This is my room that Champlain alloted to me.. It is 215, South Prospect St, Room # 201. The only thing that I dont like is that it is painted pista-green and it had only one yellow bulb in it.. We changed it though..
On 8th of Jan 09, I had the privilege to go to three world-famous places. The first one was the UN Building in NYC. Brodie and I left the house at noon and reached in time for 2.55 pm UN Guided Tour. More about the UN tour can be found here.
After the tour was over, we rushed back to Grand Central Station to catch the sunset on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. We had to go through a lot of security checks in the Empire (more than in the UN). But it was damn windy on the 86th floor. I couldnt hold myself in place and the air was freakingly cold. Then Brodie whispered into my ear - "This is the weather we have in Burlington". That statement made me more scared of Burlington than anything else.
But I was at the right time at the right place. It was around 4.30 pm and the sun was setting on the city skyline. I was having second thoughts whether I should remove my gloves to use the camera (the cold and wind atop was biting!) Thinking that the next time I am on the 86th floor will be atleast 5 years more. So I daringly took off my gloves and started clicking pictures of the horizon. Within a couple of minutes I lost all my sensation in my fingers. I thought that even if I dropped the camera I wouldnt feel anything. Thats why the pictures turned out all blurry. Brodie clicked a couple of pictures too.
After we left the Empire State Building, we had dinner of authentic Italian pizzas at 5.30 pm. (Yeah.. people in America has dinner by 6 in the evening.. weird..).. Then we went back to Grand Central Station to meet Brodie's mom, his brother and sister. From there, we walked down to Broadway - Minskoff Theatre. We were going to see Lion King. Brodie's dad joined us just before the play began.
So now.. let me pause a minute. Because the play put up by the actors was spellbinding. I had never seen anything like that in my life. (I hadnt seen any other play in my life, hehe..) The sound effects, the lighting effects, the stage backdrops were of the quality that only world class entertainers can put up. But more exciting and fun were the costumes.
If anyone has watched the Lion King film, then they know that the animals in the movie are lions, giraffes, hyenas, dodo birds, elephants and antelopes and what not. Believe me, the producers DID make all the costumes look the way it should. It was all very surreal. Entertainment of a lifetime. Not only for me.. even Brodie's family was trying to get tickets to the Lion King show since the past seven years.. This play was certainly a world class experience in itself.
So 8th January, 2009 was certainly high-activity day. World-class politics ( UN ) - world-class building ( Empire State Building ) - world-class entertainment ( Broadway ). What else can a mortal ask for in one day ??
I moved into my dorm room on the 9th of Jan. My dorm roommate Zachary Faulkner (Zach) will be here by Sunday late evening... I said hi to Dipika before I went to sleep.. The room has a heat radiator which I dont know yet how to use..!! ... (Will write tomorrow morning.. very sleepy.. 12 hours orientation.. lots of games.. i came close to winning an xbox360.. thrice.. good night.. zzzzz..)
I remember David (Brodie's dad) asking me on my second day here what are the places I would like to visit when I am with them. I said I have no such list. I just managed to say Apple Store. And that was the only place I thought I would like to visit. But being the magnanimous family that it is, the Henrys took me to places I would have never imagined. So below is the list of places I visited, in chronological order...
In Fairfield, CT
Fairfield sledging area
In New York City, NY
Wall Street
New York Stock Exchange
IBM Headquarters
Lincoln Battery
Madison Avenue
Park Avenue
Grand Central Station
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Flagship Apple Store
Plaza Hotel
Central Park
Black Box Building
Time Warner Headquarters
McGraw – Hill Headquarters
Lehman Bros. building
Times Square
Broadway
Rockefeller Center
Saks, Fifth Avenue
In Fairfield, CT
Fairfield Beach
Slumdog Millionaire
LaGuardia International Airport
In Tennessee
Memphis International Airport
Walmart superstore
The Adams’ House
The Henrys’ House
Tom Reed’s 140 acre farm
Horse stable
Best Buy superstore
Cypress park
Nashville Capitol Building
Parthenon (imitation)
Vanderbilt College
Hard Rock Café
Nashville Photo Museum
Country Music Shop
Railroad Hotel
Cold War Memorial
World War II Memorial
First House in Jackson, TN
Jackson State Park
Ken & Donna’s Home
In Fairfield, CT
Emma Harris’s Home
IMAX – Grand Canyon Film
Norwalk Maritime Aquarium
Fairfield Beach
Radioshack
Westport
In New York City, NY
United Nations Headquarters
Empire State Building
Minskoff Theatre, Broadway – Lion King
Today - 8th Jan - is the day when I will be experiencing a slight touch with world politics and world class entertainment.
Today Brodie and I are going to the UN Center downtown New York. We will spend some time lounging around. And later in the evening, we will be joining his family to watch a Broadway show "Lion King".
Now this is high living huh..
