Trip to NYC

My trip to NYC was fun! My colleagues Matt, Ken, and Wendy and I took 25 teenagers to NYC to the Model UN Conference.

Here's the scoop -

Wednesday - We left school around 7:45 am on a chartered bus. The bus had a DVD player so the kids watched one of the Harry Potter films and part of Pride and Prejudice. First let me say that there were 21 girls and 4 males on this trip! So, the chick flicks went over very well with the females on the bus. Wendy and I chatted the entire ride down to NYC so we didn't even watch the movies. We stayed at The Hilton . After the kids got settled in their rooms, we left for the Opening ceremonies. The opening ceremonies were at the United Nations that evening. The security to get in was very tight! One of our students (a exchange student from Turkmenistan) was searched by security. I felt really bad for him because when you look at him, his skin tones are Middle Eastern. The kids got to sit in the General Assembly where all the ambassadors from all over the world sit to discuss world problems. The guest speaker discussed how the kids can make a difference in the world by participating in events like Model UN. Bed checks were at 12:30 am! Can I just say how old I am that I can't even stay awake that late anymore? We had two kids that decided it was OK to walk down to Times Square and walk around at 1:00 am! They broke curfew so they were "grounded" for the rest of the trip.

Thursday - the students were in committee meetings all day. We had to check on them to see if they had any questions or concerns. The adults then could do whatever we wanted. Ken and I headed to Times Square to walk around and check out the heart of the city. We ate lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. The food was amazing! In the late afternoon, Wendy and I walked around Central Park and shared a pretzel. I did sit on some of the committee meetings - some of the topics were more interesting than others. For example, the League of Arab Nations meeting was discussing the impact of oil and the world economy. They also were trying to figure out a way to conserve oil. The World Bank meeting was rather boring.

Friday - the students were in meetings all day again. Wendy and I decided to check out MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). They had a great exhibit on Edvard Munch (think the Screamer painting). Afterwards, we walked down to Rockefeller Center for a quick lunch at this organic restaurant. We did a group dinner at this place. They had great pizza! After dinner, a bunch of the girls and I ran to the Carnegie Deli for cheesecake - oh my goodness - the cheesecake was huge and amazing! Yummy! I really couldn't finish it all. I'm so happy that I could "work off" that cheesecake later on in the evening. There was a dance on Friday night for the students. Matt, Wendy, and I "busted a move" on the dance floor with the kids. I think they got a nice chuckle out of their teachers dancing! Curfew this night was 1:00 am! I'm getting way too old for staying up so late!

Saturday - We were able to sleep in a bit because our bus wasn't picking us up until noon. Wendy and I did a nice buffet all you could breakfast at the hotel. We had been doing on the go breakfast the past few days and thought it would be nice to just sit and relax and enjoy our breakfast. The bus arrived at noon to pick us up at the hotel. It took us almost five hours to get home - we ran into a bit of traffic.

Overall, it was a fun experience! I would definitely do it again. The kids for the most part were pretty well behaved. I didn't really know a lot of the kids but by the end of the trip, I got to know most of them. It's such a great learning experience to get to know your students outside of the classroom.