Shelley's New York continued...

Thursday 8th January


On Thursday, following yet another huge breakfast,we headed into the city for another exciting, if exhausting day. Chris, Rob and myself headed towards NYC library, which is a truly magnificent building. The film, 'The Day After Tomorrow' is set in the library and we could see why. The library houses the most remarkable collections and paintings, including Shakespearean portfolio's - it was difficult to drag Chris out of there. We were tempted by an action figure of Mr Shakespeare himself, with a removable quill from the library gift shop - but perhaps for another time...The afternoon I spent shopping for gifts to take home. I was particularly startled to find a fairground big wheel in Toys r us in Times Square! After spending far too much money I headed back to the hostel in order to take our students to see an evening of NYC stand-up comedy.

Thursday evening was spent with much hilarity and laughter - it was remarkable to think that a group of students and staff from Staffs' were sitting in a small, gritty NYC venue, seeing authentic stand-up comedy. When I initially arranged the trip I wanted the students to see work they wouldn't get a chance to see elsewhere. Whilst we saw some really good and outstanding work on Broadway, most of the shows have run in the West End. But, the comedy we saw Thursday evening (and the impro' session Wednesday night), was unique to NYC and made the trip worthwhile. The evening ended with lots of talk and laughter (and a little beer).

Friday 9th January.

Its difficult to believe that we are heading home today. We have done so much in such a short space of time that the days have flown. Before we left for home I persuaded Rob to go ice-skating on Central Park. Needless to say, I have bruises to prove it! But, it was a final experience I would not have missed for anything. At 2pm, after pooling our remaining dimes to buy cake for the journey, we boarded the coach for JFK and then flew back home to LH. We arrived back in Stoke midday Saturday, totally exhausted but thrilled with our NYC adventure. I'm sure that we will bore you all with our trip for many days/weeks/years to come.