Travel Diaries: My First Week in NYC

Hello everyone! Sorry I have been behind a little bit with the posting, but it has been a bit crazy moving back to the East Coast and now up to NYC. I'm already loving living in the big apple, and I plan to do many posts in the future about places to go and things to do here. But for now, I thought I would share the few things I have already done in my first week here!

For those of you who may not know or are new to my page, I'm a graphic designer originally from Philadelphia. Two years ago I moved out to LA to pursue my dream of working in the film industry as a designer, and found an awesome company called Creative Impact Agency, which I worked for for the duration of my time in LA. When I made the decision to move back east, I was very sad to have to leave them, but it ended up working out because they offered to transfer me to their New York office! So after a couple of weeks off to figure out my living situation, I'm finally up in NYC and back to work. 

My family was a huge help in getting me and my belongings up to the city, so I'd like to start off by saying thank you to them, especially my mom and dad.  I'd also like to thank my little sister Jenna and our host sister from Belarus Nika for making my first few days in the city so much fun. While my family was here we decided to do a couple of touristy activities to get me into the New York mindset. So as soon as we arrived, we went on a tour of the Statue of Liberty.

For those of you also interested in taking this tour, let me start by saying it really is worth doing at least once if you are going to be in the city. However, make sure you get your tickets in advance and get them a few weeks before you want to go. We waited until a few days before and were super limited when it came to the days and times we had to choose from. You can book your tour and get more information on the tour's official website by clicking here. The tickets are various prices depending on how high up in the statue you want to climb, so the minimum you can pay is to just take the ferry over to the island but not actually go in the statue. 

The ferry ride over was probably my favorite part. You can ride up on the top of the boat where it is completely open, and get some great views and photos of both the statue and the city its self. The statue tour is also a great place to get a good view of the city, and you can pay to go up to different levels within the statue. We only went to the first platform, and it was a great view, so if you don't want to pay to go the whole way up, it still is a good option. The only thing I would recommend is to try and go during the fall or spring. Going in August with hundreds of other people in the heat was not the best idea, but we still had a great time. 

A few blocks away from the where the ferry comes to take you over to the statue is actually where the 9/11 memorials are located. So while we were in the area we decided to visit them. The memorials were beautiful, and it was an extremely sad experience to see them there. But I would definitely recommend stopping by them if you have a chance and are already in the area because they really did a great job of making sure everyone involved in that horrific day was remembered. Victims names are inscribed all around the memorial, and we found out that on their birthdays the city places a rose on their name like in the image above. 

We then, of course, had to pay a visit to Times Square. Despite the fact that it was flooded with people, we still had a fun time seeing all of the huge screens and billboards and doing some shopping. It is a must see spot if you are in town for a visit, although you may not want to stay very long if you don't like being in big crowds. 

After my parents left I had one day to myself to unpack and settle into my new apartment, and then Jesse came up to visit. While he was in town we checked out some local restaurants and bars in my neighborhood, and then went to a couple different well-known sights downtown. The first stop I wanted to make was to see Carrie's apartment location from Sex and the City. For any fellow fans of the show, if you are in town and also want to check it out, the address is 66 Perry Street in the West Village. While you can't actually get a picture on the steps because the owners don't want people on the property, you can still get a great picture outside this cute location. 

While we were in the village we decided to walk over a few blocks from Carrie's apartment to Washington Square Park. The area was so beautiful and Jesse and I spent about an hour just hanging out there and people watching. We then, of course, had to get a picture with the famous archway used in so many TV shows and movies, probably most notably When Harry Met Sally. 

After such a crazy couple of days, I'm now in my new office and back to work, but I am so excited to keep exploring this amazing city. And now that I have the touristy sites out of my system I will definitely be checking out some of the lesser known areas of the city, and sharing my findings here on my site with all of you! So if you enjoyed this post and would like more about NYC in the future make sure to let me know below and give this post a like.