Au Pair in America 2014/15!: BRITS IN NYC..

So Day 2 was such a crazy day it was unreal. It was the day that we FINALLY got to go on the New Yrok City tour!! Not only that, but it was the first day of orientation, so a very very busy day!

So first of all we got a wake up call at 6:30am which considering I had barely any sleep was ridiculous! And it was 11am UK time so I was really out of sync haha! But I FaceTimed my mum and brother and then got ready for breakfast for 7:15. Breakfast wasn't that great, just a mix of cereals, toast and fruit with yoghurt. I'm really going to miss full cooked english breakfasts!!

After breakfast we had our first meeting which explained all about Au Pair in America as an organization and about the United States, about the three 'nos' that you can't do (drugs, drinking under 21 years old and abusing the children). Americans are extrermely strict about some of their laws in regards to underage drinking, whereas other countries - particularly European ones - are much more relaxed, so coming from England where the legal drinking age is 18 will be weird to adjust to. We also had a community counsellor talk to us about the roles of the community counsellors in the programme and how they can help us. Although it was a bit tedious and boring, it was really informative and helpful. At 12 we had lunch which was chicken fajitas which was alright, haha!

After lunch we had another meeting about living in America, cultural adaptation, the roles and expectations of both the au pairs and the host families. This was really good because we got more of an idea about what to expect in the next year and how different our culture is to American culture and what to expect in regards to the differences and possible clashes in cultures.

Finally, at 4:30 we had the NYC tour! I was in a group with my fellow British au pairs Danielle, Isobel, Holly and Nicola as we had all become really good friends so that was so nice! We were all given a small lunch on the bus and made the hour trip from the hotel into the city, so exciting!

Firstly, we went to Rockefeller Centre. We went all the way to the 'Top of the Rock' which was 70 storeys high! The views were so incredible, we could see so much of the city, Central Park, Freedom Tower, the Empire State Building and so much more! It was so breathtaking! These are some of the photos from the Rockefeller Centre!

After we got back on the bus and headed to Times Square. It is so crazy it's unbelievable! So many people! We went to the main part of Times Square, where they have the 'ball drop' on New Year's Eve. Everywhere was so bright, so many lights and so many people! There were loads of characters walking about such as Spiderman, the Statue of Liberty and Mickey Mouse, but we were warned by our tour guide that they would ask for money if we had our photos taken with them, and also as we only had 35 minutes to look around that we just decided to take our own photos instead! And here they are!

Finally after Times Square we were taken through Manhattan past the Hudson River towards the southern part of Manhattan where we could see the Statue of Liberty from across the water. Whilst we were on the bus, we drove past the site of 9/11 and the new World Trade Center, which is also known as the 'Freedom Tower'. You don't really realise just how big the site was and the two waterfall fountains put where the Twin Towers were are just incredible and it makes you realise just how big of an impact the disaster had on the city. I want to come back soon and visit it properly, it's such a massive deal! So we got to the place where we could see the Statue of Liberty, and we could also see the state of New Jersey as that is just across the Hudson. On of my fellow British au pairs, Holly, is going to be living there, and as it's easy to get to the city from New Jersey, if we visit again we'll probably just end up staying with her, haha! By the time we got there, it was late evening so we saw the start of the sunset and as it was so warm it was just an amazing evening, me and Nicola started getting a little emotional haha! Nicola also does a blog aswell, so if anyone wants to read it, then it is www.lifeissanadventure.wordpress.com :)

These are the rest of the photos from NYC including ones from seeing the Statue of Liberty..