Drew R

Journey to the Big Apple

     One of the most memorable things that happened last year was my middle school band’s trip to New York City.  The drive there was about what you’d expect; a group of tired young teens sitting in a bus getting anxious over what New York would be like.  What would it be like? Is it really as big as it is on TV?  Is the food there any good?  These questions went through most of our heads as we either slept or played games with others nearby us.  Then after hours of driving and sleeping, we arrived.  The city itself doesn’t look much different from any other big city, but after spending three days touring around, I have come to the conclusion that it is a very interesting place to go.  I think I’ll break down the parts of the trip that were the most striking to me.

     First, would have to be just arriving at the city.  The buildings towered above us in a way that to be completely honest, left me awestruck.  I had never known that it would be quite like that.  As we looked out the windows we were treated to the sight of a busy city.  There were pizza places lining each street.  The New Yorker’s loving their pizza apparently was apparently true.  Street vendors were also a common sight.  It seemed the popular ones sold hotdogs or falafels.  A couple of people were also trying to sell what looked like blank cds.  Who knows what kind of things could be on them?  Even though just seeing the sights seems like a boring thing, the first time you’re there you just want to take in all the stuff around you.

     One of the things we did was go to a Metz baseball game.  I myself am not a huge baseball fan but found myself getting into it as the game reached its peak.  The stadium was large and I was sure for a moment that the whole city could fit into it.  That was of course, completely false, but it seemed like it at the time.  They had a rather diverse selection of foods, from cheeseburgers to sushi.  I do remember one particularly funny moment in which I and a group of friends went in search of an ice cream stand.  It was still cold around here so ice cream stands did not seem to be in favor at the time.  We did find one, but not after making a grand adventure around the entirety of the stadium, during which, a rather odd conversation came up.

“Are you sure there’s any ice cream place open at this stadium?”

“Yes! Yes! I’m completely sure there was one open earlier.”

“And it being open earlier means its open now?”

“Ha! You fool, there is ice cream everywhere! Everywhere!”

  The Metz lost after a game in which neither team was doing a good job at making contact with the ball.  And then our bus driver got lost while coming to pick us up, so that was a good lesson for the future; learn how to navigate an area before you decide to jump headlong into it.  So we just sat around for a while getting colder and creating what appeared to be a band of young hobos.  A couple hours later, at around one, the buses finally arrive and we make our merry way to the hotel.

     Another thing we did was go to the New York Philharmonics, who are a phenomenal group of instrumental performers.  To the degree that we had to wear fairly dressy clothing to respectably make our way in.  The performance had a calming effect on us, to the degree where a large portion of the group fell asleep and stayed that way for the entire show.  The music that played was quite beautiful; if only most of us were awake to hear it.  I personally like their music, but it’s not the type of orchestral music I am most fond of listening to.

     Among other things we did, riding the subway was probably one of the most interesting mundane travels I’ve ever done.  Before we even got on the train we were treated to the sight of an instrumental band playing fast-paced jazz music and making a literal bucketful of money.  They continued playing the rather intense music as we left the platform and hopped on to the train.  I can attest that while it seems like just a normal experience for the other passengers, it was a unique and honestly entertaining experience that will no doubt remain to be so unless I regularly begin to ride subways.  I saw many different varieties of people all going about their daily lives similar to how people go about their business around here.  At that moment I came to the realization that New York, while a lovely place, was still a normal home to plenty of people like us back here in Roanoke.