also have not gotten tired of taking tourist pictures when I am in Time Square at night.






We went into the m&m's store before we left. They had m&m's plushies

...and m&m's monopoly

...and m&m's frisbees


...and the chance to buy m&m's in single colors. And basically all the m&m's merchandise that you can think of.


The second day we me and Eric walked around the city awhile longer before meeting up with friends from MIT. Lord and Taylor was the fanciest store I saw, although I was unable to find Sak's 5th Avenue, which is supposed to top it. Macy's also had some decorations on the side of their building.



After we all met in Times Square, we walked to Chinatown to eat dinner, then little Italy to pick up dessert. Then we visited Ground Zero and Battery Park. If you look through all the black in my photograph you might be able to see the Statue of Liberty.

Heading back to Boston on Sunday was a rough travel day. I awoke to a drizzle of snow on the ground, but it turned into rain as soon as we hit the city, where I had to wait for the Chinatown bus for an hour, only to be stuck on the bus for a seven hour ride due to traffic. I eventually got back to the dorm by midnight.