New York Is Ugly

Somehow that thought did not occur to me until the green grass and shiny cars gradually became crowded sidewalks and yellow taxis. The AP and honors biology classes went on a field trip earlier this week to the Bodies Museum in Manhattan. I knew it was in New York, but it must have failed to register, because I did not fully realize my whereabouts until the cleanliness (if monotony) of Connecticut was behind us. The latter half of the bus ride reminded me how much I hate New York. It has got to be the ugliest state in this country. The dull gray sidewalks are crowded with people pushing each other to move faster and the streets are littered with yellow taxis with movie advertisements on top. That's another thing I hate: there are advertisements all over the place. Plastered big and bold on billboards and the sides of buses or taped to store windows. The endless advertisements are so inescapable it's almost suffocating. New York itself is suffocating. It may be my imagination but it seems as if there is never any sun in New York...the sun is out but the sky is blocked by the buildings that seemingly stretch to wherever heaven is supposed to be. How are people supposed to watch the sun rise and set when these ugly man-made things are obstructing the view? How do you live like that? Since when were artificial lights beautiful? The only plausible answer is that people there simply don't like the sun. It seems reasonable. Everyone there reminds me of a rat; they skitter around in the darkness of the shadows and hop onto their buses or into their taxis before the sun has a chance to shine on them. The shade from the buildings keeps them secure in their dark corners. It really creeps me out. I don't want to live like a hermit. These thoughts plagued me as the coach bus drove deeper in the New York. I can't recall a single moment when one state turned into another. Maybe there was and my mind was off somewhere else, oblivious. Maybe I was too busy playing pointless games to pass the time or telling Brian how much I really hate the east coast.
I didn't know much about the trip to the Bodies Museum except that we got to see dead people and then have an hour and a half to roam around the South Street Seaport area. I hadn't even signed up to be in a group, but my friends put me in their group without me asking. We were in Mrs. Rick's group, which was good because she made the best cookies but bad because she's the epitome of a helicopter parent. I guess I can understand why she's like that; I don't know if her daughter, Ariana, has social problems or not...but I can only handle her in small doses. She hasn't matured much since elementary school and I don't cope well with people below my maturity level. I lose patience and have to detach myself. But I wasn't going to complain. The fact that my friends thought to put me in whatever group they were in made me happy enough. I wasn't sure who I was going to sit with but wasn't going to worry about it either. Over the past month I've developed a ton of faith in my friends. They seem to be there right when I need them, although they were probably there the whole time...I just haven't appreciated it until now. So I wasn't going to stress over something insignificant like who I'm going to sit with. Brian said he needed a "bus buddy," I agreed, and just like that it was settled. It was about a two hour bus ride, which I usually wouldn't mind, but towards the end I was growing tired of sitting in such a cramped area. It balanced out in the end, considering all the walking we did in the museum.
The exhibit was supposed to be mind-blowing, or at least that was what I heard from other people. My mom was jealous of me but I told her we could swap places anytime...the previous day she had taken her students on a field trip for an all-access tour of Madison Square Garden. As fascinating as dead bodies are, I'd like to MSG a bit more. The only things that intrigued me were that A) every body in the exhibit had been alive in the past ten years and B) because the Chinese government was running all of this, it's questionable whether the people died of natural causes...or were executed. Those bits creeped me out, but other than that, it wasn't anything mind-blowing. The bodies were skinless and even posed in different positions. It was interesting but nothing absolutely amazing. I think all the hype I heard from other people sort of killed the experience for me. Oh, well. To quote the lyrical genius Ben Gibbard, "No experience will ever match up to the idealized version in your mind."
The best part of the day was definitely the latter half. We were one of the first groups to go into the exhibit, meaning we were one of the first out. We had over an hour and a half to "eat lunch," which basically meant "do whatever you want as long as you don't get us teachers in trouble for doing it." Mrs. Rick wanted all of us to stick together but Kinnari, Raksha, and Bailey used their "we're vegetarians" speech as a reason for going off on our own. Mrs. Rick wasn't 100% convinced on the idea but we practically ran away before she could flat out say no. We walked up and down the streets for a few minutes before changing direction and finding a mini-mall sort of place. We got food and then walked around the different shops, which doesn't sound nearly as enjoyable as it was. All of us splurged on candy and ice cream and forgot for a little while that we would soon have to leave. It's amazing how the people you're with can completely change the way you experience something...normally, I would hate to spend a day in New York and have to walk through shops just to look. I would beg to leave...but this time I was begging not to leave. New York was almost beautiful for a moment when Brian and I almost got lost and found ourselves on a ledge overlooking everything. Almost, but not quite. The sun's light was still murky at best and the ugly buildings loomed across a gap of gray looking water...but it was alright, alright for a few seconds.