THURSDAY
I was up and ready by 7:15 a.m. which in itself is an amazing accomplishment. I didn’t want to waste any of the time I have here, so I hit the New York streets bright and early. I was on a mission for an authentic NY bagel for breakfast, and it didn’t take long to find one. I loved strolling the streets and soaking up the busy atmosphere of the morning crowd. Plenty of people were stopping at the newsstands to get the morning paper. This reminds me that I need to do this before I leave. You can’t go to New York City and not get a copy of the New York Times, especially if you work for a newspaper.
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For my afternoon sessions, I went to one that featured speakers who are designers for the sports section of the New York Times. I loved the presentation on why white space is important in design. Especially with sports stories, where readers want to see more than just game recaps. I enjoyed networking with other people and seeing what they do with their paper. A lot of people I talked to, including one of the speakers, were really impressed with how The Sentinel uses alternative story forms and infographics in the sports section to make our information pop. I’ve always favored the sports section, and I’m excited that our work is impressive to other people. I went to another session on making the most out of student media with a guy who fell into a job at ESPN. He touched on a lot of awesome things, but the part that stuck out to me the most was how he emphasized appreciating the time you have in student media.
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We took the subway down and came out right near the famous Comedy Cellar, a venue where comic greats such as Robin Williams, Louis CK, Jon Stewart, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld and countless others have performed. Brittany and I walked down in the middle of a show, but the bouncer was really nice and let us sneak in late. We had a perfect view of the stage, laughed constantly, and the whole time Brittany and I kept giving each other "are we really freaking here right now?!" looks. That will probably be the highlight of this trip, it was just beyond awesome.
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We trekked to a nearby pizza place where we grabbed some slices. I didn't think I'd like New York pizza (I'm a deep dish fan at heart) but the thin crust allows for the greatest (slightly drunken) invention I've ever come up with; the pizza sandwich. I doubt I'm the first person to fold a piece of pizza in half but I might be the first to equate it to a sandwich. Overall, we had an awesome adventure and I plan on going back to the Village at least one more time before the trip is over.
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- I asked a Starbucks employee for directions to a different breakfast place and he didn't hate me for it. People in New York are way more helpful and friendly than their reputation lets on.
- Dov Davidoff high-fived me after his set at the Cellar. It was awesome because I've been laughing at his stand up for years and he was even funnier in person.
- Street food vendors will rip you off if they can tell you're not a local. I paid $8 for two hot dogs, mostly because I was starving, but there aren't any prices listed and someone in our group said a person before us got them for $2 each. Meh.
I've got one more night left in New York and we don't have anything planned after dinner, so it sounds like it'll be a spontaneous kind of night, which I'm all for. Check back tomorrow, and read my updated post (with more pictures!) from Day 1.