Before going to New York, I went to visit one of my friends in Erie ( PA).I had to adapt myself to the difference of temperature which was kind of huge for a guy like me coming from Florida. It was even  snowing the first day! My friend, Marie, wasn’t on vacation yet so we went to her school together. It was really interesting to see and experience a different school. This one only had 800 students while mine in Florida has 5000 students! As a result , it was much smaller but more friendly than what I’m used to.

At night we tracked down some other exchange students in Greenville and took the bus for NYC. It was rather uncomfortable and I didn’t get to sleep at all. Since most of us couldn’t sleep , we watched a couple of movies throughout the night. At 6 o’clock in the morning we stopped somewhere near NY in order to have breakfast and we got to meet all the students taking part in this trip . We were about 100 people coming from all over the world. While we were eating, the chaperons told us about the rules to follow during the trip and gave each of us a schedule which got us very excited. As soon as every one was done, we got quickly on the bus and entered the city on hour later.

I was completely amazed as we drove through Manhattan. Even if the TwinTowers were missing. I was quite impressed by all those oversized buildings. I was sort of disappointed  when we got to the Statue of Liberte because I was expecting something much bigger. On the other hand I was very happy to get to see this so famous building which was offered to America by the French. In the afternoon, we check into our hotel which was in Time Square! We couldn’t have hoped for something better.  Afterwards we walked around on Broadway for a bit and then we had dinner in an Italian restaurant. Before going back to the hotel, we walked to the Empire State Building and climbed to the top which gave us an unforgettable view over NY.

On the second day, I woke up early and with several friends from France, we attended The Today Show which took place by the Rockefeller Center. Later on we took the bus with everybody and went to the United Nations. As we were getting hungry we decided to have lunch inChina Town. The rest of the afternoon was mostly spent doing shopping ( we couldn’t keep the girls from Macy’s or H&M) . In the evening everyone got well-dressed for we were to attend a Broadway play: Movin’ out. It was a lot of fun, everything was well done, the dancers were excellent , so was the music. Then I want to a restaurant with some girls.

The next day, we had breakfast in one of the most famous restaurants of New York: The Tavern on the Green ( by Central Park) In my opinion it wasn’t that good considering the price. This day was the least interesting day of the trip. Since we had nothing special to do , we went shopping again and I lost my group very quickly( it was so overcrowded!) Consequently it took me a while to find my way back to the hotel because I suck at orientation. Around 10 pm we had a limo ride and at the same time a scavenger hunt. I didn’t like this game so much but I did my best not to show it for I was elected captain of my team by the other kids. Afterwards, we had free time until 3o clock in the morning.

Sunday was our last day in New York and we visited the Metropolitan Museum . We saw many known painting of Monet or Van Gogh. When it was done we took the bus back to Erie where I slept again in my friend’s house. The next day I had the choice between going to school or visiting  Erie. I told myself: there is no way I m going outside, it s too damn cold! So we went to school, what was a good choice for there was a concert this very day. Around 6 pm I took my plane to get back home. I had a change in  Pittsburgh and as a result I had to wait for another plane in the airport. As I was waiting by the gate , I saw A girl from Italy who was in NY with me  walking down the hallway. First I couldn’t believe my eyes and since I was half asleep it took me a while to realize it was really her. So I stood up and called her name. She turned back and looked at me like if I was a ghost. She took me to the next gate  where 8 kids from the north of Florida were waiting for their plane. Actually they had missed their first plane in the morning and had been sitting there the whole day. I was quite glad to meet them because I was feeling pretty lonely at my gate. We talked for a while till my plane was about to leave.I finally got home around midnight. In summary, I spent a wonderful week and I m really glad I decided to do it.                                               

Sincerely,
Pierre Dubail