Student Union
Our Student Union Guide to Chomping on NYC's Big Apple
New York City is known for many things: Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, holiday displays at Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue, cheesecake and Times Square.
NYC tops the list as the "most populous city" in the United States with 8.5 million people residing in its city limits of 305 square miles. The metropolitan region is big, really big, and it's nicknamed the "Big Apple" because journalist John J. FitzGerald, according to History.com, often heard African-American stable hands referencing the city as the Big Apple. Beside Manhattan, which most people know as NYC, it is home to five boroughs: Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx. (When you hear people exaggerating the NYC accent, it is typically the Bronx -- da Bronx -- accent.)
It is home to attractions such as the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center, Central Park and Greenwich Village. NYC is also home to numerous universities, like the New School, Parson's School of Design, Julliard, several state universities (SUNY), New York University (NYU), Columbia University and Brooklyn College.
New York City is also one of the nation's most diverse cities, with more than 200 spoken languages, religions and various sexualities. It attracts over 60 million tourists yearly.
Want to explore a new city that isn’t Boston? If you're an international student or a local, you will never get bored here!
HOW TO GET AROUND NYC
You can use your Metro card to get on the the Roosevelt Island Tramway, which offers a good view of the city.
Ferries from the city to the boroughs cost between $4 to $20. The Staten Island Ferry is free and a nice way to see the Statue of Liberty up close from the river.
Uber and taxis are everywhere but not always available. It is very vexing, and you may or may not understand why they will or won't stop for you. Like other countries, there are taxi stands outside of train stations and airports, but generally you can hail a cab anywhere. If you get really discouraged, go to a hotel or apartment building and ask them to hail a cab. Give the doorman a $2 tip for helping you.
How to hail a cab: Stand on the curb, raise your arm almost like a salute (bolder and more angled than if you want to ask a question in class), and face your palm to the traffic like you want to stop it. Open the door, slide onto the back seat, and tell the driver where you want to go.
Ask immediately how much that distance and fare might cost. If it's too expensive for you, get out immediately. Try another cab, or take the subway or a bus. NYC buses are terrific, and you can see the sights while you are going to your destination.
Make sure the cab driver has the meter on.
Make sure the cab driver has the meter on.
Make sure the cab driver has the meter on.
Tipping is expected; 10 percent to 20 percent is normal.
HERE ARE THE BEST THINGS TO DO IN NYC
Visit Time Square at Night
Times Square at 42nd Street is always busy. Stores along the Times Square/Broadway strip close between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. Sit on the TKTS steps (the steps are sponsored by the Broadway, Off-Broadway and NYC Parks Department) and take photos. If you’re lucky enough, your face will appear on the many digital screens above the stores (either the one above the Aeropostale store or the ABC Supersign above the 'Good Morning America' studio). Just make sure to avoid photos with the characters who say it is free but will bug you for a $5 tip.
If you like the theater, TKTS offers discounted tickets to Theater District shows and more.
"TKTS discount booths are the perfect way for everyone to experience the arts in New York City at affordable prices," their website says. Tickets are on sale every day at 20 percent to 50 percent off regular prices.
If you’re visiting during a holiday, check out one of the parades or the holiday windows on the Fifth Avenue department stores.
The highlight for international student Clara Soares Nogueira from Brazil was seeing the Saks 5th Avenue display. "Going to NY during the holidays was different, like something out of one of the books I read during my childhood years in Brazil.
"For instance, I never thought I would get so excited with the Saks 5th Avenue window display with its beautiful telling of the Nutcracker’s story, on which, by the way, one of the characters is named Clara, like me." The Nutcracker is a Russian ballet telling the story of a young girl who dreams of meeting the Nutcracker Prince and the ensuing drama during Christmas time.
Our Clara checked out the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. The annual parade runs along a 2.5 mile route, displaying 16 character balloons, 26 floats and 1,000 clowns, according to FoxNews. The parade is also one of the oldest running: 2016 marked it's 90 years anniversary.
Take the Tram to Roosevelt Island
The Tramway from Manhattan's Upper East Side to Roosevelt Islands East Side. The Tramway accepts MTA Metrocards ($2.75 fare) and offers an amazing view of the island, the city and Queens. It travels along the Queensboro Bridge. The Tramway and the island offer the best view of the NYC East Side skyline during the day.
Tired of all that walking? A little known park to tourists is the Sutton Place Park, a small square of playground with benches overlooking the East River and the Queensboro Bridge, otherwise known as the 59th Street Bridge. Rest your feet and enjoy the sparkling bridge lights.
Visit Madison Square Park
During the winter months Madison Square Park gets all decked out for Christmas. This year, TimeOut reports that the park will be a scene straight out of "Hansel and Gretel." You can wander through a village of gingerbread houses. Or, head over to the New York Hall of Science and check out the Gingerbread Lane.
Go Ice Skating at Bryant Park or Rockefeller Center
If you're balling on a budget, go ice skating at Bryant Park. The Bank of America Winter Village opens for the winter holidays and offers everything from shopping to dining. The whole experience will cost you about $40, but will be worth the buck! If you get too cold in the park, head over to the New York Public Library and warm up in one of their reading rooms.
Rockefeller Center offers a similar experience. Check out the rink, which costs about $25 for general admission and $12 for skate rental. A "RockPass" for the the Top of the Rock Observation Deck cost between $48-$58. Check out Radio City Music Hall, or Tour NBC Studios ... or better yet, check out the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and the Channel Gardens -- which display the annual Christmas angels!
Clara told us the sights at Rockefeller Plaza left her speechless. In an email, she writes, "The whole thing -- the lights, the Christmas songs, Rockfeller Center’s ice skating rink that reminded me of Holden Caufield’s perambulations around Manhattan - was magical." Holden Caufield is a fictional character from "The Catcher in the Rye.""The holiday season showed me a New York I hadn’t met before, a city that smells like cinnamon and tastes like the amazing Levain Bakery’s dark chocolate cookie I finally managed to try."
Walk the Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is a New York City staple. The walk is exactly 1.1 miles long. You can spend an hour, or more, or less: It all depends on your speed and the crowds. Be mindful of the bike lanes.
From Brooklyn, enter from Tillary Street or from the steps at High Street.
From Manhattan, get off at the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall Stop (4, 5, 6 train) or Chamber St (J or Z train).
Or, take the Q, N, R train across the Manhattan Bridge.
Visit Brooklyn … and Juniors
If you're going to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, why not continue the walk and explore Brooklyn? Juniors or Piece of Velvet/Cake Man Raven serve up some of the best cheesecake and slices of red velvet cake.
Then make your way down Fulton Street to see the Albee Square Christmas decorations, and then Montague Street to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade/Two Bridges. Enjoy the city lights from Brooklyn Bridge Park.
As a Brooklynite, my favorite place to be is at the Promenade/Two Bridges, looking over at the Financial District across the East River in Manhattan. I've spent endless summer afternoons taking in the views.
There's so much to do in "the city that never sleeps," as New York is commonly known. In addition to visiting the winter attractions, Clara watched a show at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
But, she says that her favorite place was Brooklyn and its Williamsburg neighborhood.
"Brooklyn as a whole seemed to me to have a more laid-back lifestyle combined with the same amount of good restaurant options and a great view of Manhattan’s skyline by some of its parks and promenades," Clara wrote. "Williamsburg to me is a Utopian-like young -- hipster, if you like -- neighborhood where everybody seems happy (at least during the holidays) and where tourists like myself are not as common as in Manhattan," she said.
Check out Central Park
Central Park is the ultimate oasis. It runs for 2.5 miles along the length of Manhattan (from 59th Street to 110 Street) and is 0.5 miles wide (Fifth Avenue to Central Park West), a total of 843 acres. Go ice skating on Wollman or Lasker rinks for about $20 (including skate and admission). Check out the Conservatory Garden (the less-crowded North End), or the midpark fountains, ponds or pavilions, such as Alice in Wonderland, Shakespeare Garden or Strawberry Fields.
From the park, you can also access:
American Museum of Natural History -- Accessible from Central Park West, between West 77th and West 81st streets. (The C and B train station is located on the corner of W 81st!) There's an enormous African Plains elephant in the entry hall. The exhibits are amazing.The Met (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) -- Accessible from 5th Avenue and East 82nd Street. Besides some of the most impressive art to be seen in the world, check out the Egyptian tomb exhibit. It's the next best thing to being in Luxor.
Central Park Zoo -- The entrance is on 5th Avenue and 65th Street. It's a small, but charming zoo in the middle of Manhattan.
Once you're done checking out the park, head over to Columbus Circle to check out the USS Maine Monument, shop a little or check out the restaurants!
Chelsea Market and The Highline
Take a walk along The Highline, a railroad turned park, which was once a part of the New York Central Railroad -- the West Side Line. It runs along Gansevoort to 34th Street and offers a year-round above-ground view of the city. Maybe even watch the first snowfall from the platform.
Chelsea Market (entrance on 9th Avenue) is also in the Meatpacking District. Now known for being "greatest indoor food halls of the world" and " Attracting 6 million national and international visitors annually," according to their main page. The venue was once home to several slaughterhouses and packingplants. Now, it spans from Ninth and Tenth Avenue to 15th and 16th Street. You can checkout the shops, the restaurants and tour the Youtube Space.
Greenwich Village
Escape the hustle of the city and check out Greenwich Village. If you're hungry and don't want Shake Shack or NYC Pizza, check out La Lanterna Caffe -- at 129 MacDougal Street. Check out Washington Square Park or take a walk down Bleecker Street and enjoy NYC's staple Bohemian neighborhood!
WAYS TO GET TO NYC
Bus
A roundtrip bus ticket to New York City will cost between $30 to $80. Some of the popular bus companies are MegaBus, Peter Pan, Greyhound or Bolt Bus. New York City is about a three- to four-hour ride from Boston or Washington, D.C., depending on the time of day you travel and
traffic. Sit back and watch the sights of other states as you drive in. You can look forward to your bus dropping you off in the heart of the city -- West 34th Street in midtown! Shop a little before you go to your hotel.
A one-way trip by Greyhound would cost $15; roundtrip $33. Greyhound offers 10 percent student memberships
International student Clara Soares Nogueira from Brazil visited NYC during the Thanksgiving holiday and took the bus in for the first time.
“I liked it, I won't lie. It's way cheaper and it doesn't take that long,” she said.
FlyFlying into New York City via John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), LaGuardia or Newark International may be the easiest way in, but may also be the most expensive, especially if you plan on taking a taxi or Uber to your hotel in Manhattan. Consider staying at a hotel closer to the airport to save money.
Cost: One roundtrip ticket from Washington, D.C or Boston to New York City (JFK) via American Airlines cost around $190. Train fare costs about the same. Some say the train is less hassle and you can get up and move around.
Train
Amtrak trains pull into Pennsylvania Station -- Penn Station -- at 34th Street and 8th Avenue. (It also houses Madison Square Garden, a sports and entertainment venue.) And it is near the Port
Authority, a bus terminal where some of the earlier bus routes will drop you. Amtrak offers discounts for students. A ticket would be significantly less than a flight, but more expensive than taking the bus.
Cost: From Boston's South Station to New York's Penn Station, a one-way train ticket cost about $125, while a roundtrip cost about $184, after the 15 percent student discount.
A one-way ticket from D.C's Union Station cost between $89 to $176, depending on the time of day you leave. (Early birds get cheaper rates.) A roundtrip ticket would total about $265.
WHERE TO STAY
Finding a bed for the night is usually the biggest hurdle to enjoying NYC. Hotels are expensive, but the good news is that there are plenty of them, and booking early and shopping around can uncover a terrific find. This year, hotels were offering fabulous discounts if you booked on Black Friday, the day after American Thanksgiving. Create a reminder to yourself for next year.
AirBnB
AirBnB's are a cheaper alternative. Reserve a private room or an entire home. The cost is between $45 to $190 per night.
Stay With A Friend
Staying with a friend can save you plenty of money, and if you're in NYC by yourself, you'll have company, and hopefully someone to be your tour guide.
Stay at a Hotel
If you're traveling to NYC with friends, share the cost of a room. The Riff Chelsea offers $81 per night and is just off of 8th Avenue and 34th Street, a short walk from Penn Station.
Hotels outside the city tend to be a little cheaper. Check out New Jersey and borough hotels that are close to airports. You can take a bus or train from New Jersey to NYC, but not a subway.
Images are courtesy of Clara Soares Nogueira and Arnella Sandy.
Have you been to New York City yet? What were your favorite spots and places? Please leave your suggestions here and on our Facebook page, thanks!
See all News Updates of the Day
- By VOA News
Siblings flourish at University of Cincinnati
Two sets of siblings -- on from Kuwait and one from Saudi Arabia -- talk about their experiences as international students at the University of Cincinnati in the U.S. state of Ohio.
Read the story here. (April 2024)
Pro-Palestinian protesters set up a new encampment at Philadelphia's Drexel University
Pro-Palestinian protesters set up a new encampment at Drexel University in Philadelphia over the weekend, prompting a lockdown of school buildings, a day after authorities thwarted an attempted occupation of a school building at the neighboring University of Pennsylvania campus.
After several hundred demonstrators marched from Philadelphia's City Hall to west Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon, Drexel said in a statement that about 75 protesters began to set up an encampment on the Korman Quad on the campus. About a dozen tents remained Sunday, blocked off by barricades and monitored by police officers. No arrests were reported.
Drexel President John Fry said in a message Saturday night that the encampment "raises understandable concerns about ensuring everyone's safety," citing what he called "many well-documented instances of hateful speech and intimidating behavior at other campus demonstrations." University buildings were "open only to those with clearance from Drexel's Public Safety," he said.
Authorities at Drexel, which has about 22,000 students, were monitoring the demonstration to ensure it was peaceful and didn't disrupt normal operations, and that "participants and passersby will behave respectfully toward one another," Fry said.
"We will be prepared to respond quickly to any disruptive or threatening behavior by anyone," Fry said, vowing not to tolerate property destruction, "harassment or intimidation" of students or staff or threatening behavior of any kind, including "explicitly racist, antisemitic, or Islamophobic" speech. Anyone not part of the Drexel community would not be allowed "to trespass into our buildings and student residences," he said.
On Friday night, members of Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine had announced an action at the University of Pennsylvania's Fisher-Bennett Hall, urging supporters to bring "flags, pots, pans, noise-makers, megaphones" and other items.
The university said campus police, supported by city police, removed the demonstrators Friday night, arresting 19 people, including six University of Pennsylvania students. The university's division of public safety said officials found "lock-picking tools and homemade metal shields," and exit doors secured with zip ties and barbed wire, windows covered with newspaper and cardboard and entrances blocked.
Authorities said seven people arrested would face felony charges, including one accused of having assaulted an officer, while a dozen were issued citations for failing to disperse and follow police commands.
The attempted occupation of the building came a week after city and campus police broke up a two-week encampment on the campus, arresting 33 people, nine of whom were students and two dozen of whom had "no Penn affiliation," according to university officials.
On Sunday, dozens of George Washington University graduates walked out of commencement ceremonies, disrupting university President Ellen Granberg's speech, in protest over the ongoing siege of Gaza and last week's clearing of an on-campus protest encampment that involved police use of pepper spray and dozens of arrests.
The ceremony, at the base of the Washington Monument, started peacefully with fewer than 100 protesters demonstrating across the street in front of the Museum of African American History and Culture. But as Granberg began speaking, at least 70 students among the graduates started chanting and raising signs and Palestinian flags. The students then noisily walked out as Granberg spoke, crossing the street to a rapturous response from the protesters.
Students and others have set up tent encampments on campuses around the country to protest the Israel-Hamas war, pressing colleges to cut financial ties with Israel. Tensions over the war have been high on campuses since the fall but demonstrations spread quickly following an April 18 police crackdown on an encampment at Columbia University.
Nearly 3,000 people have been arrested on U.S. campuses over the past month. As summer break approaches, there have been fewer new arrests and campuses have been calmer. Still, colleges have been vigilant for disruptions to commencement ceremonies.
President Joe Biden told the graduating class at Morehouse College on Sunday, which included some students wearing keffiyeh scarves around their shoulders on top of their black graduation robes, that he heard their voices of protest and that scenes from the conflict in Gaza have been heartbreaking. Biden said given what he called a "humanitarian crisis" there, he had called for "an immediate cease-fire" and return of hostages taken by Hamas.
The latest Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas and other militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking an additional 250 hostage. Palestinian militants still hold about 100 captives, while Israel's military offensive has left more than 35,000 people in Gaza dead, according to the territory’s health ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Biden tells Morehouse graduates that he hears their voices of protest over war in Gaza
President Joe Biden on Sunday told the graduating class at Morehouse College that he heard their voices of protest over the Israel-Hamas war, and that scenes from the conflict in Gaza have been heartbreaking.
"I support peaceful nonviolent protest," he told students, some who wore keffiyeh scarves around their shoulders on top of their black graduation robes. "Your voices should be heard, and I promise you I hear them."
The president told the crowd that it was a "humanitarian crisis in Gaza, that's why I've called for an immediate cease-fire to stop the fighting" and bring home the hostages taken when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. The comments, toward the end of his address that also reflected on American democracy and his role in safeguarding it, were the most direct recognition to U.S. students about the campus protests that have swept across the country.
Morehouse's announcement that Biden would be the commencement speaker drew some backlash among the school's faculty and supporters who oppose Biden's handling of the war. Some Morehouse alumni circulated an online letter condemning school administrators for inviting Biden and soliciting signatures to pressure Morehouse President David Thomas to rescind it.
The letter claimed that Biden's approach to Israel amounted to support of genocide in Gaza and was out of step with the pacifism expressed by Martin Luther King Jr., Morehouse's most famous graduate.
The Hamas attack on southern Israel killed 1,200 people. Israel's offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health officials.
Some members of the graduating class showed support for Palestinians in Gaza by tying keffiyeh scarves around their shoulders on top of their black graduation robes. One student draped himself in a Palestinian flag. On the stage behind the president, academics unfurled a Democratic Republic of Congo flag.
The country has been mired in an ongoing civil war that has plunged the nation into violence and displaced millions of people. Many racial justice advocates have called for greater attention to the conflict and for greater attention in the US to the conflict as well as American aid in ending the violence.
"Thank you God for this 'woke' class of 2024 that is in tune with the zeitgeist, the spirit of the times," the Rev. Claybon Lea Jr. said during a prayer at the start of the commencement.
The class valedictorian, DeAngelo Jeremiah Fletcher, said at the close of his speech that it was his duty to speak on the war in Gaza and that it was important to recognize that both Palestinians and Israelis have suffered.
"From the comfort of our homes, we watch an unprecedented number of civilians mourn the loss of men, women and children, while calling for the release of all hostages he said. "It is my stance as a Morehouse man, nay as a human being, to call for an immediate and permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip."
Biden stook and shook his hand after Fletcher finished.
The speech, and a separate one Biden is giving later Sunday in the Midwest, is part of a burst of outreach to Black constituents by the president, who has watched his support among these voters soften since their strong backing helped put him in the Oval Office in 2020.
After speaking at Morehouse in Atlanta, Biden will travel to Detroit to address an NAACP dinner.
Georgia and Michigan are among a handful of states that will help decide November's expected rematch between Biden and Republican former President Donald Trump. Biden narrowly won Georgia and Michigan in 2020 and needs to repeat — with a boost from strong Black voter turnout in both cities.
Biden spent the back end of the past week reaching out to Black constituents. He met with plaintiffs and relatives of those involved in Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision that outlawed racial segregation in public schools. He also met with members of the "Divine Nine" Black fraternities and sororities and spoke with members of the Little Rock Nine, who helped integrate a public school in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957.
In Detroit, Biden was set to visit a Black-owned small business before delivering the keynote address at the NAACP's Freedom Fund dinner, which traditionally draws thousands of attendees. The speech gives Biden a chance to reach thousands of people in Wayne County, an area that has historically voted overwhelmingly Democratic but has shown signs of resistance to his reelection bid.
Wayne County also holds one of the largest Arab American populations in the nation, predominantly in the city of Dearborn. Leaders there were at the forefront of an "uncommitted" effort that received over 100,000 votes in the state's Democratic primary and spread across the country.
A protest rally and march against Biden's visit are planned for Sunday afternoon in Dearborn. Another protest rally is expected later that evening outside Huntington Place, the dinner venue.
US remains top choice for Indian students going abroad
About 69% of Indian students traveling abroad for their studies chose the United States, according to a Oxford International’s Student Global Mobility Index. Other popular choices were the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.
Education Times reports the main influencers for deciding where to study abroad – for Indian students and others – were parents. (April 2024)
Malaysian official: Schools can’t turn away from global tensions
Zambry Abdul Kadir, Malaysia’s higher education minister, said protests spreading across universities in the United States show that schools can’t ignore political tensions.
Helen Packer, reporting in Times Higher Education, said the minister reminded educators that universities are key in the development of leaders, individuals and societies. (April 2024)
