Recently I won a trip to New York from General Assembly. When I found out I had won, I was browsing my email while waiting in the check out line at Marshalls. Email title: And the winner is...you! You can see why I may have been a little skeptical, but I read on...and I really did win! I was so excited, I told the check out clerk and she was unamused.
I traveled to NYC in late March during my school's spring break. The first day was a whirlwind of activities - arrive on the red eye at 7:30a and get yourself from the airport to the hotel. Oh gosh, the subway system? No, I opted for Uber X. I didn't want to be "that girl" on the subway during rush hour with a rolling suitcase and huge carry-on tote bag. I also wanted a seat. I was also a little timid about the whole thing.
The Uber X driver was very nice; I wish I could remember his name. He was studying mechanical engineering at a college 50 miles away from New York City. He said he didn't like having to drive into Manhattan during rush hour, but he had to pay for school. He was very nice and drove me through Time Square so I could see it as one of the first things on my way in.
I arrived at the Hudson Hotel when it was approximately 29 degrees outside. TOO COLD for me! Luckily my room was ready so I went upstairs and took a hot shower to warm up and perk up (I had only gotten three hours of sleep on the flight over). The best part about the Hudson (in my opinion) is their color scheme - dark, moody, and neon green. My room was on the corner of the building so I had two windows to look out of - one over 9th Avenue and one over 58th Street.
I had a hair appointment at Frederic Fekkai at 11:00a for a cut and color, so with nary a moment to text my mom a photo of the room, I put on my jacket and scarf and headed back out into the cold. The salon was about one mile away, so I walked as briskly as I could to warm up and get there on time.
Upon arrival at Fekkai I was ushered towards the coat check and given a brown robe to wear. Wow, luxe! I felt so fancy already. I met with creative director Stephane, who helped me choose what to do with my hair. I wasn't sure going in, and kind of let him decide - that's his job after all, right? Then I went over to the washing station and Emil got my hair going with a shampoo and massage.
Emil was so awesome to meet. As one of the first few people I really chatted with, I was surprised to find out he was from San Francisco and enjoyed the Capitol Flea Market and drive-in theater in south San Jose, where I have gone so many times. We chatted about how much he missed the Mexican food and I assured him that I had a burrito the night before coming to New York so I wouldn't go too long without it.
After that I had my first ever standing-up haircut. I barely sat in the chair but for a moment to sip my cappuccino (fancy!) before Stephane had me standing up, twisting this way and that, so he could craft the perfect hair cut for me. Seriously, I love my hair right now. After my cut I went over to the coloring area where Erica (from southern California) gave me some sun-kissed, low maintenance highlights to frame my face. Another gal helped with the blow out and curling, and voila, I was ready for New York City.
By this time it was 3:00p and I didn't have time to go back to the hotel before my next appointment. I used Google Maps (a LIFESAVER) to figure out which train to get on. I purchased a Metro card and hopped on the train, surprised to find out that it wasn't as hard or scary as I had previously believed.
I arrived at Moveable Ink's office and met with Helen right on time. She gave me a quick tour of their office and we chatted about the importance of fostering company culture. We only had thirty minutes for a quick chat, but she was so nice to meet with me and help point me towards my next appointment at Quirky.
Quirky's office is, to say the least, quirky. That sounds unoriginal, but seriously there are little design touches all over that range the gamut from prototypes to toilet seats. I met with Sarah who gave me a super fun tour, showing off all the prototypes they're doing, how the community team interacts with the Quirky inventors/community, and their reclaimed bowling alley lane tables. I was also given a crown to wear briefly and had my photo taken by one of their product photographers. Everyone there seemed so cheerful and happy! Also, quick shout out to the receptionist - thanks for charging my phone!
I spent about thirty minutes longer at Quirky than I was supposed to - oops :) I rushed over to the Rent the Runway showroom and got to try on a few gorgeous dresses, which have been added to my virtual closet and are ready for me to rent the next time I have an important event. It was great to be able to try on the clothes before renting them online - now I know which ones look just okay on me and which ones I was surprised to find look fantastic on me.
It was nearing 6:30p and I was exhausted. So much travel and lack of sleep really had me jumbled, so I took the train back to my hotel and got some dinner at a nearby restaurant. I had fish & chips, despite my desire to eat "New York" foods, and it was delicious. I was asleep by about 9:30p.
The next day I woke up and grabbed a bagel and coffee from the deli below my hotel. I asked for salmon schmear but somehow ended up with veggie - no biggie, though! I sat down in a park and watched people walk by. It was interesting to me that no one else was sitting in the park...it looked friendly enough and had comfortable seats, but everyone was just walking and eating. I'm not coordinated enough to do that.
After breakfast I made my way to Levo League to meet with Jim, a negotiation specialist. We discussed my career goals and he taught me about negotiating. I'm actually pretty bad at it - whenever I do mock negotiations in class I always end up getting the worst deal. He helped me, however, and I think at my next negotiating opportunity I will do better. He also encouraged me to get a website, but my name is already taken as a domain so I'll go with this.
At lunch time I had an appointment at MM LaFleur, a fashion startup that designs and manufactures its clothing in New York. Hanna was my stylist, and she knew exactly what to put me in to look good. Their office was gorgeous, as were the dresses, and I loved the choices I was given to pick from. I ended up with a deep blue, short-sleeved dress that looks really smart on me, but still casual enough for California. I wish I knew the name, but it seems to be out of stock on their website. It's machine washable and made of Japanese terry cloth - perfect!
I had a bit of time to kill before my final appointment of the day, so I went to the Grey Dog in SoHo to grab a local beer. It was nice enough to sit outside (okay, it wasn't that warm, but I wanted to be able to people watch). I had an IPA from Staten Island and it was really great! The restaurant was also fun looking but I had just eaten a chicken over rice from a Halal cart. Finally, local NYC food!
I went to Oscar and met with Nina. Oscar is changing the way health care works in NYC, and they're about to expand to San Francisco. That's really great to me, because I feel like I never learned what health insurance is all about - I just pick the PPO because that's what I've been taught. But why?! Oscar can help with this. I'll be tracking them to see when they get to California.
That night I had a one-of-a-kind dinner. A flight of bacon paired with a flight of beer from Barbacon. It was surreal - seriously, who can eat that much bacon? Apparently I could after walking close to 18,000 steps in a day. The best was the jalapeno bacon by far, followed by the black pepper. I didn't care for the maple-pecan one very much.
The next day was my final day of scheduled meetings, but I had until noon for my first one! So I decided to walk through Central Park. It was really cool to see a bunch of different bridges, people ice skating, and I FaceTimed my boyfriend from the park so he could see it as well. I wanted to go to the design museum but I ended up spending more time in Central Park than I had planned.
My meeting at noon was with LT at StumbleUpon. I chatted with her and a coworker over lunch, we played ping pong, and I got a fun shirt and notebook to take home. They gave me an awesome next destination suggestion - Eataly by Mario Batali.
I went over to Eataly but was honestly too stuffed to eat anything there, so instead I wandered around in amazement at everything that was packed into this space. There were little shops and areas for cheese, pasta, meats, cooking gadgets, and more! I also went up to their rooftop deck during the rainstorm and enjoyed a glass of Gnomegang by the Ommegang brewery.
My last visit was with General Assembly, the company who put on the sweepstakes and helped me with all the coordination needed to get me to New York. They offer intensive classes for coding, UX, and more for professionals who want to get into the industry. There were tons of students milling about their offices and it seemed like an excellent place of learning.
That night my cousin Linzi came into the city to meet with me. We went back to Quirky for the product evaluation night...boy, that was so fun! We got to hear different invention ideas and help vote on whether it was worth making. The most dangerous idea was definitely the bicycle nudger, a device where a parent could nudge a child along, such as up a hill. What if you run over your kid?
After the product evaluation we went to a nearby bar to grab a beer and catch up. That's the hard part about living so far away from your family: we only get to see each other about once or twice a year. As we walked towards the subway station we caught a glimpse of a lit up building, which neither of us was familiar with but we were both pretty sure it was the Empire State building (later on I Googled a photo and confirmed our suspicions).
The next morning was my free day! I got up pretty early, showered, and packed all my stuff. Thanks to all the loot/swag I received, my bags were super full and super heavy. I left my bags at the guest desk in the hotel and took a train to Brooklyn.
Once in Brooklyn, I got off at the first stop to a sort of random industrial area (Dumbo). There were SO MANY stairs up from that station! It was pretty exhausting. Then I followed people randomly until I came upon a quaint little street with a few small shops and restaurants. I ate breakfast to prepare myself for the next task: walk back to Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge.
Side note: I'm not used to walking this many steps in a day. At home I average 7,000; in New York I was getting 18,000+. The last day I walked 23,000.
The bridge was so cool to walk over. There were countless photo ops, I helped another single tourist with her photo and she took one of me as well. I got to see the Manhattan skyline, the Manhattan bridge, the Statue of Liberty, and all the other awesome sights. The walk over the bridge took about half an hour to forty-five minutes; I'm not quite sure, I wasn't paying attention to the time.
After arriving back on the Manhattan side of things I wanted to check out Chelsea Market, so I took a train from downtown to there. The market is akin to one near my house, San Pedro Square Market, but more indoors. I wandered around, found some souvenirs, and enjoyed a ginger saison from The Filling Station.
For my last sightseeing adventure I walked the High Line back towards my hotel. I liked being able to see things from a different viewpoint and the little vignettes created at each street crossing.
It was nearing 2:00p, and my flight out from JFK was at 6:00p. I got back to my hotel, grabbed my stuff, and got on the train one last time. After arriving in the airport I kicked back and relaxed - I had survived the subway, met a ton of great folks, caught up with my cousin, and thoroughly enjoyed my vacation.
I want to go back to visit NYC one day, the city is so full of life.