Spring Break

            Spring break is always the break that students look forward to (besides summer break of course). Spring break gives you that refreshed feeling in the middle of the semester, just when you are starting to give up hope because the end of the semester seems so far away. Spring break is the typical time to go to Florida or somewhere warm, and to lie on the beach all day. This dose of sunshine really helps out those Ohio winter time blues. Although I have had many spring breaks throughout my life, my most memorable one has to be the trip I took to New York City and Boston.

            The trip started about a month before break when I emailed my uncle to see if we could stay at his house in Connecticut. He lives about an hour from NYC and Boston. It was the perfect place to stay. I was more than excited to be going back to NYC and going to Boston for my first time. I was even more excited that I was going with my best friend Hannah. The trip planning started right away. We spent the next month planning everything. We talked about the amount of money we would be planning on spending, gas, driving and what we would be doing when we got there.

            Finally it was time to be on our way. I spent the whole day Thursday packing, not knowing what I would need for the thirteen hour drive there and for the few days I would be there. I said my goodbyes to my family and headed to Hannah’s house for our slumber party, as we were leaving the next morning. It was so hard to sleep that night because we were so excited to be on our way.

            When the alarm went off at seven the next morning, it was entirely too early. But we got out of bed and started to get ready and pack the car. After a quick stop at the gas station, we got on the interstate, programed the GPS and began our long trip. I started the first shift of driving. As we got onto I-70 west I knew that our trip was truly beginning. I knew that our trip was off to a great start as the red and blue lights started flashing behind me. Apparently going 75 on the interstate is a big no no.

            I never knew it would take me four hours to get out of the state of Ohio. I have always thought that Ohio was so small, but four hours to get out of the state? It was even worse going through Pennsylvania. I had no idea it was going to take almost six hours to get through that state. The trip went great, except that it was snowing on and off as we were driving. Both Hannah and I were disappointed that we could not drive with the windows down and music up.

            It was about nine at night when we arrived to my uncle’s house. We talked about the trip and our plans for when we would go to NYC. We agreed that we would go the next day since it was the only day my uncle didn’t have to work. This made sleeping that night almost impossible. We were both way to excited to go to NYC. Eight came too early the next morning but it was an early morning I was more than happy to be a part of. It was a twenty minute drive to the train station, and then an hour to Grand Central Station.

            I love Grand Central Station. It is beautiful inside and out and I love when I take that first step out of Grand Central and into the huge city. The city just opens up right in front of you; the sky is blue with the contrast of the dark buildings against it. No matter where you would look, there was a building going into the sky. The hustle of the city took me in and I became overwhelmed with the amount of cars and people that filled the city.

            Time Square was the first stop we made. People filled the sidewalks and streets as they walked past the stores that lined the roads. We made our way through the crowd of people to a restaurant called “Ellen’s Startdust Diner”. This is a diner that has hopeful Broadway stars working. They wait your tables and then put on musical numbers. After lunch, we walked back out in the city. We began our journey to the Statue of Liberty. Little did we know that when we got there we wouldn’t be able to take the ferry to the statue because Hannah had mace in her purse.  We took the typical tourist pictures with the statue in the background, and made our way to ground zero.

            I’ve been to New York twice; both times I wondered what it would have been like to see the Twin Towers in the skyline. Instead, I got to see the Freedom Tower being built. Looking around the area where the Twin Towers once stood, it was weird to see all the apartment buildings and business that surround the area and how it must have been when the towers came tumbling down.

            We spent the rest of the day walking around and meeting with my uncle’s friends. We caught the nine o’clock train back to Connecticut and drove back to the house. Needless to say that both Hannah and I were exhausted after the last two days we had, and spent the next day in bed. We decided to go to Boston the next day, which I was so excited about. I had never been to Boston and was looking forward to going.

            When I woke up in the morning I felt terrible, but decided to keep with the plan of going to Boston anyways. We got ready and were on our way. An hour later we were in Boston and finding our way to the underground parking garage that my uncle had told me about. After we had parked the car, we walked up to street level, and the cold air had never felt better. At that point in time I had felt way worse than I had that morning when I got up.

            Hannah and I found a little convenience store so that I could get some Advil for my now pounding headache. I took the pills and we started walking down the street. We stopped at a corner, trying to decide which way we should go, when a smell (which was very nauseating) hit me like a ton of bricks. “Wow that smells good” Hannah said to me

“No it doesn’t” I said as I threw up all over the street we were standing on. That was when our trip to Boston ended and we decided to drive an hour back to Connecticut. From the five minutes I spent in Boston, I can say that it was a beautiful city.