FNN Takes A Bite of The Big Apple

[flashvideo file=assets/video/FNNinNewYorkFinal-2011-08-05.flv image=assets/images/FNNinNewYorkFinal-2011-08-09.jpg /]

On July 18, 2011, our FNN news team went on an incredible adventure to the city that never sleeps, New York. We saw the beautiful view from the Top of the Rock. We crossed streets like 5th Avenue. We viewed Radio City from the Rockerfeller Center. We ate a big slice of New York pizza. We went to Lego and M&Ms World. We saw the shining lights of Times Square. New York is a city where intellect, creativity and a passion for beauty converge.  For hundreds of years, it has beckoned the brightest minds. It’s a city where imagination is a function that makes everyone special in their own way.  My impression—New York is bright lights and a party everywhere. New York is a place where people don’t just wish, but make it happen. New York is a place where dreams aren’t deferred.

I would have to say that New York seems like a place where magic can happen. I remember when I walked through Times Square and I saw the lights. I was so happy just seeing the New York I always dreamed of.  Just the smell of hot dogs and dreams were awesome. It made me smile—kind of like Christmas morning. I screamed when I saw the Coco-Cola sign. I was so excited I would have to say I would go back again. Maybe I just love it because of the nightlife. - Skye Webster, 7th grade, Friendship Blow Pierce Junior Academy.

New York On July 18, 2011, my experience in New York was fun, funny and a lot more. I was the person who took most of the photos and did the videotaping. One thing that made it fun was going to eat at the pizza deli. I got two slices of pizza. The pizza was really chesse and the bread was hard but it tasted good. If I could go back there, I would. Another place we went was Rockefeller Center. I got to take pictures of the statues and the water that was in front of the building. When we went inside the building, there were pictures on the wall. We went on the roof to make a video of us on top of the building right in front of the Empire State Building. At first, we had to wait because they said we had to get a permit before we made the video. When we finally started, we had to shoot 10 takes. After we did the video, we took some pictures of the buildings and the view of the streets from above. Then, we went down stairs to get something to eat at Starbucks and a sushi place After we finished eating, we sang and danced. Finally we were on our way to Times Square. When we got there, we did another video. It was crowded and there wasn’t that much space but we pulled through to get a good video. It took us a while to find some people to interview. It was funny trying to find people to interview. After we did the interviews, Mr. Reeverts, our video instructor from National Geographic and I shot some video of the billboards, signs and traffic. Then, we went into some candy stores and got some pictures of Hershey bars and M&Ms.  Lastly, we walked back to the Megabus for the trip home. And that was my experience of New York. - Rondal Greene, 8^th grade, Friendship Tech Prep Academy and incoming freshman, Friendship Collegiate Academy.

My New York Hi, you may know me. I am Fatima Hill. Now, I am going to tell you about our trip to New York. There were big bright lights and people. That is it.  I’m just joking. There was more than that...way more than lights and people. It was very big and people were nice. It was quite nice, you see. When we went to the top of Rockefeller Center I was kind of scared and very happy at the same time. How does that happen? I don’t even know. When we went to Times Square it was fun. When had to find people to interview for our video I was scared, but then it got fun. The end part was kind of lame because we had to walk and my feet were hurting. The day as a whole was good. The lights and people looked awesome.  - Fatima Hill, 7th grade, Friendship Blow Pierce Academy.

New York Journey I travel and have been to New York City a lot, but never this part—Times Square and the West Side. This part is a little dirtier and a lot busier. It’s crowded in lots of places and very popular. I did have a bad time for part of the trip.

But I still had fun. The taxies in the street are always running and when it rains puddles of water are everywhere. So it is possible for water to splash on you. That happened. I never thought that was really a possibility for me, but as you can tell…hey, it happens… especially when you travel. OK, now that we’ve gotten past my negative opinions, I’ll now talk about the fun and positive things in this bustling part of New York.

First, is the pizza. I have seen, heard about and only evisioned tasting it but never ever tasted it before. Guest what happened? I still did not taste it. I just was not hungry at the time. But what was really interesting was the TOP OF THE ROCK. It was cool and very high. Being an on-air personality for our video the first time was hard. I really was trying to give it energy, but with all the criticism, I felt unwanted, you know. By the second time it was fun. I quote, “If being yourself is crazy, then not being yourself is psycho”.  So use that quote and forget what people say. We stayed at Rockefeller Center for a while eating and playing. That was the best part. Next we walked our tails off-—all the way down from Top of the Rock to Times Square. This was the brightest coolest part. It was cool interviewing people and visiting two chocolate stores. One had Reese’s and other types of chocolate. Then we went to the M&M’s store and had a wonderful time. I don’t like chocolate that much, but I love that store. Of course since my name is very popular, it was on mugs and stickers. I’m awesome. Oh yeah, I forgot about the crowded popular MacDonald’s under the lights in Times Square. That gave me a headache. After all of that, we had to take a journey back to the Megabus stop. Oh, and did I tell you that we passed Madison Square Garden!  At the end of trip, we waited and waited and waited some more but finally were able to board the bus. Then,we all started writing about this trip. - Aaron Grice, 7th grade, Friendship Tech Prep Academy.

Rockefeller Center and More When we got off the bus there were a lot of tall buildings. The first thing we did was to get something to eat. We went to a pizza place to eat. After that, we partnered up so that it would be less likely for one of us to get lost or wander off. My partner was Alexis. We had to walk together for most of our trip. When we got to Rockefeller Center, we saw a statue at an outside restaurant. The statue was of a gold naked man with a cloth covering most of his body and with water coming out of it. We also passed a store full of Legos. The store had a giant apple, Star Wars characters and more—all made out of legos. It even had a dragon that went through the roof made out of legos.  As nice as the Lego store was, the Rockefeller building was the most fascinating. We went all the way to the Top of the Rock. From there we saw a lot of buildings, Times Square, the Empire State Building and even the Statue of Liberty. When we were on top we made a video and took pictures. Then we went to Times Square where there’s big screens on large buildings. We interviewed people there and went to McDonald’s.  Then we sat down on the steps. Marcel, Skye and I went to some stores. Then we went to the M&M World before going home.

- Warnique Short, 5th grade, Blow Pierce Junior Academy.

New York, New York Our trip to New York City was very great and also interesting. The streets were big and the city was crowded. First we went to a pizza store. We each ordered our food and the food was amazing. They had some big portions that made regular ones look like a fish compared to a shark. After we ate a lot of food, we went to Rockefeller Center. We took lots of pictures and went to the top floor of this gigantic building. We could see a view of the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty on a little island. Later we started rolling the camera for our New York video.  It took some time but we got through the first video without that many problems. Then we took a little break, put the camera up and went on. We saw lots of crystal in one of the stores, Swarovski. There were crystals everywhere. They even had crystals in the walls.  After we ate again, we went to the Lego store with lots of creations. The thing I enjoyed the most in there was the dragon made of legos. It was very big and long. Next we went to Times Square where there was lots of trailers of movies. We started on the 2nd part of our video. We asked lots of questions of the people living and visiting New York. When we finished we had free time and went to M&Ms and the Reese’s stores.

- John X. Wood, 5th grade, Blow Pierce Junior Academy.

New York Extravaganza! So, today our FNN group went to New York City, baby! The Big Apple or the city that never sleeps. My first impressions of New York, weren’t the best. Don’t get me wrong. The city is beautiful. You just have to find the right places. As we started our adventure, we walked a bit to find a pizza/deli restaurant. In my opinion some people exaggerate about New York’s pizza. To me it tasted like grease on cardboard. But, hey, everyone is different. Soon after we filled out stomachs, it was time to get to business. After walking and walking, we went onward towards Rockafeller Center. The building was very tall, but didn’t look like a skyscraper to me. We went up and up—all 70 floors. It didn’t seem like a thrill but we soon got over that. We did see a great view since we were on the top of the building. Aaron and Skye did a video from the top of the building. It took a few takes and some goofing around, but we got our final take. After we had a break, we settled on going to the Lego store. It was very fun to make and see all the things they had provided there. For our next adventure, we set off for our second task and drifted to Times Square. It was beautiful. It made me realize how much I wanted to pursue a career as a performer. Seeing how hard everyone works to be there and seeing the lights makes you feel like you’re actually there on stage.

-Marcel Gallion, 7th grade, Blow Pierce Junior Academy.

Bright Lights, BigCity New York. Why so many people? I don’t know. Why does it seem like another part of DC? I don’t know.  Why are there so many M&Ms in one store?  I DON’T KNOW. Actually I think there are so many people because they just want to live where there are a lot of people. Or because maybe they are friendly. Or if not that reason, then I don’t know why there are a lot of people living all in one place.

My impressions of New York are that there are not only a lot of people, but in fact too many. Another actual impression I have of New York is that it probably costs a lot of money to pay for all of those TV screens in Times Square, even the inappropriate ones. Why would someone even display that? There are way to many smokers in New York too.  One time when I was about to sit down, this lady started smoking. My reaction of course was madness so that is what I displayed. So I complained until she left.

I like New York. I might not love it but I like it-—despite all the people in Times Square. And I do believe that you can get lost very quickly. There are very big crowds. Why are there that many people in one place at one time? It’s like they planned to meet all at once. I like the view of the buildings all in one convergence with the Empire State Building being a part of that one convergence. When I looked at the Empire State Building compared to the other buildings, it looked shorter.

I was expecting New York to be like in the movies when the cars go in fast forward motion and the people walk really fast. I did not get what I wanted. It’s okay. I guess. New York is nice overall.

- Jiahnna Phillips, 7th grade, Friendship Blow Pierce Junior Academy.

Times Square When we went to Times Square, we went past many places like McDonalds, red chairs, the Hershey store, M&Ms store and gift stores. It was fun. We went into the stores, bought a smoothie from the McDonald’s and some M&Ms from the M&M’s store. After we were done shopping, we took pictures of the crowds of people, buildings, big screens, and the big Coke sign. Then we interviewed people who were standing in Times Square. We asked people questions like “Do you like the stores in New York?” “How long have you lived here?” and “Is New York always crowded?” A lot of the people we interviewed like living in New York. There were a lot of places to visit, to eat, to shop and it’s always crowded so you can meet a lot of people. New York is a good place to live for someone who likes a lot of noise, traffic, people and stores.

When we were in Times Square, it was night. So the big screens had bright lights. I think that kids my age should go to New York City because it has a lot of places to visit. It was fun for me, so it might be fun for them.

-Alexis Greene, 5th grade, Friendship Southeast Academy.