THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY

Not really, as I actually wish time would slow down a bit. For a city that doesn't sleep, time goes awfully fast, but my point is that I went to TGI Fridays for dinner; more on that later.

I went into the studio for about 10am again this morning (unfortunately no bumping into familiar faces on the subway today, but there's still time) and spent the day finishing off tracing out all Carly's patterns onto acetate. 

Task 1: Complete! 

Next week I'll start sourcing, which gives me the weekend to explore a bit more and get the hang of the subway. I'm feeling like it makes sense, it's just the subway stations that confuse me, I'm pretty sure you end up walking half your journey just getting to the platforms. 

It was a really relaxed day today, everyone in the studio seemed a bit distracted from their work, I guess energies run low by the time Friday hits, but this was a fantastic opportunity for me to pick people's brains about Parsons and the masters program. That little bit of inside knowledge has given me a lot to think about before making any sort of decision; good job I've got at least a year! 

I finished work about 5 today, spent about half an hour checking emails etc and then went to meet Steph and Fia in Union Square. This is when we realised that meeting at a station in New York is nothing like arranging to meet at a station in London or Manchester; there are millions of exits! Eventually we found each other, had a little wander around before heading to TGI Friday's for some dinner. It was great catching up and hearing about other people's experiences in the city, especially when Steph went on to tell us about a discount American Apparel store, which will be emptied by me over the weekend (I better buy another suitcase!) Actually, I have been really good and have only bought a couple of really cheap tops, as I am saving my shopping for later in the trip. 

After our delicious dinner, we began making plans for things to do this weekend, so a visit to the Natural History Museum is on the cards for Sunday; I am too excited for this! Steph then showed us to a fantastic supermarket a few blocks away, as I'd commented on the lack of decent/cheap places to get food near me. I did a bit of a food shop to keep me going for the next few days:

 JUST KIDDING, that's left overs from last weeks shop.

Mum and Dad, you can relax: I bought FRUIT AND VEG!

In non-NYC related news:

After 2 weeks trying to rearrange an interview at Viktor & Rolf, I have finally been offered a day when I am back from New York and should be able to go! I need to work out how much it will cost to get to the interview and whether I'll spend a few days in Amsterdam whilst there or not. Either way, extremely exciting news and means I'll have to keep a tight rein on my pursestrings whilst out here, but probably its waaay too good an opportunity to let pass me by.

Let the hunt for cheap flights begin...

11th & 12th APRIL 2012

The part where I become an intern! 

So Wednesday was the first day I went into the studio and met Carly for the first time. Having been speaking to her frequently for nearly a month now, I was excited (if not a little nervous) to finally meet! More nerve-racking was the fact I was going into Parsons - this was a chance for me to get a sneak peak at where I may apply for a masters. Better be on my best behaviour! 

I spent a lot of the day out on errands, which I took ages doing because I kept getting distracted going down interesting streets and sticking my head into eye-catching stores. It was a great way to see more of the city, however this brings me to:

NYC Lesson #2 : The subway is there for a reason! 

Because I wanted to see everything I decided to walk between nearly all of my errands, rookie mistake.

Even my favourite, and usually comfortable, shoes left my feet feeling like I'd been walking on hot coals all day :( 

NYC Mission #1: Buy trainers!

Beautiful leather boots I love you, but my feet and the heat of this city do not. 

My first mission is to buy trainers. I have found some amazing Nike's, but I'm going to search a bit more before committing - shoe purchasing is serious business! 

Back to the studio after my adventures in the Garment District and beyond (no photos, I left my camera at home...silly Hannah!) to begin re-drafting patterns onto acetate for Carly's collection. As a lot of her collection includes printed garments, the acetate will make it much easier when it comes to the placement of the print within each pattern. 

I continued doing this today (Thursday) and have nearly completed the patterns for the majority of the collection; in a beautiful colour coded manner. Photography doesn't do it justice, but all layered up it looked pretty cool. 

 

NYC Lesson #3 : Expect the unexpected... 

By some freak chance, whilst waiting for the subway this morning I bumped into an ex-Salford student, Jonathan, and it turns out he lives on the same street! Insane! 

I was also really lucky to listen in on a talk by a designer who worked at Hussein Chalayan for 8 years, and now is a senior designer at Calvin Klein. She gave a really interesting insight, but it was weird to think she went from such a conceptual designer where she had so much freedom and opportunity to be almost ridiculously creative in the innovative and exciting, to a fairly modest and all-American company, where research comes a lot from Vintage pieces. Spending 8 year exploring the future, to then move onto looking backwards? It makes her an extremely versatile designer, but it must've been one hell of an adjustment to make!

I'm excited to see what tomorrow brings...

10th APRIL 2012

Day 2: Uptown tour and Downtown shopping.

So I started Tuesday (which I am calling day 2, rather than 3 as Sunday didn't really count) off with a super healthy breakfast...

ok, I had a Red Velvet Cupcake and it was incredible! Mmm!

The Uptown loop/route the tour bus took pretty much circled (rectangled?) Central Park, dipping in and out of neighbourhoods and stopping at museums and galleries. Having been unable to make any sort of decision (I'm going to blame jetlag) I didn't go into any of the museums, which is silly because it was definitely weather for visiting exhibitions; windy and little bursts of April Showers yet I decided to remain on an open top bus...I don't even know what was going on in my mind! Having said that, the weather didn't spoil it too much - this part of the tour showed off some of New York's older and amazing architecture. 

Photos: Above left- The Dakota (where Yoko Ono has an apartment), above right -The Natural History Museum (which I'm going to go back to) Below left - A statue in the gardens of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (an extremely beautiful building), below right - a close up of the entrance to the cathedral. 

From here the tour went through mostly residential areas, and I felt a bit intrusive taking too many photos, so that brings us to the next bit of the tour going through Harlem, passing amazing looking shops and the Apollo Theatre. We then continued on round Central Park (below right) and past the Guggenheim (below centred).

 

After the tour, I sat in Central Park briefly with a coffee and a snack but as the weather wasn't too peachy, I jumped back on the Downtown loop and headed back towards Greenwich village a SoHo. I had a lovely wander around Soho, coming across some really amazing shops; I'll definitely head back in that direction towards the end of my trip when I know how much spending money I have!

I then wandered around Greenwich village, which is an extremely beautiful neighbourhood. I found a surprisingly run down town house for sale; conveniently next door to Carrie Bradshaw's from Sex and the City (pictured below, left) Perhaps I should make an offer?? The road was lined with incredible houses, very quintessential wealthy/trendy New York. 

I then got a huge pizza, eavesdropped on the BEST Italian New Yorkers and went home! 

Over and out x

MY FIRST BITE OF THE BIG APPLE

So as I started to say in my first post, on my first day in the city I decided to go on one of those hop-on hop-off, open top tour buses. I figured this would give me a chance to understand the layout of the city and to see little bits of all the areas (and geekily make notes of where I wanted to go back to!) 

So day 1 tour started out in Times Square, where else?! And travelled in a loop of Downtown Manhattan, stopping at "key hot spots" as the tour guide liked to keep saying. It was a really good chance to see all the things that you are kind of expected to see whilst being here. First stop: Macy's and The Empire State Building: 

I have to say, I was pretty disappointed with Macy's. I've been in a couple in Chicago a few years back and it just felt like a big Debenhams, but a bit run down. It's weird for a store that has such a hype about it, and such a staple American store, to be actually very unimpressive. Especially this one, it is the Macy's. It takes up an entire block! Anyway, rant about Macy's is over. Unfortunately I didn't go up the Empire State, I'm not a huge fan of heights so I might wait and go up with one of the girls I know that are also out here. On the way to the next stop we passed a memorial to 9/11 made up of tiles with beautiful messages:

The next stop, that I didn't actually get off at on Monday, was Greenwich Village and SoHo. An area that is just beautiful, and looks full of amazing shops! I can't wait to explore it more, and eat in beautiful little cafes like Olio. 

Next stop was the World Trade Centre site. I don't think the jetlag had me in the right mental state to actually go into Ground Zero and see the memorial. (And without sounding too insensitive, there was a pretty long queue and I had lots of exploring to do...) But I definitely will try to go to the memorial before I leave; I just didn't want to be filled with this sadness, that I imagine would overwhelm you, on my first day here.  I did wander around the area, and look at the new building that's taking progress. 

I walked the next bit of the route, down to Battery Park which is the very tip of Manhattan looking out at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Again, I didn't go out on another tour as the queues for a ferry were ridiculous; site-seeing on Easter Monday may not have been the wisest move! 

 Battery Park has a fair few memorials in the site, but I won't over load you all with them. (I'm sure I'll show you all my pictures when I'm back!) 

Whilst in the area, I noticed the National Museum of the American Indian. Pretty intrigued, I went in not knowing what to expect. A fairly small museum, but full of extremely eye catching and powerful, if not rather sombre imagery. An interesting, and welcomed quiet, retreat from the hustle and bustle. 

The rest of the tour included the South Street Seaport (which has some exhibitions I hope to visit in my time here) Chinatown, Wall Street, Little Italy, East Village, United Nations, Rockafella Centre, a quick peak at Central Park and then back to Times Square. 

I spent the early evening window shopping, and saw the City as darkness fell and the bright lights were more powerful. (Unfortunately I didn't get any good photos) 

I will end it there for now, and leave you with my first lesson of NYC. Day 2 coming soon...

NYC Lesson #1 : Wear a hat. 

Or don't bother doing your hair. Or carry a hairbrush (rather than a comb, combing wind swept hair just makes for a static mess!) I always thought Chicago was the windy city, but New York must be rivalling it the past couple of days. I've learnt that carrying a big but thin scarf, or a hoody, is pretty essential as although it looks lovely out, there's definitely a spring chill in the air. 

Weather report over, and out.

IT ONLY TOOK A DAY...

...to fall in love with NYC! I am smitten!

This is a diary of my experiences as an intern:

_ P ∆ R T 1 : N E W Y O R K _

It's the end of my first full day here. I arrived into JFK yesterday lunch time, jumped into a cab (the fact I am loving yellow at the moment anyway just made it all more exciting to be in a yellow taxi for the first time) and was driven by the coolest rasta over to my apartment. The keys were stupid; it took me about half an hour to actually get into the flat but once in it was worth it. I have exposed brick work and a pet kitty! 

So, I really didn't do much other than go out and buy beer and lucky charms, and then sit talking to my parents, friends and boyfriend on skype yesterday. I'm glad I took it easy though because it meant I could make the most of today.I got up really early and spent a couple of hours in bed researching like a real geeky tourist, then finally got the courage up to go exploring on my own. I walked down to the station, bought a Metrocard for the month (which cost a bomb) and jumped on a train into the city. Every landmark, big or small, that I saw got me excited. I love cities anyway, but there is something about New York that has always enticed me, and today it all became real. I am finally in NYC, and I bloody love it!

Sorry, jet lag has hit me; to be continued...