| Written by Julie P. |
Rutgers–Camden not only looks out for their students during the school year; they have our backs year-round! During the summertime, students may or may not have a lot of things to do. Rutgers–Camden comes into play by providing amazingly fun trip activities for students! Every so often, there are tickets for different trips and events that students can purchase at the Impact Booth in Campus Center. They will usually have inexpensive and discounted tickets available to students for events like concerts, shows, and fun day trips. I ended up taking the opportunity to go to New York City on June 16th with other Rutgers–Camden students!
My day started out riding on the bus. I brought my earbuds, phone charger and I was ready for the two-hour drive. Once I arrived in NYC, I realized I didn’t know what I was going to do—I didn’t really plan my day out like I would normally do, so I asked myself, what am I feeling for right now? The answer was food (it’s always food). So I found a place called Little Italy Pizza, and ordered a Sicilian slice and garlic knots… yum! After I ate, I used the Maps application on my iPhone to see what was nearby, and I found that Central Park wasn’t too far. I decided to walk toward the park and see what I could find.
I found horse rides with carriages and I saw a ton of people walking around and enjoying the nature of the park. I then stumbled upon the Central Park Zoo, so I purchased my $12 ticket and went straight to see the seals! They were incredible! They started to put on a show for the audience, who were “ooh”-ing and “ahh”-ing in the stands. The seals were swimming back and forth and jumping in and out of the water. They would even lean over the side of the pool and reach out to people! They were very entertaining and super cute.
After the seals, I visited all the other animals in the zoo. I saw a brown bear, red pandas, swans, cranes, penguins, turtles, and many more. I circled the zoo twice, careful to visit each animal’s exhibit and take lots of pictures. Once I was done visiting the animals, I searched for another park to go to and found that Bryant Park wasn’t too far away—off I went!
Bryant Park was incredibly relaxing, just like Central Park Zoo. I ended up finding a chair to sit on by the grass to people-watch. There was someone tanning, another person stretching, and there were two little French children running around and laughing. It was one of the most beautiful and sunny days in NYC. I started to roam around and see what else I could find, and—lo’ and behold—there was a guy sitting on a chair with a sign on which the words read “5 min date.” Of course I did what I had to do; I plopped myself on the empty seat in front of him and started to introduce myself. His eyes lit up, he looked really excited to have someone sit down and have a 5-minute date with him. It was really nice to meet new people and get to interact with friendly people in the city!
Before I had to leave for the bus back to Rutgers, I had to visit one more place, and that was M&M World. I love going inside the store and seeing all of the incredible ways that you can eat an M&M. I love how M&M has different characters for each M&M flavor. My favorite M&M characters is Ms. Brown. She is very sophisticated. I also like that the chocolate is covered in chocolate flavor. After my visit to M&M World, I headed back to my bus, which dropped everyone off right on campus. When I got home, I was really excited to tell everyone about my time in NYC!
I am grateful to have all these amazing opportunities that Rutgers–Camden has to offer. I probably would have never gotten the chance to go to NYC if it wasn’t for the discounted tickets and fun ideas that Rutgers–Camden has! I am currently planning my next trip with Rutgers–Camden and that is to go to Dorney Park! The school always provides transportation and makes it easy as possible to attend these exciting events! I look forward to receiving emails in my inbox letting me know what I can do next!