Over spring break, I went to New York City, which probably doesn’t sound that exciting to local people who have been there 100 times. But I’m from Kansas, meaning I grew up in a town of 5,000 people surrounded by fields, and the closest Walmart was 45 minutes away; the size of my hometown is basically just Central Park times two. So this was a big step for me. People back in Kansas already think that all of New York looks like NYC, and assume that’s my reality, so this was a much-needed trip.

My mom and I planned three big days in the city, from Broadway shows to the Empire State Building; we did all the tourist attractions. We spent two evenings attending Broadway shows, Book of Mormon and Six. My favorite was the Book of Mormon. I didn’t think that Broadway could actually make me laugh out loud as hard as I did while watching this musical. For context, my mom and I did absolutely zero research on this play beforehand, and we were slapped in the face with the best raunchy jokes and laughable stereotypes.

In total, we visited about three tall buildings, and by the third, I had a pretty good idea of what the NYC skyline looked like. We started with the Empire State Building, which is a must-see according to all the tourism websites. We then went to Rockefeller Center, where Saturday Night Live and other NBC shows are recorded. We didn’t see any SNL cast members or guests, but it was still cool. 

Lastly, we stumbled upon this structure called “The Vessel,” an open-air, spiraling structure that is part of Hudson Yards. Little did we know when we paid to get in that we basically signed up to walk up and down eight flights of stairs, but nonetheless, this was one of the most interesting architectural designs I saw.

Looking back, I realize that my expectations of NYC did not compare to the reality. For example, the NYC portrayed to me was dirtier and more crowded with bustling people, but in reality, it was reasonably clean where we went, and the sidewalks were manageable. As a matter of fact, by the last day of my trip, I was getting upset with slow-walking tourists. 

Another misconception about the city that I had was that everything was walkable and I would be just fine (I was not fine). By the third day of our trip, my feet were screaming at me for walking nine miles a day in shoes that were not meant for walking. I guess, in my mind, everything was a lot closer and more compact than it actually was; the subways were a blessing.

All in all, my trip to NYC was fun, new and mildly exhausting. It is a trip I will never forget. Plus, now, I can finally tell everyone back in Kansas what New York is really like.