torstai 12. tammikuuta 2017

Dear Readers of October in New York



Dear readers, 

Time flies, doesn’t it? Once again, I had the great privilege of leading a group of students through an American Studies course and a week in our favorite city, New York. As always, there was a lot to see and much to experience in the city enjoying an October heatwave (we seem to have been lucky recently – a second wonderfully warm October week for our group in a row). The group of fourteen eager students and yours truly surely made the most of it. Also, I suspect there are will be a number of us returning – soon - due to the variety and quality of everything this magnificent city can offer be it culture, history or any aspect of American life.
Please, read the accounts written by my students. They certainly had their own favourites on our itenerary. Mine were the Metropolitan Opera, as always, Chicago the Musical, and our visit to the UN Headquarters that was hosted by a former student of mine. Talk about the time flying and students having careers all over the world…! Furthermore, the extraordinary team-spirit this smallish yet vivacious group had needs to be acknowledged.  
I would like to thank my wonderfully enthusiastic, punctual and joyful students as well as their exceptionally supportive families. NYC is a city to be experienced in person. I hope there will be new groups of students to do so in the near future.
Until next time, New York!
Love,
Mervi

Until next time, New York!

Columbia University visit on October 18, 2016



Columbia University





Columbia University is located in Upper Manhattan, New York City and its official name is Columbia University of the City of New York.
Columbia University is a private research university. It is one of the eight Ivy League schools in the US. The Ivy League is a group of the best universities in the United States and in the world.
The university was established 1754 as King’s college by the Royal Charter of George II of Great Britain. It is the oldest institution of high learning in New York and the fifth oldest in the US. Columbia is one of most selective universities in the United States (only 6% applicants were admitted last year).
Columbia University is divided to Columbia College and Columbia engineering.
Columbia College is the part of Columbia University of humanities and disciplines such as marketing, political science, and the Law. Columbia engineering program is a program where you can study e.g. Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry.
Columbia University is very famous around the world, because so many famous people studied there, for example quite a few former presidents of the United States, 26 foreign heads of state, and many of CEOs of major companies.
Columbia University is also a place where you can do sports - the university has its own Columbia Lions sports team. There are also a couple of exotic sports, like diving and fencing practiced there.
Columbia University has also one weird tradition – every graduate student (not the engineers, though!) must be able to swim across the Hudson River (or actually the equivalent length), because every Columbia student must be on the other shore of the Hudson River, WHEN the Englishmen attack.
Columbia University is a perfect place for studying, sports and new experiences. Maybe someone from our school will study there one of these days - at least our guide Marilyn made her very best to promote her Alma Mater!





AMNH on October 18, 2016



AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATIONAL HISTORY




The American Museum of Natural History is one of the largest museums in the world. The museum is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The museum complex comprises 28 interconnected buildings housing 45 permanent exhibition halls. The museum collections contain over 33 million specimens of plants, fossils, minerals, animals, rocks, meteorites, human remains, and human cultural artifacts. The museum occupies more than 2.000.000 square feet (190.000 m2). The museum has a full-time scientific staff off 225. Its average visits annually is about five million. I myself also visited this museum and I was stunned how large and beautiful it was when experiencing it in person. I am not going to forget the museum and all its mind boggling collections ever.