After not being able to actually see anything at our last attempt to go to the Today Show, we decided that we wanted to try again. Although, we were a little nervous because it was a big day for us and we weren’t sure it would be worth going as we didn’t see any celebrities listed for who would appear on the outside segment. Though we decided to go with it, the worst that happens is we turn around and come back. This meant that we had got up early to make it down to breakfast before the rush in order to make it to the show. I still wasn’t feeling 100% in the morning, but I knew that once again it wold pass before too long, so I pretended that it didn’t exist. We waited a little longer than we wanted to for half of another group to come join us as not everyone in their group wanted to go, though we made it to the set with plenty of time.
Because of the cooler weather, there really weren’t that many people. Though, it always seems as if there is a big crowd gathered, they do this by grouping everyone together and making sure that the camera stays in that area. We started out by just watching the blur as everyone was getting ready for the next outdoor segment and then we decided to get into some of the pans and even though our faces wouldn’t be seen, it was still cool to be a part of the excitement. However, the four anchors came out and Mrs. S got their attention and started talking to them during a commercial break. We just thought that it was her begin social, but she had another plan and it worked. She had gotten them interested, so when they choose to talk with some random people in the crowd, they came over and talked with us! It was exciting, even if we were on for less than 30 seconds, and it was the first time that anyone from school have actually made it on the show for more than a pan. Then, not even minute has passed from us being on the show and the coordinator has contacted Mrs. S saying that he had seen us and we represented well. We also came back to school with a gym teacher saying that he had recognized us on the Today Show. After being on T.V we decided to leave and let other people have turns, plus we had a busy day to get ready for. So after a little panicking and frustration because of the partial group not communicating well, we took a good hour and a half break in the hotel room trying to catch up on book work (which we had completely stopped doing) and making final preparations for the rest of the day.
When Mrs. S came to get us we headed down to the lobby to finalize our plans before getting to the subway where we couldn’t just stop to pull out a map and figure things out. In the end we ended up going with the route that we came up with back at home. The subway stop was really close to the hotel and it was easy to find as we had already passed it several times earlier in the week. Taking the subway in NYC was a first for all of us, maybe not Mrs. S, and it went really well. We all had our money ready, as we had planned on the subway, and we went to get our tickets, though it took some time to figure what which one it was that we wanted. We went through the turn stiles and tried our hardest not to look like a tourist, school group with lots of expensive equipment, though it was pretty hard. The first train that we were on was pretty crowded, but the second was a lot better where we all got to sit with plenty of room. It was also nice saying that the transfer was in the same station. It was such a fun experience taking the subway and I would gladly do it again.
When we got off the train in Brooklyn there was a police officer ready and standing outside of the tunnel, it was clear that he didn’t want us, a group of girls, just wandering around anywhere in the area. He asked us where we were going, although we had already asked a retired police officer and he said that we would be fine on our travels in Brooklyn, and he told us how to get there. We followed his directions and got to the area in ease. We found a little cafe and stopped to get a little something knowing that it would be a later lunch and also using it as a place to sit and get organized. Knowing that we still had about an hour to spend before we wanted to be at the library we went to the harbor to check out the ferry that we would be taking back to Manhattan after the interview. Man was it windy, but I kind of liked it. Then, we headed back up to the library, knowing that we would be early, but wanting to locate it early and introduce ourselves to make sure that everything was still going to go as planned. We found the street easily, but had a little bit of trouble finding the actual building as it is a small little hole-in-the-wall place. There was a slight panic when we got there and it said that the library was closed until 3, our interview was at 1. It was closed because of a music video shot going on inside. (When we got back from NYC we saw that the person that we were going to interview had emailed us the Tuesday we were in the city asking if we could move the interview time to 3. We had forgotten to tell him that we would be unreachable after a certain time.) However, they were still expecting us and we made it work, we just had to share the space. However, we were still early so after introducing ourselves in person we decided to go find a place nearby to go over our work with Mrs. S as we waited for them to call us saying that they were ready.
I so wish that we had a chance to meet with Mrs. S before the trip to discuss everything that we did that day. We weren’t as prepared as I had thought and hoped we were. Even though the main documentary was not my main focus, I couldn’t help but feel bad and responsible for the lack of preparedness. Just listening to what Mrs. S had to say about some of our questions and what we were planning to do made me feel really bad. Then when we did get the call to come back because they were ready I was super nervous. We walked in and I could tell that there was no need to be nervous because everyone was so relaxed and very understanding, but it didn’t help. Then, of course I was one of the cameras and I had practiced at school, truly I had, but we were given equipment that I wasn’t familiar with and had never practiced with. I have a feeling that I came across as a mess, nervous, unprepared, mess to Mrs. S. I was so ashamed, I felt as if I fumbled through setting up the camera and getting the right angle instead of appearing confident and well rehearsed. On top of it all, my audio didn’t seem to be working, which really wasn’t good since I had the camera that we would later use most of the shots from. Although we disregarded it as the equipment not working, I feel as if it was working, but I didn’t know the style of microphone and just did something wrong. However, it seemed to work out. Then, after the interview, which was surprisingly short, I got some other shots of just stuff in the library that I, and the directors, thought would be useful in making the actual documentary. Even though the interview seemed to go well, I was still really happy that it was over. Though I must admit, it felt weird to be done with the interview, it felt as if we didn’t have anything else left to do in New York.
We took the ferry back to lower Manhattan and we timed it perfectly. The ferry was unloading right when we got to the port. It was a really fast ferry, and very rocky. Though it was a fun ride. We continued our filming for the last documentary after a lunch. We didn’t get as much done as we wanted as we were all tired and still moving a little slowly, but we all felt better when we heard that no other group had finished either and in comparison, we did get a lot done. It might take some creativity to work wight he footage, but it can work, and we all felt really good to be done with all of the needed filming. After deciding that we had enough footage we headed over to the ferry to wait.
We were headed to Staten island, there wasn’t much actually on the island that we were going to see, it was more of a nice view of the skyline. Though, we did go over to the 9/11 memorial. Being on the ferry was so much fun. I spent quite a little bit of time standing with my eyes closed looking over the railing with the mist on my face and wind in my hair, just soaking everything in. It didn’t matter that it was cold and windy it was fun to relax and see friends from other groups. The walk over to the memorial once we were off the ferry was alright, I was kind of tired and still kind of bummed about my filming work so I hung out in the back while other people laughed and made joke after joke. Though, once we were at the memorial I decided to take a break from my group members and walk around with another friend. There were lots of names of people who died listed with their birth year, I’m not sure how they choose the names though. My friend and I played games as to see if we could find the youngest and then the oldest person who was listed. Then, we just stood by the water and huddled against the wind, it was very fun and very relaxing. Sadly, we had to go back to the ferry. Again, we cut the ferry close, but we made it. The doors to the outside we closed, but my group went as far as we could to see the beautiful city skyline as the darkness fell. It was nice to just chill after a very stressful day and talk with Mrs. S and my friends. This is what I missed from the day before on our walk where we got lost, talking and not trying to get from point A to B quickly.
Not every one was as lucky as us to make the ferry. There was one group that was told the wrong ferry time so they went to go find dinner on Staten island when they realized that everyone else had left for the ferry. They rushed to get to the dock, but it was still too late. My group had gotten out of the ferry terminal and went outside thinking that we would be immediately heading to the busses to go back to the hotel, though no one was taking the lead to the busses. Instead they took us across the street and we waited and waited not really knowing what was going on. All we knew was that it was very cold, that it was windy, and that we were all tired. Soon enough we heard that a group had missed the ferry and we were waiting for them to go to the busses. What we wanted to know though was this, as soon as someone knew that they missed the ferry, why didn’t they take us inside somewhere, either inside the ferry terminal or just wait on the busses. Everyone was cold, including all the teachers, but yet we waited outside for what felt like half an hour. Though, despite the cold it was kind of fun because it was more laugher, jokes, and conversations with everyone being in a light-hearted, tired, mood. Finally, we decided to just go wait on the bus, but not 5 minutes have passed when the final group joins us. Why couldn’t we have come up with this solution earlier? On the bus ride back, my group was deciding what to do with our evening. We were going to go ice skating, but all of us were way too cold and all we wanted to do was curl up in our pjs and relax. We thought about doing a movie night and just hanging out in a room, all 9 of us. We were all really excited about that, but when we got back to the hotel we decided that because it was so much warmer in midtown to spend our evening out at times square. It was a quick turn around when we were in the hotel, fully knowing that if we stayed in the warmth for too long and laid down, we would have not gotten back up that night, and we still needed food.
At this point in the week we all knew our way around town and took the lead in getting to times square, and we got there really quickly I hadn’t realized how close it was to the hotel. There was nothing in specific that we wanted to do, but there were a few people in the group who still needed to get some souvenirs for their parents. It was a nice day for shopping and unlike the day before we didn’t go to the big, expensive chain stores. I looked around at all of the stores and we saw some cute and funny things, but nothing really caught my eye, there was nothing that I kept thinking about. We went from store to store and it was all the same and I was kind of disappointed, because I did want to buy something from the trip but I didn’t want to buy something for the sake of buying something. I also still didn’t have anything for my parents, but at the same time, even though I wanted to show that I was thinking about them, I didn’t want to waste their money a nicknack. Anyways, it was still fun to just look around and be with my 8 awesome friends and favorite teacher in the middle of the city. Though, people started to drag and would point out that they wanted something at a store that we had already left a few blocks away. It was getting late and we decided to get some dinner (we had already checked out Olive Garden a bit earlier but the wait was really long so we decided to go shopping first). We ended up going to another pizza place, but it was good food and nice to sit down and warm-up. After our short break we were energized and decided to hit the stores again to make sure that everyone got what they wanted. It was so nice, walking down the street behind Mrs. S while I was linked arms with 2 of my best friends. There was also some time when it was just me and Mrs. S as the others would run back into the store to hurry the rest up and it was great. Though it was hard to believe that we would be leaving for home the next day.
We ended up getting back to the hotel when we should have been turning the lights out, but oh well. The coordinator, we had contacted him to let him know, didn’t mind as we had been good all week. I did a little bit of packing that night so that I could sleep in a little later the next morning, ha so funny. Cause I was the only one to do that so everyone else still woke up early. Anyways, even though I was so tired I really didn’t want to go to sleep because that meant that the morning that we were forced to leave would come quicker. It did take a little bit to fall asleep just because my mind was racing of everything that had happened the last few days and okay, there had been some up and downs each day, but it was overall so great. I was feeling like a 10, some 9 moments but also many 11 moments.
Leave a Reply