FNN Visits The City That Never Sleeps
Video and Narratives by Ms. Merritt's Summer Bridge Journalism class.
Watch the video and read the journals from FNN’s Summer Bridge Class in New York City.
When I went to New York I had fun. My favorite part was when we saw a couple getting married in Times Square. When the couple got married, it looked as if they had a Wizard Of Oz theme because of the bride’s sparkly red shoes. Also, the couple seemed very happy together. My second favorite part was when we went to Bourbon Street Bar and Grill, and I got some barbeque wings. We went to Central Park and I liked how there was a really big water fountain. We went to where they shoot the Disney show Jessie. In Times Square, we went to M&M World and my friends and I tried candy, took pictures in the photo booth, and saw how to customize your own M&M’s. We made videos in Times Square, showing the broadway scenery and the different characters that walk around so you can take pictures. I don't really like New York, because I think there are too many people on the small streets, and the city is very fast-paced. We interviewed random people and asked them about their favorite stores. Most of them said Forever 21, H&M or Macy’s. And we asked them where they were from. We also went to a place called Top of The Rock, which I didn’t enjoy at all because I am afraid of heights and we were on the 69th floor surrounded by glass. However, the view was amazing. Overall, my New York trip was so fun and I’d go back any day. -Emiyah Cofield is a freshman at Friendship Collegiate Academy.
I bought a sick new baseball. It’s a blue, undersized, Yankees ball. We interviewed people in Times Square. We were assigned to ask five people for interviews. We also visited the Top of the Rock. The Top of the Rock is the top of the Rockefeller Center. It had a great view of the whole city. I enjoyed our visit but the bus ride was rather monotonous. I would visit again if I could. We also visited Central Park and the building where Jessie is recorded. There were a whole bunch of buses moving through the city, and many traffic jams along the way.
We ate lunch in a restaurant called Hard Rock and I witnessed naked women taking pictures for money. We had dinner on the bus, because the bus was ready to go so we got our stuff to go. We had a great experience in New York and it would be fantastic to go again. -Aaron Spruill is a freshman at Friendship Collegiate Academy.
My story starts at my house getting up in the morning around 5:00 to wake up and getting dressed wearing by black shirt and grey shorts. My mom drove me to Friendship Collegiate across from Minnesota Station in Washington, DC. I saw my friend Leroy, my teacher Ms. Merritt, and other classmates all standing around waiting for the bus to come to pick us up. Some of us went to the 7-Eleven to get something to snack on. Finally the bus came. Everyone took the back seats but I sat in the front listening to Fetty Wap. It was a long ride of joning, laughing, and sleeping.
When we actually got to New York the first thing that I smelled were disgusting things and garbage. I saw traffic lined up to a mile and crowds of people all going in their own directions. We started in Times Square with Paris and Tylik doing the intro for FNN. Then, we walked down to Hard Rock Cafe where we waited for a table about 5 minutes. We sat down and everyone ordered something to eat, except Aaron because he spent most of his money for snacks and a baseball. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger with fries and a root beer. After that we walked to Top of the Rock. The way up made my body turn to soup. At the top I reported about the view and its beauty. Then we went to Times Square for the end credits. Then we went to Bourbon Bar and Grill where I ordered the hot wings. We ate on the way back. I fell asleep and then woke in DC . In my mind, when I compare DC to New York, DC is not as bad. -Devon Rogers is a freshman at Friendship Collegiate Academy
It took about five hours to get to New York. While on the bus we listened to music. We played road games like who has the best car and the fastest one. The ride there wasn’t very dull.
We arrived in Times Square at about 10:00 am and went to do our interviews and an intro. Then, we were all hungry so we went to eat at a restaurant named Hard Rock. The food there was very expensive and I didn’t even like the food. It had no taste and the tea was sour.
We then went to Central Park to see the Jessie home building.
All the buildings in Manhattan are very tall. Next, we had to rush to the Top of the Rock because we were very late. We made jokes about people while we were there and did more interviews. We then did our outro in Times Square and ate at Bourbon Street Bar and Grill. I really liked that
On the way back, it started to get dark and everyone was tired but me. I stayed up and played pranks on people who were asleep. Then we stopped at a Delaware stop to get food. The Starbucks and Cinnabon were great. We were on our way again for another two hours. This trip overall was very fun. -Tylik Hunter is a freshman at Friendship Collegiate Academy.
My experience in New York City was very interesting. It was a long ride on the bus but it was fun. I listened to music. When we got there, I noticed why they call it “The City That Never Sleeps.” There was cars, traffic, and a lot of taxis. I never noticed that New York City had so many different personalities in Times Square. We saw people dressed as cartoon characters from movies and a lot of stores. There was Forever 21, a MAC lipstick store, and an M&M World store. There was so much to do that it was overwhelming. After we explored Times Square, we did our intro and interviews. Then we walked to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. I had shrimp and fries. We then walked to Central Park. We went to Central Park to look for the TV show Jessie from Disney Channel. We found it and were very happy. We then went from Central Park to Top of the Rock. Top of the Rock has one of the best views of the city. We could see the Empire State Building and the full view of Central Park. We left to get something to eat before we left to go home. For dinner I had food from a place called Bourbon Street Bar & Grill. It was very good and I liked it. New York left an impact on me because people work very hard and care about what they do. People work for their money and are very persistent. -Leroy King III is a freshman at Friendship Collegiate Academy.
My trip to New York was fun and tiring. We walked around all day. My feet were killing me. The sun was out and it was hot. The fun parts were trying to find people for the interviews and going to the stores. A lot of people was turning us down for interviews and they did it in a rude way. There were some people that said no politely. We also went to eat at Bourbon Street Bar and Grill. I had the Triple-B Burger and fries. We went to M&M World and bought some things. We went to the MAC lipstick store. The sights we went to see next were Central Park and Top of the Rock. While at Top of the Rock I took pictures of the view and the people who were doing interviews. The ride there and back was long. The trip was good and basically it was worth it. - Mya Baggage is a freshman at Friendship Collegiate Academy
For our trip to New York we had to be at school by 5:30 am to get there early enough to do stuff. When we got there we went to Times Square to do our first interview. There were so many colors and people there. Everything in New York costs more money than it does in DC. We had to pay for pictures with different Disney characters. We went to Central Park and saw horse drawn carriages and people sitting and lying in the grass. We went to “Top of the Rock” to do another interview. It was beautiful up there with the view of the city and all the buildings. For lunch we ate at the “Hard Rock Cafe”. It cost around $3-5 to add fries to your meal, but in DC it comes with your meal. For dinner we had to take our food to go so that we could make it before the bus leaves. New York people are so rude always bumping into people when they are walking. If I had to rate my overall experience I would rate it a seven because we didn’t get to see a lot of things. I would love to go back to New York and stay longer and see more things. The bus ride was long and fun but it was loud in the morning. My role on the trip was to interview people at “Top of the Rock” but nobody wanted to do an interview so we just did our own interview. -Nikyia Rogers is a freshman at Friendship Collegiate Academy.
My experience in New York was great. When we got on the bus I was just ready to go to sleep. After about twenty minutes I woke up thinking I had been asleep for about an hour. By the time we got to New York everyone was up and alive, getting ready to get off the bus. The first place we went to was Times Square where we shot the introduction to our New York experience video. Then, Armani and Danae interviewed a few people. After we finished with the first part of the video at Times Square we went to eat at ‘Hard Rock’. When we were served I took pictures of our group eating. When we got out of ‘Hard Rock’ a couple of the students stopped to get a souvenir from one of the stands on the street. After we finished we walked back towards Times Square and went inside the M.A.C. store. When all the girls came out we walked to Central Park. When we got there everyone wanted to look for the building where the TV show, JESSIE was shot. It was hard deciding which building they used for JESSIE, but in the end we found it. After we finished taking pictures of the “JESSIE” building, we started the long walk to the Top of the Rock. When we got there Ms. Merritt got our tickets. After she got our tickets we made our way up the stairs. When we got upstairs we got into an elevator that takes you all the way to the top of the building. When we got to the top we went outside and looked over New York. Unfortunately, I peeled my skin and it started to burn, so I had to go inside and sit down. When we left The Top of the Rock we went down into the subway. The subway had several different stores inside. We also passed the Tonight Show. When we got out of the subway we started walking towards a restaurant called Bourbon Street Bar and Grille. I ordered fried shrimp and fries. We had to take our food to go due to the scheduled time for the bus. When we got on the bus we ate, talked, and fell asleep. The ride back was pretty boring but overall my time in New York was pretty amazing. I would love to visit it again very soon. -Paris Tyler, freshman, Friendship Collegiate Academy.