This is New York!! – Vol. 11

Wednesday, August 5^th,

Today, we came to highlight this visit to USJ.  Yes, this is it. It is the excursion to New York. We woke up a little earlier than usual to take a bus to New York City. The weather is perfect for this highlight.

Two hours’ bus ride finally took us to the place where tall buildings stretch anywhere. The bus kept going on to our first destination of today's highlight tour, the Empire State Building. We all together went up to the observation of the building on the floor of 86th. The view of New York City was so amazing that the students were eager to listen to the explanation from their partners. "That is A Statue of Liberty! And that bridge you see in this direction is the Brooklyn Bridge!"   “Yes, this is it! New York!”

Then we moved on to Museum of Modern Art at 5^th avenue in Midtown of Manhattan where many museums and libraries stretch this area.  So many fine art works from post impressionism works to Andy Warhol are exhibited that it will take much time to watch all the works.  We took a look at some of the famous works there and enjoyed this touchy atmosphere of New York.  “Yes, this is New York!”

And then we took a quick walk tour to our final destination of Times Square.  So many people from so many countries are walking, yelling, shouting, laughing and taking pictures. Messy, busy, noisy and funky place is there.  Our American language partners said to us, “”We have heard Shinjuku and Shibuya in Tokyo are much active and exciting than here in New York, is it true?”  We answered, “ No!  Actually, you can find more people are walking around anytime in Shibuya and Shinjuku, so they are busy and noisy town.  But in term of “diversity”, there is no comparing New York to Tokyo.  Here in New York, the languages we can hear from around are French, Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Turkish, Arabic, Japanese and some more African languages. “

Yes, this is it! New York!

今日はハイライトのニューヨーク訪問！天気もパーフェクト。コネティカット・ハートフォードからバスで2時間のライドで、ニューヨークです。まずは、ヤンキースタジアムとハーレムが迎えてくれます。それを経て、エンパイア・ステート・ビルディングへ。86階の展望台からニューヨークを見渡しました。「あれが、自由の女神、ブルックリン橋！映画で見た数々のニューヨークのスポットが眼下にあります。」

次に、ニューヨーク近代美術館（MOMA）へ。ポスト印象派のポール・セザンヌ、アンリ・マチスから、ピカソの近代の芸術を決定的に変える契機になった「アビニョンの娘たち」！そして、マルク・シャガールのこれも歴史を動かした重要な作品、幻想的な「村と私」。そして何よりもニューヨーク的な60~70年代ポップ・アイコン、アンディ・ウォーホルの数々の作品。これもニューヨークならでは。

最後に、タイムズ・スクエア。皆「コマーシャルと同じ！」と。いえいえ、映像はでは体験できないのが、この空気感。この雑多な活力は東京では体験できないもの。 その圧倒的なダイバーシティを体験できたことも大きな経験値として、これからの人生に生きてきます。