I'M GOING TO NEW YORK

Since 2009, my family has been talking about going on holiday to New York. Now, like most things my family talks about doing, it never happened. However, at the end of last year, my Parents decided that 2013 would be the year to do it (mainly because I've finished high school, and my younger sister is still in the years of school that barely matter).

This morning I woke up from a text from my Dad saying that he'd booked flights, and I pretty much fell out of bed. I immediately started a countdown on my phone, renamed my savings account 'New York Shopping Fund' and started creating a list of things I want to do and places I want to visit during my 16 night stay in the city that never sleeps.

The main point of this post is to share the list that I have started, and to see if anyone that stumbles across it has any suggestions for me. So here goes -


Jess's New York To Do List.

+ Ride in a yellow taxi

+ Buy food from a street stand

+ Read a book or write whilst drinking coffee in a Starbucks

+ Go to the top of the Empire State Building

+ Visit the Statue of Liberty

+ Pay my respects at Ground Zero

+ Buy my weight in M&M's from M&M world

+ Make myself poor in Urban Outfitters, Sephora, Forever 21, Bath and Body Works, MAC, H&M

+ Go on the Gossip Girl, F.R.I.E.N.D.S and Sex in the City tours

+ Go to Times Square at night time

+ Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge

+ Spend a day in SoHo

+ Ride the Subway

+ Eat at the Cheescake Factory

+ Take enough photos and video to make a video scrapbook

+ Buy a new I<3NY shirt

+ Walk through Central Park

+ Have breakfast on the steps of the Met

+ See a Broadway Musical

+ Museums - The Jewish Museum, The Guggenheim, The New York Historical Society,

+ Visit the Upper East Side


I'm looking forward to exploring the little side streets that tourist books and websites don't tell you about, and being immersed in a different culture and location. Gah, I love travelling! Why is it so expensive?!?

If I haven't got something on this list that you think I should do while I'm in New York, leave a comment below! 

ROAD TRIP

Finally finishing one of the most hectic years of my life, which also happened to be my final year of high school, I thought I would have 5 or 6 months of endless free time and boredom before I started Uni. Oh how I was wrong! Since graduating, I have worked quite a bit, caught up with friends and tried to minimise my ever-growing pile of books I want to read. Having not been as relaxed as I would have liked, 5 of my friends and I set out on a road trip/weekend getaway last weekend.

On Friday morning, the 6 of us piled ourselves and our bags in to 2 cars. We set out on our 2nd road trip after Schoolies in November. Having passed my driving test in December, I volunteered my (lack of) driving skills. This road trip happened to be my 2nd time driving on freeways, with the 1st trip ending terribly (but that's a whole other story I'd rather not have to un-repress the memories of). I'm proud to say that I did alright, and managed to get up and back safely!

Despite it being Summer, and having travelled over 200km to the usually sunny, warm and lovely Forster, the weekend was spent mostly inside due to Australia's currently horribly cold, wet weather. However, we still managed to have a great time inside the apartment, passing the time with plenty of eating (mainly peanut M&M's), card games and a Game of Thrones marathon.

There may have also been a fair amount of pleading on my part for a couple of games of Cluedo. In my family, I ALWAYS win Cluedo, so to say it was disappointing that I lost the first two games of five is an understatement. Having not played in a fair while, my detective skills were rusty, and it took a few games to fine tune them once again. But I was victorious eventually! It was also pointed out that I may need to work on becoming a more gracious winner.... Loser's get upset when you thrust your excellent sleuthing victories in their face. Weird, I know!

This weekend was just another frustrating reminder that my current and seemingly responsibility-free teenage life will all too soon be coming to an end. After being offered a place in a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Sydney, I enrolled in the middle of January and will be starting classes in exactly a month. I still have the next month to spend with friends and my family and cherish every moment - including my 18th birthday (FINALLY!!!!!!!). Everything is so exciting, but mildly terrifying, as I attempt to dip my big toe in to the pool of adulthood - although I can't help feeling that there is someone lurking in the shadows, just waiting to shove me in when I am least expecting it.

I'm hesitant to belly-flop straight in, but who knows what great things could be waiting for me once the massive splash subsides?

Until next time,

Jess