The City That Never Sleeps


“New York, New York! The city that never sleeps!” is what comes to mind when I conjure up memories of a favorite vacation. I’ve been there a few times, but my most memorable experience was the first time I visited. I had just become legal, eighteen years old, and my friends and I decided to go up for a weekend during our summer break. One of my friends was a native to the city, so I knew that I was truly destined to have a time to remember. New York was rumored to be the city that never slept, but I had no idea that it would also be the city that made me never want to sleep as well.
We left Virginia Beach an early Friday morning, and were on the New Jersey Turnpike six hours later. We knew we had almost arrived when we hit the turnpike, because there was tons of bumper-to-bumper traffic and checkered yellow taxi cabs in every direction. As exciting as I knew this vacation was about to be, I had to keep in mind what a stereotypical New Yorker was like. I always heard that they were rude, impatient and had a strong Northern accent. The second that I stepped foot out the car, these were the same characteristics that appeared from the first person I encountered.
We finally reached our destination at the peak of rush hour, four in the afternoon. I stepped out the car in front of a woman dressed in her business suit with a cup of coffee in one hand, briefcase in the other, and her Bluetooth in her ear. She was in a rush to be somewhere, because she screamed at me to watch where I was going and hurry up to get out of her way. Trying to hold my own composure, I stepped to the side and let her continue on her way. Instead of indulging in her ignorant attitude, I laughed it off with my friends. We knew that we would encounter people acting like that for the rest of our weekend.
After stepping out in amazement of the sights of Times Square, we hurriedly grabbed our bags and checked into the hotel that we were staying at. We quickly went to the room, changed out of our traveling clothes, and went back outside. I knew that New York had three important components necessary for my type of vacation; excellent food, great shopping, and some beautiful people. Lucky for me, I was able to taste, experience, and see all three by the end of my first night there. After a long day of traveling and sightseeing in the city, we decided to call it a night.
After an overdose of the city life, we jadedly woke up the next day at about three in the afternoon. Realizing we slept half the day away, we quickly showered and dressed to take another bite of the “Big Apple”. We were up and down the streets of Times Square, visiting Foot Locker, Louis Vuitton, BAPE Clothing and many other fine designers and retailers. As the night approached us, we went back to the hotel to change for our taste of the night life in the city. Not knowing the dress code for the clubs in the city, I wore what I’d typically wear when I go out, a button-up and a pair of nice designer jeans.
2I’s was our destination for the night. It was a very upscale nightclub that had two different floors, primarily playing Reggae, Hip-Hop and R&B. It was a very relaxing and entertaining way to spend our last night in the city. Our night ended at about three in the morning, and by some miracle our tired feet managed to get us back to our hotel. We all dived into our beds but were hesitant to fall asleep because we knew had to be up in three hours to hit the road and head back home. We reluctantly woke up the next morning and rejuvenated ourselves for the six hour drive ahead of us. As we drove home we reminisced on the fun times we had and recounted the things we did that weekend. Though we had a fantastic time in New York we were all looking forward to sleeping in our own beds. About three and a half hours into the drive home I look back at my sleeping friends and think to myself, “I can’t wait to go back.”

On the road to New York


“New York, New York! The city that never sleeps!” is what comes to mind when I think about my favorite vacation. I’ve been there a few times, but my most memorable experience was the first time I visited. I was eighteen years old, and my friends and I decided to go up for a weekend during the summer. One of my friends was a native to the city, so I knew that I would have a good time. New York was rumored to be the city that never slept, but I didn’t know that it would also be the city that made me never want to sleep as well.
We left Virginia Beach an early Friday morning, and were on the New Jersey Turnpike six hours later. We knew we were almost there when we hit the turnpike, because there was tons of bumper-to-bumper traffic and checkered yellow taxi cabs in every direction. As exciting as the vacation was about to be, I had to remember what a stereotypical New Yorker was like. I always heard that they were rude, impatient and had a strong Northern accent. The second that I stepped foot out the car, these were the same characteristics that appeared from the first person I encountered.
We arrived in the city at the peak of rush hour, four in the afternoon. I stepped out in front of a woman dressed in her business suit with a cup of coffee in one hand, briefcase in the other, and her Bluetooth in her ear. She was in a rush to be somewhere, because she screamed at me to watch where I was going and hurry up to get out of her way. Trying to hold my own composure, I stepped to the side and let her continue on her way. Instead of getting irritated over the situation, I laughed it off with my friends. We knew that we would be seeing people acting like that for the rest of our weekend.
After stepping out in amazement of the sights of Times Square, we grabbed our bags and checked into the hotel that we were staying at. We hurriedly went to the room, changed out of our traveling clothes, and went back outside. I knew that New York had three important components necessary for my type of vacation; excellent food, great shopping, and some beautiful people. Lucky for me, I was able to taste, experience, and see all three by the end of my first night there. After a long day of traveling and sightseeing in the city, we decided to call it a night.
After an overdose of the city life, we jadedly woke up the next day at about three in the afternoon. Realizing we slept half the day away, we quickly showered and dressed to take another bite of the “Big Apple”. We were up and down the streets of Times Square, visiting Foot Locker, Louis Vuitton, BAPE Clothing and many other fine designers and retailers. As the night approached us, we went back to the hotel to change for our taste of the night life in the city. Not knowing the dress code for the clubs in the city, I wore what I’d typically wear when I go out, a button-up and a pair of nice jeans.
2I’s was our destination for the night. It was a popular nightclub that had two different floors, primarily playing Reggae, Hip-Hop and R&B. It was a great way to spend our last night in the city. Our night ended at about three in the morning, and by some miracle our tired feet managed to get us back to our hotel. We all dived into our beds but were hesitant to fall asleep because we knew had to be up in three hours to hit the road and head back home. We reluctantly woke up the next morning and prepared ourselves for the six hour drive ahead of us. As we drove home we reminisced on the fun times we had and recounted the things we did that weekend. Though we had a fantastic time in New York we were all looking forward to sleeping in our own beds. About three and a half hours into the drive home I look back at my sleeping friends and think to myself, “I can’t wait to go back.”

Overrated Song


Bruce Springstein's music sucks. I really hated the fact that we had to listen to his music. I never in a million years thought that I would have to listen to a Bruce Springstein song in English class then make an arguement about what he had to say. In the song "Born In The USA", Bruce Springstein attacked the presidential governed ways. However, I still hated that song. That was the first time I ever really listened to it, and to sit through an hour and fifteen minutes of talking about Bruce Springstein was the worst class ever. I would hate to have another student indulge in a class of nothing but Bruce Springstein, even though that song was one of the greatest hits. "Born In The USA" is my first pick on the list of the worst songs ever written. I just want to say what in the hell was listening to "Born In The USA" have to do with English? And why was it introduced to me in this course of college English? I could see if it was music appreciation class, but not English. If there's one thing that I could change, I would change going to class that day. I would have brought in a doctor's note saying that I had the E bola Virus, or maybe I'd say that I was attacked by a million bees. You don't know how many times I wanted to put my head down and zone out to another planet. However, I'm just glad that I was able to have this great learning experience of Bruce Springstein's "Born in the USA". And to those that haven't heard the song, or read the lyrics, take my word for it ... DON'T EVER LISTEN TO THIS SONG, because it will bring shocking pains to your ears.

Synthesis Attack


One of the papers I didn't like doing was the Synthesis essay. I thought that it was hard to relate a movie and novel together. I ended up choosing the movie "300" and the novel To Kill A Mockingbird. It was hard for me from the beginning because I didn't know what movie and novel I could pick that would relate to each other. Then I had to watch the movie and study every detail to make sure that I knew what I would be talking about when it came time to compare it to the novel. When it came time to read the novel, I had to make sure I was getting every detail in so I could compare it properly to the movie. Now I think that it might have been easier if I had chosen a different movie and novel, but by that time it was too late to go back and change everything. I had to compare the characters in the movie to the characters in the novel which I thought was a little difficult because the entire scenarios were different. Then I had to describe how the plots could relate which was also difficult because one had to do with a setting in a small racist town, and the other had to do with a setting in a battlefield during the oldest ages. I think it was harder for me to compare them because although I could find ways to relate the movie to the novel, I had to go back and explain it so that it was easy for everyone else to understand. It's hard to capture the audience with a paper like this, but I ended up doing it successfully. But if I ever had to do a paper like this again, I don't know what I would do ...

THE RESEARCH PRESENTATION


I really did not like doing that presentation because that was just extra work that you had to do on top of all the other writing that I had to do. For example, getting up in front of an English class is not what you are thinking coming into a college. Then what makes it worse is due to the fact that you have to present for about 6 to 8 minutes. Now if you are the shy type you are like what the hell am I doing a presentation in a English class, I thought I that I was going to do a couple of essays turn them in and be done. Well I pity the fool because that's not what happens I had to stand up in front of the class and talk about a topic that I researched then I had to make it into an argument. Now I know this is America but damn does everything have to be a debate. See I would never say that one little thing would make me dislike something but this text damn near had me ready to say that I would rather die then to doing a research presentation in a college English class. Also the questions people ask some time just be so crazy after you give the presentation for example, I did my presentation on the King of Mali and his hajj to Mecca and someone asked me if he was African American. I'm like are you serious? No, he was Native American. Then I told them that he devalued gold and they said did get the gold from the people in Europe I'm like didn't I say he devalued gold in Europe. But overall I didn't like doing that because it was very nerve wrecking I don't like doing power points I hate standing up in front of people talk about anyone thing and especially to people that I don't know. Then to top it off it is a got damn English class and I feel like nothing in English says that yeah I'm going to have to talk in front of the class but now it’s over said and done. I just feel like nobody should have to do such things in an English class but I'm glad that I did because it help my public speaking skills.