Journal 9

From the start I was nervous and worried about going to the city every Friday. I didn’t know what to expect and I didn’t know if I would like it. But I soon realized it was a waste to worry about that because I soon found out how great the professors were and how great my other classmates were too. I will miss going to Penn at 11:05 and waiting for Mike to tell us to come in, get closer. I haven’t been to the city a lot and soon realized how big New York was. Learning the city was just farm land and learning that Brooklyn was really the first big city and then moved over to the Manhattan Island is pretty cool. I never thought about the city's past, kind of always imagined it was the way it is today.

From this class I learned about Central Park and the reason why it was built to give the people of New York a green area to hang out in. Learned about Robert Moses who I only thought was known for a beach he made, but he's known for the world's fair in Queens, all the road work and parkways, and bridges. Learning about gentrification and how it impacts areas in the city. Basically poor areas that get run down are bought by artist who holds art gallery’s in a area. This leads to people opening up new businesses and new restaurants and also leads to higher class people moving in and cleaning up the area. Before this class I was not sure on taking the subway places and which train to get on. I’m still a little confused in that area but I learned a lot and I feel like I can kind of get my way around with using the subway. I wasn’t that happy with all the New York art I saw until we went to the art gallery’s in the Meat packing area which I felt that I could connect with and I truly enjoyed that. I can't wait to go back with my friends and show them this area and all the cool art gallery’s. I feel completely safer going into the city knowing the area and just feeling the vibes and feeling a part of it. I'm looking forward to bringing my friends and family to the city and showing them what I learned and the great sites we had seen. I will never forget this class and all that I have learned.