NYC during the Christmas period

After four months of life in the United States, I FINALLY got the opportunity to go to NYC! Of course NYC is a must see in the US and I wanted to go there at a very special time... Christmas! With the potential snow and especially all the Christmas decorations, it was the best moment for a visit in the Big Apple.

So after all our students' exams corrected and their grades entered in the system, my housemate Tatjana and I took a 6 hour-bus to the city that never sleeps! As soon as we got off the bus, Tati had to hurry to the airport to catch her flight to Germany so I found myself alone in the corner of Times Square at a time where everyone was getting out of work, with two luggages, lost, confused and amazed at the same time. My Uber driver cancelled my ride as I simply couldn't find him among the crowd and traffic so I had to take a cab to reach my hotel...

I was ideally located – in Manhattan West right in front of Central Park, in Columbus Circle. - but my hotel was sh*t... dirty, noisy and I had to pay many extras even though it wasn't mentioned anywhere when I booked my room online... But my bad hotel experience didn't tarnish my three days in NYC as I absolutely LOVED the city!

Three days is definitely not enough to make the most of NYC but I saw and did plenty of things and walked most of Manhattan South. I did what I thought were the most 'important' things to do, meaning: Times Square, Central Park, the MET, 5th Avenue, the World Trade Center, the Rockefeller Center by night, shopping at Macy's and Bloomingdales, Greenwich village, Brooklyn and a lot of wandering around in Manhattan! I was lucky to be joined by some other Fulbrighters to enjoy the city and I told them I was going to come back for my 25th birthday to see and do what remains to be seen and done!

When I first went to the US six years ago, I fell in love with San Francisco and it was my favourite city until I discovered NYC...

NYC is a world apart, traversing it is like finding over 100 different countries fit into one small island. It's truly a concrete jungle and it really does never sleep, it has such a wealth of diversity and opportunity that whatever you’re in the mood for, you can find it 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It's so much different than any other city, it's hectic and you constantly feel like you're in a movie.

I really loved visiting it but then I realised I wouldn't be able to live there. I enjoy living in big and lively cities but NYC (as Paris...) would probably be too stressful. And nothing compares to London...!