Two weekends ago, I traveled to Washington D.C. and New York City with the Admissions team. We were hosting presentations for prospective students in both cities. These events are what I look forward to the most during the semester. They’re an opportunity to speak to students and families that are interested in Embry-Riddle, which is something that I love to do. The Prescott, Arizona Admissions team travels with us, as well in the spring. It’s always nice to spend time with our counterparts across the country!
Our first stop of the weekend was Washington D.C., which is probably my favorite city. I love the history, old buildings, and hustle and bustle of the city. It’s crazy to think about all the major decisions that have been made in that city. We spent our first day touring around D.C. I had never seen the Constitution, Bill of Rights, or Declaration of Independence before, so we went to see those first. I was blown away by the documents, and how much history that lies within them. Next, we walked through the National Mall to the Capitol Building. We walked around inside and saw both the House and the Senate, although they were not in session. Lastly, we went to the Air and Space Museum. Another thing that’s great about D.C. is that all the museums are free.
The United States Capitol building
Saturday, we hosted our event for the prospective students. It was very successful, and I got to speak with a lot of students who were very excited about what ERAU had to offer. After our event, we took the train to New York. It was a gorgeous train ride up the East Coast. We finally arrived in New York around 9pm, and headed to dinner at a famous pizza place. The pizza was probably the best I’d ever had. All of us ate our own 12 inch pizza!
After dinner, we headed out to do some sight-seeing. We went to Times Square to look at all the billboards, and go into the huge H&M store. After we had shopped for a while, we headed back towards our hotel, and stopped by Rockefeller Plaza to see the ice rink. While we were watching the skaters, a magician came up behind us and started doing magic tricks. We ended up getting roped into watching him perform for half an hour. By the time he was finished, it was almost 1AM!
We woke up early the next morning to take a walk through Central Park. None of us had ever been there before, so it was a new experience for all of us. I didn’t realize just how big Central Park is. We walked for at least an hour, and only made it halfway. Our mission for the morning was to make it to this famous bakery to get “the best chocolate chip cookie in New York City”. Trust me, it was one of the best cookies I have ever eaten! Once we were finished devouring our cookies, we realized it was probably time to go to our presentation. We rushed back to get ready and get setup for the event.
The Plaza Hotel from Central Park
Once again, the event went well, and we had a lot of families who came to hear all about ERAU. After the event, we grabbed a quick lunch and went out to do some more sightseeing. It would’ve been a long walk, so we decided to take the subway, which was an experience. It took us awhile to figure out which train to get on. We went to the 9/11 Memorial, which was an amazing sight. I think it is something that everyone should see at least once. Next we headed to Battery Park to watch the sunset over the Statue of Liberty. After our adventure on the subway, we were very hungry, so we went to Little Italy to grab a nice dinner. I had an amazing Gnocchi Pesto dish, that I would eat for dinner every day if I could. With that, our weekend was over.
9/11 Memorial Pool
I am so grateful that I get to travel with Admissions to these events. I enjoy speaking with students, and telling them why ERAU is such a great University. If you are a prospective student, I encourage you to come visit campus, or check out any Admissions events in your area!
Until next time,
Lindsey
