March in London

by Carl Cota-Robles
Broome Global Ambassador

Hey everyone,

March had been a pretty crazy month for me over here in London.  The first two months seem relatively easy in comparison to the whirlwind of events that's going on right now for me.

On March 9th my spring break began.  For most London students, Spring Break has just started now, but Tisch London has an earlier and shorter (1-week instead of 2 weeks) Spring Break than the rest of NYU London.  I took that week to travel to Cardiff, Wales and Dublin, Ireland, which was a great trip, if not a little exhausting.  Probably the most exhausting part of the trip was taking two overnight bus/ferry trips, but I'll get to that later.

Upon arriving in Cardiff I quickly discovered that the entire population of Wales had also had the same idea I had about going to Cardiff for the weekend, although not for the same reason.  I was there to see the sights, specifically Doctor Who related things because that's like my favorite TV show ever.  But everyone else was there to watch the Wales vs. Italy Rugby match.  It was crazy.  However, despite the craziness, I did manage to find a Dalek that Saturday morning and get a random Welsh guy to take a picture of me with the Dalek.

Highlights from the Cardiff trip included seeing the Cardiff Castle, which was originally built by the Romans but expanded upon by the Normans and other people, the National Museum, and the Cardiff Bay and Millennium Center where I saw a Doctor Who Concert.  What's that, you ask?  It's where you watch an episode of Doctor Who while listening to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales play all the music live.  Most awesome experience of my trip to Cardiff right there.

Then, I took an overnight bus to Dublin, and was so exhausted afterward I had to take a short nap and didn't really do anything my first day there except explore the city a little.  My second day I went on a walking tour of the city, where I learned a ton of history and got to see a ton of different cool sights.  My next two days in Dublin after that were spent visiting Dublinia, a viking museum, the Christ Church, the National Archaeology Museum, and the Dublin Zoo.  It was all awesome.

Since Spring Break ended, I've had piles and piles of homework to do, however, I have also managed to visit the Hampton Court Palace, which was an awesome place.  There were a bunch of old rooms of Henry VIII, Henry VII, and other kings and queens, as well as a beautiful garden in the back with a maze that was small but still fun.

March in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

by Michael Vergara

Broome Global Ambassador 

This city is no doubt high up on every twenty-something’s list of where to party and it really showed. Despite travelling during the off peak season to beat the crowds, the coffee shops were crowded, primarily young, and mostly American. Bus tickets were cheap to get there, but be prepared for the long drive there and back. However, the city is very tourist-friendly and it would be hard to find anyone who didn’t speak English. Some tips: use the tram to get around quickly, avoid the main tourist traps, and enjoy the flora – tulips and other plants are cheap and plentiful - as well as the many museums that will definitely fill up your time quickly. If you are a Van Gogh fan like me, you could just wander his museum for hours and then continue outside to wander along the canals of the city. Seemed to go by way too quickly though, and this destination would work great for a potential spring break trip as well. Visit soon before the city sinks even more! Weekend fun rating: A-/A.

PS try the stroopwaffels and krokets!

Obligatory Iamsterdam Picture

Tons of these flower shops lined the street

March in Italy

by Benjamin A. Klemes

Broome Global Ambasaddor

This month has revolved around trying my best to immerse myself in this beautiful country. I participate in an exchange program with Italian students every Tuesday evening. Around 15 NYU students meet with University of Florence students and we have dinner and chat for a few hours. I love hearing about everyone’s different lifestyles and getting to practice my Italian. In my spare time, I try to explore as much of Florence as I can, which gets frustrating at times because I have a terrible sense of direction and get lost quite easily, but it is also rewarding. This past week I finally ventured into the Mercato Centrale to buy groceries for myself. This market dates back several hundred years and was the first permanent marketplace in Florence. It was originally built so that butchers could set up stands to sell their products. I pushed past the many stalls right outside the market selling leather goods and made my way inside. What first caught my eye were all the different types of fish and meat. I stuck to buying mostly produce, although I did purchase a simple prosciutto and cheese sandwich and a few cookies also.

I also try to explore the other cities of Italy. This past month, I went to Venice, Verona and Rome and am leaving to go to Capri and Naples tomorrow morning! I also have a trip planned for April to go to the fisherman’s villages at Cinque Terre and also Sicily. It’s been amazing seeing the differences in all the Italian cities. Each region has its own culture and its own style.

The pictures I’ve posted are from my travels to Venice, Verona, Paris, London, and Rome. 

March in Israel

by Rebecca Cushman

Broome Global Ambassador

Hello again! Studying abroad in Jerusalem has continued to be an absolutely incredible, enriching experience. I’ve had so many wonderful experiences this past month that honestly, it’s difficult to even know where to begin!

Well, let’s see. One of the classes I’m taking here is about the architecture of Jerusalem. Since we’re learning about Jerusalem, and are actually here in Jerusalem, we take a field trip almost every week, which is a really fantastic opportunity! One of the best trips that we went on this month was to Hezekiah’s Tunnel. For a bit of history, Hezekiah’s Tunnel was built in the 8th century BCE, and it was constructed with the purpose of suppling water to the city of Jerusalem. It’s really a great experience to walk through it - although not one that I would recommend for those who are closterphobic!

This month, I also went to Tel Aviv, which was amazing!! I spent the day there, and the highlight of the trip was a museum that I went to called, The Design Museum Holon. The exhibit on display there was called “Decode” and it was almost all digital art, and very interactive. For example, one exhibit was called “Tree” which showed a digital image of a tree, with leaves, on a screen. The branches on the tree are programmed to sway in response to the actual wind outside the art museum! And, to add to that, it is programmed so that as visitors walk past this digital tree, the leaves fall and you see the images of the fallen leaves on the floor. So cool!! This was just one among many incredible exhibits, but I hope it paints a picture of the type of modern, digital artwork that was on display!

Perhaps the best experience, though, in March, was the celebration of the Jewish holiday, Purim! There are many customs of this holiday, one of which is to dress up in costume. It was really cool to see the streets taken over by people, of all ages, dressed in costume, dancing and singing with such joy. Purim is really a celebration of the survival of the Jewish people in Persia, during the reign of King Achashverosh. And, believe me, the celebration can be felt throughout the streets! It is customary on Purim to eat hamentashen, which are triangular shaped cookies with different fillings in the middle, such as chocolate, apricot, poppy seeds, etc. They are really delicious and there was certainly no shortage of them here in Jerusalem! Also, on Purim, it is a custom to give Mishloach Manot. Essentially, people make gift baskets, most often with candy and other food, and they give the baskets to charity or to their frends and family. It is a beautiful tradition, and I really love that while the holiday is about dressing up in costume and celebrating, it’s also about taking the time to think about others and to show that you care.

The experiences here are endless, and the best part is that every day is a new adventure! So, to conclude, as always...here are some pictures from my adventures in Jerusalem! Enjoy!

Not Too Spicy

The Broome Street Blog is proud to present the first in a series of essays from Broomies studying abroad (scroll down for three others from Michael Vergara, Carl Cota-Robles, and Rebecca Cushman). Throughout the semester, several students will document their lives living and exploring their foreign countries. We hope that these inspire you to broaden your views of not only the city, but also the global community in which we are a part of.


Not Too Spicy

By: Carolyn Balk

January 28, 2012

This past January I went with Gallatin to southern India, specifically to Bangalore and its surrounding areas. I absolutely loved the countryside and the food, but the city’s smog and ubiquitous KFCs and Dominos (thanks to heavy globalization in Bangalore or India’s dubbed “Silicone Valley”) not so much. The experience overall was immense, and the class, “Development, Culture, and Globalization in India,” only enhanced my time there.

The countryside we went to was eight hours driving north of Bangalore: a small town called Anegundi and its neighboring more famous town Hampi. Hampi holds many ancient temples and was just recently declared a UNESCO world heritage site—something that has created much controversy. There is astrange binary view of heritage: “old” heritage vs. new or “living” heritage.Which one takes precedence? Is one better than the other? Is one more valued, whether by the local people or tourists, than the other? For the Indian government (and indirectly UNESCO), the “old” heritage won, and the homes surrounding Hampi’s main temple (a temple still in function) were bulldozed last November in order for the temple to have a more “classic” or “traditional” look and feel. Although the homes are gone, hawkers still congregate daily to sell tourist trinkets or bananas to feed to the temple’s resident elephant.Amidst the lush rice paddies, beautiful sunrises, 20 cent fresh coconut water,and chai-tea drinking monkeys (I am not kidding), was a covertly discussed heritage controversy that I would not have known about or uncovered if it were not for this course and actually physically visiting the site.

You always hear, “so-and-so’s food is not the same when you are actually in so-and-so,” and let me tell you: this is all too true forIndia. Although Basmati rice is a staple at any of New York’s Indian restaurants, we had Basmati rice only once in our time in India. I recognizedmany of the names of dishes, for example my favorite Saag Paneer (a spinach and cheese dish), but the spice factor and the fresh taste factor in India was ten times more than anywhere I have been in the US. I like spicy food, but even I had to ask for the dishes to not be spicy in order to get the tamer spice I could handle. There were very interesting desserts, my favorite being jalebi, or as I called them, honey friedgoodness. It was like hot liquid-y honey and fried dough with a cream sauce all in one bite. Nomz factor = through the roof. Bottom line: The Dosa Man on the southwest corner of Washington Square Park does not measure up to MTR’s dosas (MTR is a restaurant and also a prepackaged food brand) in the heart of Bangalore city.

Bangalore proper was very, very different from New York, or any city I have been to for that matter (granted, this was my first time in India). The city bounds spread greatly, and each year the city grows and acquires small towns surrounding what used to be the city’s outskirts. The metropolis multiplies yearly especially as more and more Indians move from the countryside into the city looking for work and a better life away from farming. Because of this, shantytowns made of metalsheeting stand right next to large gated houses, and cows roam the streets next to BMWs. This multiplying effect also leads to poor city planning making it a hassle to get from one end of the city to another. Luckily, you can hail anauto-rickshaw (an open-air taxi) to take you just about anywhere—but beprepared to bargain heavily. Some of the rickshaw drivers I had didn’t speak English, but those that did loved to have conversations with my friends and me—saying anything they could in English.

The traffic is crazy—many drivers do not pay attention to the yellow line going down the middle of the road and allof the motorbikes will zig-zag between larger cars and trucks like nobody’s business. Crossing the street is an art form that takes meticulous and scrupulous practice. Needless to say, if Bangalore implemented New York’s $300 fine for honking, the city would be rich. Unfortunately, with a big city comes smog. Smog is a huge problem, and while driving in an auto-rickshaw I oftencovered my mouth with a scarf to breathe.

The most intriguing part about India I thought was thinking of its colonial past and how this influenced its present day state,and also how India and China are in constant and overt competition with one another. Although India gained independence from England in 1947, India’s youth today look to England (and the US and other European countries in general) for brands and new ideas. It is an intriguing blend of modern and traditional—a dichotomy I am still trying to decipher. As well, India strives to excel like China in terms of exports and manufactured goods, and many newspaper articlesand businessmen will point out this competition.

Simply put: visiting India was an amazing experience, filled with interesting fusions and contradictions and of course, lots and lots of spice.

January in London

There's so much sightseeing to do! The following chronicles a trip to a picturesque spot in London.

By Mike Vergara

My first mandatory NYU trip was to Greenwich on the Thames, where Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) starts and the Prime Meridian cuts through (at the Royal Observatory at the top of the hill). Our tour guide gave us lots of interesting historical facts during the tour, for example, the Queen’s House in Greenwich was the first classical building to be built in Britain and the moored Cutty Sark (the boat) is still depicted to this day on bottles of Cutty Sark (the whiskey). Guaranteed fun to be had for everyone, with a collection of historical sites – and even some historical pubs – scattered throughout the picturesque town of Greenwich on the Thames. It actually wouldn’t be a bad idea to go back and really soak up all the history now that I think about it… In any case, cheers from London

Caption: The Royal Observatory

A Touch of Magic

One of the most inspiring things about study abroad is feeling the "magic" in the air..

By Carl Cota-Robles

Hi, this is Carl. I was in Broome last semester.  Now I'm in London.  This is (hopefully) the first blog entry of many. I'm just going to cover the main and really cool things about my trip in London on this blog; but if you want a detailed description of everything I've done so far in London, check out the London Blog section of my website at: https://files.nyu.edu/ccr263/public/

Ok, so first really cool thing that happened in London. I saw Platform 9 and 3/4. If you don't know what platform 9 and 3/4 is, you obviously haven't read Harry Potter and should close this webpage right now and pick up that book. If you do know, then keep on reading.

The day after that, we went on a coach tour of London. No, they weren't really coaches, that's what people around here call buses. We stopped to see different landmarks such as the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, and we even drove by Big Ben, but unfortunately we didn't get to stop and see it up close.

So far, classes have gone swimmingly. I'm taking three classes over here, British Cinema, Shakespeare, and Screenwriting. I've already started to notice a trend of popularity amongst the classes (3 people transferred out of my British Cinema class and into my Shakespeare class). But I've really enjoyed the movies we've watched in British Cinema so far (Somers Town, The Ladykillers (1955 version) and Picadilly). Picadilly is a silent film, which was kind of difficult to watch at 9am on a Monday morning, but I still enjoyed it once I got into it.

This past weekend, I also went on a walking tour from St. Paul's Cathedral to the Tower of London. That was really fun, albeit a bit cold. We also stopped on the way at places such as the Millennium Bridge (also from Harry Potter) and the Borough Market. The Borough Market was really fun because they had a bunch of cool foods, including the best brownies in the galaxy and the best meat pie in all of England. Mmmmm. Most places also gave out free samples.

Just to finish this post off, I'll give you a little bit of information about events coming up in the future for me:

This Sunday, Feb. 5, I'm going to visit Oxford. Yay!!

On Wednesday, Feb. 8, I'm going to the theatre to see Blood Brothers the musical.

On Sunday Feb. 19, I'm going on a trip to see Bath and Stonehenge.

And on some weekend, I'm planning on participating in Host UK, a program where I get to take a trip to some city outside of London and spend a weekend with a host family.

So that's pretty much it for planned events right now, I'm sure I'll be doing more but I'm not sure when or what yet, so make sure to keep reading my blog to find out!

Story of Jerusalem

The first week of the semester is always rough, and it's even tougher in another country! Read one student's account on getting acquainted to the city of Jerusalem.

By Rebecca Cushman

Hi! My name is Rebecca and I’m studying abroad at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel! It has been an absolutely incredible experience thus far, and I can’t wait to have more and more enlightening, cultural experiences. So, I figured I’d tell you about some of the highlights from my trip, so that you can get a glimpse of what life is like here in Israel!

I arrived in Israel on Monday, January 16th. We were met by the madrichim, who are like RA’s. They plan lots of fun events and trips for us to participate in, and they are here in case we need anything during our study abroad experience. The student village, where our dorms are, is beautiful. I have a single room in a 5-person suite. We have a kitchen, two bathrooms, a common area with a couch, and then, of course, our individual bedrooms. The actual campus of Hebrew University is also gorgeous. Within the campus, there’s an incredible amphitheater with a stunning view of Jerusalem, as well as a botanical garden! Sspeaking of the view of Jerusalem, there’s really nothing quite like it; Jerusalem is really an incredible place.

Before classes start, we all take a class called Ulpan. We study the Hebrew language for about 4 hours every day. I’ve really been enjoying this program because I would love to be fluent in Hebrew, and this is definitely a great start!

Let’s talk about the food here. One word: incredible. The falafel with pita and hummus is amazing here. The rugelach, which is a delicious pastry often filled with chocolate, can’t be beaten! And, there’s an amazing dish here called shnitzel, which can be most closely compared to chicken cutlets. On another related note, however, going to the supermarket for the first time was a crazy experience. There were so many different brands of every type of food, just like in an American supermarket, but everything was in Hebrew and a lot of the time, I just simply couldn’t figure out what to buy.

There are so many things to say, and so many experiences that I’ve had, that I couldn’t possible write them all. But, throughout the semester, I’ll give updates on my life here, in the hopes of offering you all a glimpse into the life and culture of Jerusalem, Israel!

To that end, here are some pictures I’ve taken!