Day 1 by Leila

 

Today we went to New York City, which was a really fun experience for me even though I had been to the city multiple times before. At first I wasn’t very amazed by anything that I was seeing, because like I said I had seen most of it before. And I honestly thought that there was nothing else to see. But oh was I WRONG. There is SO much to see in Manhattan, and I don’t think you can truly ever see EVERYTHING in the huge city! I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many different types of people in one place. There were people of all shapes and sizes; people in CRAZY exotic clothes with bright colors, to people in business suits. My senses were WAY overwhelmed with all of the sights, sounds and smells that I was experiencing. Anyways later in the day for dinner we went to Katz Deli. Now THAT was crazy! We got a ticket when we got inside, and then there were tons of menus with a whole lot of different foods on it. You would just shout out your order and then they would yell “TICKET!” and you would hand him your ticket. He would then scribble something down on the ticket and give it back to you, then you would move on to the next part of your meal (in other words your side dishes or drinks). When we all sat down and started eating at the big long tables together, I got just a glimpse of a family like bond starting to form in between all of us that I have never seen before. I thought to myself, knowing about all of the crazy cliques and cliché junior high rivalries between everyone that I witness all year, that there was no way this could be. I would soon be mistaken. On the way back to our hotel that night, the bus driver decided to play some music over the speakers.  We were all singing together loud and proud, and I got that glimpse again- that glimpse of family. I really think that by the end of the week we MIGHT truly become closer as a group, and get more of that family like quality that I’ve always craved in the junior high- coming from a small elementary school that always really felt like a family. I don’t know if it will happen, but I really hope so!