Ben, ‘11

November 30, 2008

The past five days I have been in New York City hanging out with friends for Thanksgiving Break. It was a much-needed break and I am not ready to return to the real world. For yet another break, I have decided that it would not be worth it to go home, so I reunited with my high school friends from all across the East Coast. I joined up with brothers Carson and Caleb (attending the United States Naval Academy in Maryland and United States Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut respectively), Dan (attending Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania) and Anna (attending St. John’s University in New York City). The first day was spent running around the city collecting one person at a time as we all arrived via separate methods of transportation. Over the next few days, we visited Chinatown, Central Park, Times Square, and many other places. Amazingly, I ran into someone from UR who lives on my floor while visiting Chinatown. I had no idea he was going to be in New York, so that was such a crazy coincidence. Our group didn’t do as much sightseeing as in the past and we were content to simply hang out with each other. That could also have something to do with the fact that we are all college students trying to get by financially. On Thanksgiving Day, we got up at 4:45 AM and sat in the cold for three hours in order to get good seats for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was really fun and all of the floats were much better in person than on TV. My friends are huge fans of Miley Cyrus, so seeing her at the parade made their entire weekend. After that, we returned to our hotel in Queens and grabbed Thanksgiving lunch at McDonalds. However, we did go back into Manhattan for Thanksgiving dinner at a fantastic Italian restaurant. They even had turkey. After that, we went to the M&M’s store and simply had fun being kids. Overall, it was a fun weekend and, even though I didn’t get to see my family, it was nice to reunite with friends. Still, my main consolation in having this break end is that it brings me that much closer to going home for Christmas. Since so much happened and our group combined for over 500 pictures, here is a photographic recap of my Thanksgiving Break with some of my favorite photos:

Arriving at Penn Station to pick up my friends for our Thanksgiving adventure
My friend Caleb waiting at 6:00 AM for the Macy’s Parade
We arrived at 6:00 AM and waited three hours for the parade to start
The Macy’s parade finally began with the classic Macy’s stars
My friends and I at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Miley Cyrus made my friends so excited. We were getting a lot of strange
stares from the mom next to us for cheering so loud.

One of the floats from the Macy’s Parade

My friend, Carson, bought us an apple pie from McDonald’s
for our Thanksgiving lunch

A group photo of us in Times Square

Our group always visits the Charmin store in Times Square.
It is a strange, unique place, but still a ton of fun

We saw Elmo in Times Square

I mailed a postcard to my parents from the Charmin store
The brothers thoroughly enjoying the Charmin Store
Our “family’s” Christmas card photo for the year

Our Thanksgiving dinner at Via Italia

Grabbing a Thanksgiving dessert of strawberry cheesecake at Junior’s

Having a bit too much fun with my friends

Visiting the M&M store in Times Square

Goofing around in the M&M store

The five of us who celebrated Thanksgiving together

The M&M Store. Need I say more?

Having fun in Times Square

The Radio City Music Hall

Us visiting Trump Tower

Visiting Central Park

We had a strange addiction to Central Park bridges

We took so many of these pictures in New York

A great shot of us hanging out in Central Park

Reenacting Pride Rock from The Lion King

Quote of the Week: “Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude.” -E.P. Powell
Thought to Ponder: Why do people who know the least know it the loudest?
Shout Outs: All of my friends who I hung out with over Thanksgiving Break
YouTube Video of the Week:

How frozen pizzas are made