Hi Everyone,
Apologies for not updating this as regularly as we hoped but we are just SOOOOO busy! we are finding it much easier to update Instagram so please check there for updates. Click on the camera icon on the top right hand corner of this page. Thanks!
0 Comments
We had a massive first day in New York - we began by shopping for clothes! with no luggage and hot weather we had to go out and buy the essentials. Four of the boys decided it would look best if they looked like each other and brought matching outfits. Obviously desperately missing wearing their school uniforms. Then we met Bob - our New York liaison and we went for a stroll around the neighbourhood. We visited the NY City library - a beautiful, grand building. Next was Grand Central Station - this was incredible. The enormous design of this space was breathtaking. The students particularly loved 'The four corners' where if you talk into one corner if the person on the opposite corner listens they can hear them speaking - very bizarre. We visited St. Patricks cathedral - which was stunning. Next stop was a visit the NBC studios where we did a backstage tour. This was very cool as we visited the stages where Saturday night live, Late night with Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Fallon are filmed. The students then got to produce their very own late night show. Video to come!
Well - I have finally got a chance to sit down and give you a brief update on our journey so far! it has been filled with many amazing sights, experiences, bright colours, neon lights, meeting big personalities and a couple of challenges here and there..
Flight- The students did soooo well on the flight. Our transit times between flights were already tight, but our flight from NZ to Sydney tracked a little late so we had to run fast to get onto our flight. A few of us also had to do varying degrees of security checks as requested by the USA, which added to the rush. Luckily they held the flight and we made it on. The next leg was the biggest at 13 hours of flying - again - the students outdid themselves, some managed to doze and others got through a fair few movies and games. Arriving into LAX was pretty full on - moving through the customary and security checks. For those of you that don't know LAX its a big and busy airport that a lot of people transit through. Again a couple of our students had to go through a very thorough security check, which meant we had to move with haste! no waiting in Airports for us. When we arrived to collect our luggage to put onto our New York flight we were informed that our luggage had not left Sydney..... So we made made it onto our New York flight and arrived 4.5 hours later to 33 degree heat! Again we can't say how impressed we were with the students. There were a few stressful times and they managed themselves impeccably. We hopped on a rather large very American bus and enjoyed the scenery on our way to our Hotel. I think New York will......Look Like a busy city It will feel like a big city, with loads of things to do it will smell like It will taste like a lot of carbs It will sound like heavy traffic. When I am there I may feel excited and worried.I may also feel hungry. The activity that I am most looking forward to is visiting the Hamptons, I am most worried about the swimming and diving part. The part of the trip that may be the most rewarding will be going for runs in the mornings The part that may be most challenging will be being away from my family. In order to go on this trip I have to put my activities and sports teams on hold. I think I will learn about myself. BaseballBaseball is a game between two teams of nine players each, played on an enclosed field. THE PLAYING FIELD. The field shall be laid out according to the instructions below; The infield shall be a 90-foot square. (Youth leagues use a 60-foot square.)The outfield shall be the area between two foul lines formed by extending two sides of the square from home plate. The distance from home base to the nearest fence, stand or other obstruction on fair territory shall be 250 feet or more. A distance of 320 feet or more along the foul lines, and 400 feet or more to center field is preferable. The infield shall be graded so that the base lines and home plate are level. The pitcher's plate shall be 10 inches above the level of home plate and 60 feet 6 inches from home plate (Youth leagues use 46 feet.) The degree of slope from a point 6 inches in front of the pitcher's plate to a point 6 feet toward home plate shall be 1 inch to 1 foot, and such degree of slope shall be uniform. The infield and outfield, including the boundary lines, are fair territory and all other area is foul territory. The ball is a sphere formed by yarn wound around a small core of cork, rubber or similar material, covered with two stripes of white horsehide or cowhide, tightly stitched together. It weighs 5 1/4 ounces avoirdupois and is 9 1/4 inches in circumference. The bat is a smooth, round stick not more than 2 3/4 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length. The most common length used is 35 inches. Each fielder, may use or wear a leather glove. A FIELDER is any defensive player. The objective of each team is to win by scoring more runs than the opponent. A RUN (or SCORE) is the score made by an offensive player who advances from batter to runner and touches first, second, third and home bases in that order. The order of the bases is in a counter-clockwise direction around the square from home to first, etc. A BATTER is an offensive player who takes his position in the batter's box and attempts to hit a ball thrown to him by the pitcher. A PITCHER is the fielder designated to deliver the pitch to the batter. The pitcher pitches the ball to the batter and the batter attempts to hit the pitch and become a runner. The defense attempts to catch the ball after it is hit and put the batter and/or runners out. A PITCH is a ball delivered to the batter by the pitcher. The CATCHER is the fielder who takes his position back of the home base and catches the pitcher's pitch when the batter does not hit the pitch. A RUNNER is an offensive player who is advancing toward, or touching, or returning to any base. The winner of the game shall be that team which shall have scored, in accordance with these rules, the greater number of runs at the conclusion of a regulation game. A regulation game consists of nine INNINGS, unless extended because of a tie score, or shortened (1) because the home team needs none of its half of the ninth inning or only a fraction of it. If the score is tied after nine completed INNINGS play shall continue until (1) the visiting team has scored more total runs than the home team at the end of a completed inning, or (2) the home team scores the winning run in an uncompleted inning.
HOW A TEAM SCORES. One run shall be scored each time a runner legally advances to and touches first, second, third and home base before three men are put out to end the inning. EXCEPTION: A run is not scored if the runner advances to home base during a play in which the third out is made (1) by the batter-runner before he touches first base; (2) by any runner being forced out; or (3) by a preceding runner who is declared out because he failed to touch one of the bases. Citi Field is a baseball park located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the New York City borough of Queens. Completed in 2009, it is the home field of the New York Mets of the National League division of Major League Baseball. The stadium was built as a replacement for and adjacent to Shea Stadium, which opened in 1964 next to the site of the 1964 New York World's Fair.
The first game at Citi Field was on March 29, 2009, with a college baseball game between St. John's and Georgetown.[11] The Mets played their first two games at the ballpark on April 3 and April 4, 2009 against the Boston Red Sox as charity exhibition games. I think New York will........ look like a real hustling city, just like in the movies. It will feel like something I’ve never felt before because every time you travel, nothing is ever the same. I am hoping it smells and tastes like traditional American pizza. When I am there I will most definitely feel an extreme sense of excitement. I may also feel a bit homesick but hopefully the whole concept of being in New York will make me forget about it. The activities that I am most looking forward to are the Graffiti tour of Brooklyn and the Guggenheim Museum. I am most worried about not having enough money for shopping and that we won’t get to choose who we share a room with. I think the part of the trip that may be the most rewarding will be viewing the Empire State Building from Top of the Rock because it will be so beautiful looking out over the city. The part that may be most challenging will be only having one day for shopping (kidding (: ). In order to go on this trip I have to really think about what I am going to get out of it because otherwise it will just be a waste of time. I think I will learn a lot about how I am with friends overseas and organising myself. History of Graffiti in New York Growth of Graffiti subculture
Decline of the subculture
Graffiti soon became associated with crime and many insisted that the government think more seriously towards it. By the 1980’s, increased police surveillance and implementation of increased security measures were put in place including a considerable effort to clean it up led to the weakening of New York’s iconic graffiti subculture. Many graffiti artists chose to see these new problems as a challenge rather than a reason to quit. One downside to these challenges was that artists became very territorial of good writing spots. Strength and unity in numbers (gangs) became very important. This was said to be the end for the casual subway graffiti artists. I think New York will……. Look like havoc. It will feel like rushing. It will smell like varying flavours of its surroundings. It will taste like the essences of nearby shops. It will sound like busy people.When I am there I may feel excited. I may also feel anxious/crowded. The activity that I am most looking forward to is the Guggenheim Museum. I am most worried about crime + muggings.The part of the trip that may be the most rewarding will be finishing my part of the blog.The part that may be most challenging will be writing a blog that I’m happy with. I think I will learn more about myself. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Introduction Often called The Guggenheim Museum is actually The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum named after Solomon R Guggenheim who was a member of a wealthy mining family from the 1800’s. Guggenheim had 8 brothers and 3 sisters many of whom were involved in the family business. When Guggenheim began collecting art after his retirement in 1919. The museum is dedicated to art and is based on Fifth Avenue in New York. It has an extensive collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early modern and contemporary art. Guggenheim began collecting ‘old masters’ (European Art from before 1800) in the 1890’s and then later in 1926 under the influence of artist Hilla von Rebay, changed his collecting strategy and began collecting abstract and avant-garde art. Guggenheim first put his collection on display in his home which was an apartment in the Plaza Hotel, New York. Later in 1937, he set up the Solomon R. Guggenheim foundation to encourage an appreciation of modern art amongst others. Hilla von Rebay was a big influence in Guggenheim’s life opening the ‘Museum of Non-Objective Painting in 1939 in which Guggenheim first displayed his collection. Some examples of artists that were on display were Pablo Picasso, Robert Delauney and Piet Modigliani. The Design of the Museum, Frank Lloyd Wright By the early 1940’s, the collection was so big Guggenheim needed a bigger building to house everything. He wrote to Frank Lloyd Wright (a famous architect) to ask him to design a suitable structure. Wright accepted and it took him 15 years, 700 sketches and six sets of working drawings to create the museum. The design of the Guggenheim museum was based on Rebay’s ideas that the space should be a ‘temple of spirit’ and the art should be organised in space. By 1944 Wright had produced several different sketches for the initial design, one being hexagonal shape the others being circular with a ramp around the building. Wright was keen to do something completely different with the building and rather than lead the visitors through interconnecting rooms wanted them to travel to the top of the building by lift and come down using the ramp reviewing the works of art in the vast atrium in the middle. Wright thought that it would enhance the viewing if visitors could see sets of artwork over more than one level at a time and also other visitors. In this picture you can see how visitors can see other works of art and visitors because of the open spaces and galleries. Many locations were considered for the building with Guggenheim preferring a site next to Central Park because of the quiet area away from the hustle and bustle of the city, with nature also providing inspiration for the museum. Guggenheim Directors There have been five directors of the museum. Hilla von Rebay remained as director of the museum for many years however, after Guggenheim’s death in 1949 she had many disagreements with the Guggenheim family who sat on the board of directors and she resigned in 1952. After Rebay, James Johnson Sweeney became director in 1953 adding other works of modernist sculpture to the collection. Including work from Paul Cezanne and Jackson Pollock. The building was still under construction at this time and Sweeney clashed with Wright over lighting issues. The cylindrical building was Wright’s last piece of work and sadly he died six months before the opening. The third director was Thomas M. Messer in 1961. Messer took a massive risk and put on a large exhibition of three dimensional sculpture which was difficult to display because of the buildings curved walls and the slope of the ramp. However, the exhibition worked well as Messer worked out how to display the art so it looked vertical even though it truly wasn’t.The picture is an installation from an exhibition in 2008 and shows the type of work Messer displayed. Thomas Krens was director from 1988 to 2008 leading a rapid expansion or the museum’s collections. Krens extended the collections to include Minimalist paintings, mixed media constructions and a photography exhibition. In 1992 Krens oversaw the expansion of the exhibition space with the addition of a rectangular tower behind the spiral one and a renovation of the original building. Krens was more of a businessman and turned the Guggenheim into an international brand by increasing its international presence by opening museums abroad. In 2001 he opened the Sackler Center for Arts Education which provides lectures about visual and performing arts. During his last years as director Krens oversaw the restoration of the outside of the Guggenheim. Krens wanted to continue to continue global expansion of the Guggenheim museums but this caused friction with the the Board. Finally in 2008 he reigned and the current director Richard Armstrong took over. The Building From the outside the building looks like a curled white ribbon, with nearly all curved sides on display. When we visit we should easily be able to spot it as it will be very different to the buildings surrounding it which are traditionally rectangle. Some people thought the uniqueness of the building would overshadow the works of art themselves and before the opening 21 artists signed a letter protesting that their work was going to be on display in such a place. The Guggenheim opened on 21 October 1959, 10 years after Solomon R. Guggenheim died. Despite the controversy there were large crowds and the building was largely praised and was the inspiration for other architects. There is also a Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain Guggenheim Museum Abu Dhabi and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. I think New York will......Look like - at night, twinkling lights. It will feel like excitement. It will smell like delicious food. It will taste like flavours and heat. It will sound like sirens and continuous noise. When I am there I may feel relentless positivity. I may also feel crowded. The activity that I am most looking forward to is sightseeing, workshops and photography. I am most worried about terrorist attacks.The part of the trip that may be the most rewarding will be art museums and workshops. The part that may be most challenging will be finding unprocessed food. In order to go on this trip I have to work. I think I will learn different perspectives of Art, and new understanding of myself and my peers. The Empire State Building In life there are always things people wish to see, hear, feel and taste. On that list of many things is the Empire State building. It is a building people hear a lot about, but not really have the experience of being able to see it. Well we do. This amazing opportunity to experience something many people don’t (unless they’re from NYC). Here are some of the many things I found out about the Empire State building that I thought were the most interesting to tell. 1. The Empire State building was built in a race to build the tallest building in the world in 1931. In which it became on the 1st of May 1931. It was originally designed to stand at 1000ft tall but the designers upon learning that the Chrysler building had been built at 1048ft they went back to the drawing board and built this outstanding building which now stands at 1250ft tall (380m) and 1454ft tall including its antenna has 102 stories. The empire state building has since been featured in many artworks and movies. 2. The Empire State is one of the United States most iconic buildings. And it was built in record time. It to 20 months start to finish, which is just a 1 year and 8 months to build the tallest building in the world and free standing. 3. It is currently the 5th tallest completed skyscraper in America and the 28th tallest in the world.
4. A plane crashed into the Empire State building in 1945. On the morning of July 28th, 1945, an America war pilot became disoriented in heavy fog. William F. Smith managed to dodge several skyscrapers but couldn’t avoid crashing into the empire state building 78th and 79th floors at 200 miles per hour. Apart from this, the undamaged parts of the building were soon opened just two days later. These are just a few of the many interesting facts about the Empire State building. And I hope to learn more while visiting this amazing landmark in our amazing opportunity to go to New York City. I think New York will.....Look crowded. It will feel busy. It will smell like smoke/fumes It will taste like smoke/fumes. It will sound loud and busy. When I am there I may feel overwhelmed. I may also feel nervous. The activity that I am most looking forward to everything. I am most worried about being at the top of a skyscraper.The part of the trip that may be the most rewarding will be the coming home.The part that may be most challenging will be the assorted runs. In order to go on this trip I have to pay money/get over fears/ work with lots of people. I think I will learn lots about myself. Chelsea Art DistrictThe Chelsea art district is located in west side of the borough of Manhattan and is home to many incredible exhibits of all the different types of art, from pieces created in the area to ones brought in from around the world. The district shows off it’s art in different ways, you can find pieces everywhere from the side of the street to specific galleries and museums. Or sometimes even walking down the street. Some of the galleries to choose from include:
At last count there are around 1500 art galleries within New York with most concentrated in Chelsea though I was unable to find the exact number in the art district specifically. I think New York will....... Look Like a city It will feel big and like a new experience. It will smell like fumes and fast food. It will taste like fat. It will sound like American accents and cars with a small Scottish boy in the background. When I am there I may feel jetlagged. I may also feel hungry. The activity that I am most looking forward to is im not sure. I am most worried about who I have to have a room with. The part of the trip that may be the most rewarding will be the whole experience.The part that may be most challenging will be the run. In order to go on this trip I have to earn money. I think I will learn a descent amount about myself. 4th July - Independence DayThe 4th of July is a federal holiday in the United States celebrating the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. This meant that the 13 colonies regarded themselves as a new nation – The United States of America and were no longer part of the British empire, hence why it is still celebrated today.
I think New York will......Look like a big bustling city with a lot of excitement and everyone in a big rush. It will feel overwhelming and exciting to be there. It will smell like car fumes and fast food stores. It will taste like cab backfire and smoke. It will sound loud and busy. When I am there I may feel homesick. I may also feel really, really excited. The activity that I am most looking forward to is watching the Broadway show. I am most worried about getting lost. The part of the trip that may be the most rewarding will be the 911 museum and remembering and reminiscing on what happened. The part that may be most challenging will be the run…. In order to go on this trip I have to be calm and enjoy everything and be grateful for the experience. I think I will learn that I sometimes may find it hard, but that I will always be able to enjoy everything. Catcher in the Rye“I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know its’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.” – Holden Caufield Catcher in the Rye, set in the 1950s, is about a 16 year old boy named Holden Caufield. Holden is portrayed as an angsty teen who fails out of his fourth school but instead of going home or staying at school till the end of the term he travels into New York for an adventure of his own. Holden is conveyed as a depressed, misunderstood, lost, egotistical and self-destructive teen. Though through all his bravado that he likes to project, there is a sense of loneliness, isolation, fear and sensitivity. Through Holden’s narrative in the book we learn about his mild obsession with girls, his problems with his parents, his bitterness towards everyone and his cynical thoughts about everyone being fake except his little sister Phoebe, Jane Gallagher (the girl he likes) and his little brother, Allie, who died of leukemia. Holden takes us with him on his trip all around different bars and clubs and his few interactions with other people as well as everything he thinks about everything he does. Holden has a fantasy that he himself is responsible for catching kids from running off a big cliff and saving them all from corruption, that is, adulthood. But as he said “that’s the only thing I’d really like to be”. In all his deranged actions through the book, at the end of the day all he wants to do is save children from falling. Which could be perceived as quite a heroic idea as the underlying meaning of this metaphor is that he is trying to protect their innocence. Although in the end of the book, once Holden’s adventure is over, he brings us back into his room in the mental hospital where he is currently staying and says “That’s all I’m going to tell you about” suggesting that he possibly opened up enough to someone about what was going on in his mind rather then maybe writing it down in a book for only himself. “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody” – Holden Caufield From the tour most likely we will be visiting the main places that Holden travels too such as the Edmont hotel, where he stays throughout his journey as well as central park where Holden’s obsession with the ducks is. We might also travel pass metropolitan museum as well as the museum of natural history where he sees phoebe. |
ArchivesCategories |