So I've been to New York for around 9 dys as part of the leadership program that I'm in offered by New York University and as a treat going to New york was part of that program. I have been looking forward to this from the start of the program. While waiting for the trip it felt very unreal and I would never imagine myself every traveling abroad on my own. But now that I am back I can see that this trip has been one of the most fulfilled, inspiring and amazing experiences of my life in which I was able to experience many different things, go to many different locations and meet many different people. It basically was beyond Amazing
Day 1:
On the plane
Day 2:
took a tour of the NYU campus before going to our next stop was the Museum of Natural History, which had amazing exhibits that I wouold have never seen around here. thought there is one incident that I think popped out from that visit was when a friend suggested we Visit something called Dum Dum; which I had no idea what it was. However we couldn’t make it on time to see it because the museum was closing however our tour guide was amazing when she insisted to take us through security which eventually we did and promised that we would make it a fast visit to the statue.
Top of the rock was next in our agenda and this group wasn’t going to let anything ruin this trip, including rain which blocked our whole view of the city. Instead of being discouraged and go home the group decided that they were going to have Fun anyway. dancing in the rain
Day 3:
The main activities for day 3 was the English and leadership class. The rest of the day consisted of the 4 hour drive to DC, which was also pretty fun since we used that time to talk and get to know each other more
Day 4:
The first day in DC would be to visit the White house, which was so exciting personally since I always wanted to see it in real life. There were some issues regarding security but then again it is the White house so I expected security to be tight. I adored the rooms in the White house and honestly couldn’t decide which rooms to pick from the red, blue and green room since they all had unique features that attracted me in terms of interior design. Next stop was somewhere that was very enjoyable to be and would never find in the UAE was the Air and Space museum.
Day 5:
Going to the Supreme Court was one of the things that I was looking forward to, mainly because my father is a lawyer and I wanted to see what he experiences everyday in courts although in a smaller level. We got to meet some NYU students which we formed a friendly relationship with before going into the court house; I was enchanted by my surroundings and how the case ran though during the time that I sat there. We also had the honor of meeting Justice Kennedy that although I thought of him as intimidating I found him very humble and likable as a person. The next person was one of my favorite people that we met which is Diane DeGette who was a physical example of what I dream of accomplishing which was that I can be a successful mother and have a career, which is what her talk mainly talked about and I found myself being very much inspired by her. Phillip Goldman and Harold Koh were two other people that I really enjoyed listening too because of their down to earth attitudes, honesty and charisma that they had and how they listened to us and answered our questions.
Day 6:
This day mainly consisted of us visiting another museum which was called the Newsuem, I fairly enjoyed this purely because I enjoy writing and it was very insightful to see the different styles of newspapers that were published and how they evolved in time.
Day 7
The main highlight for this day was visiting the United Nations, which I found very enjoyable seeing that it is an organization I deeply respect, we also managed to meet different people involved in the UN as well as a tour of the organization which was very enjoyable yet informative at the same time.
Our next activity was meeting with Muslim students and people from the Islamic center; this meeting was probably one of the most memorable of the meetings that we had because I feel that while I was able to clarify some misconceptions about being a Muslim in NY, I felt a strong connection with the people I met.
Day 8
This was probably the most enjoyable day of the whole trip as it consisted of everything that I have an interest in, including Art so we ended up visiting the Metropolitan museum of Art which was my favorite out of all the museums that we visits purely for the displays. Our next activity was the one thing that I knew from the beginning of this trip that it is going to be the highlight of the whole trip which is watching “The Phantom of the Opera” in the Majestic Theater . Seeing this after being a fan of the story for 7 years was like a dream come true to me, to the point where I actually tearing up when I sat in my seat and watched it start and up to the end I found myself brawling like a baby because of how amazing the show was. WILL POST A DETAILED POST ON THE SHOW TOMORROW
On a final note I would like to point out that since this is the first time for me being abroad on my own without any family. I came to a realization that when one travels abroad for the first time on their own without family, with time the people around them become their family from sisters to mothers even brothers and daughters.
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anticagirl's journal
