November 23, 2023

Krystal Jane

One thing I really wanted to accomplish when coming to the USA was to truly experience the holidays here, the way they do. One of the biggest ones is Thanksgiving as we obviously don’t celebrate this in New Zealand.

As bittersweet as it is, I got to take a trip to see my best friend for the last time while I am on the Disney College Program, with no idea as to how long it will be till we see each other again.

We planned for me to fly into her hometown, and spend Thanksgiving with her and her family, then later we would go into New York for me to experience Christmas time there and more.

Immediately after flying in and saying my much needed hello’s to her, we headed to her Grandparents house for Thanksgiving dinner!

Every type of food you could expect to be there was, and I found a new obsession for two things. King’s Hawaiian rolls and Surprise Broccoli, weird but tasty. I really enjoyed my time and had appreciation for being able to experience such a family orientated holiday.

Tree time

The Thanksgiving fit

The next day we headed to my first ever time at a Christmas tree farm! We searched and searched for the best tree there, and after long debates we finally chose the one we thought was perfect. This was my first time having a real tree and I genuinely didn’t realise how soft pine is, haha. We put the tree on the roof of the car, just like all of the cliche Christmas movie’s I watched growing up, and the excitement was growing.

That night we finally got to setting up the tree and decorating. My best friend and I got full honours to completely decorate with ornaments and everything. The final product was so cozy and I loved every minute of setting up (with Christmas music of course).

The following day was super exciting, I was finally able to visit New York for my 2nd ever trip, with this time being set up for Christmas and more.. The vibe in NYC was completely different from last time, as well as the fact that I was now FREEZING. It was definitely a time to look like a marshmallow in a hoodie, jacket, hat and gloves.

Manhatten, NYC

New York, you take my breath away every single time, I could never get bored of seeing you and I really haven’t even seen much, still so much more to explore.

After getting into the train station we decided to just walk around for a bit. We happened to stop in at The Ordinary store and we were offered the chance to make our very own FREE bouquet of flowers, as a gift instead of them doing a black Friday sale. I loved this idea, and the lad even suggested that if i get bored of carrying them, I could make somebody’s day by giving them the flowers. They were so cute and also made for a great prop for my photos.

Kindness is everywhere.

We walked for what truly always feels like forever, stopping whenever we felt like it, going into stores and just enjoying the overall vibe that the city had this time of year. We stopped in at the Harry Potter store which is something I really wanted to see, it had a much larger range of product then Universal Studios which really surprised me. I visited macy’s for the first time ever, which felt totally fake and like a fever dream. In all honesty it felt like hell and I wanted to get out ASAP, the decorations were cute though for Christmas.

Towards the end of the night we headed for Bryant Park to explore all it had to offer. We hadn’t spent long there and I was already down two hot chocolates, the weather was insane and the thirst for a hot drink was through the roof. Though these were truly some of the yummiest hot chocolates, my favourite being from “Stout”.

We watched the ice skaters, and walked around the little pop up Christmas village that now takes over what used to be Bryant Parks grassy areas. I truly felt like I was in a Christmas movie and I loved every second of it.

I would go back here in a heartbeat, although it was shoulder to shoulder so I would recommend before Thanksgiving.

Sipping the much needed hot choc

One more day was spent together, then it was time to say farewell. This was so hard, it’s hard not knowing the next time you are going to see your literal twin flame. I can’t even put into words how much it hurts, and how I know that the worst is only to come when I leave in January.

Though, I am grateful to have even experienced these things, let alone with my best friend. I’ll always have people to come back to in the states, and thats the biggest thing I can thank the program for, is the people that are now my people, my friends and my soulmates. This trip was so great, i had a range of mixed emotions the whole time but I knew I needed to be present to enjoy every second of it while it lasted.

I truly encourage anyone to go and visit NYC during Christmas time, and truly experience the magic this time of year, but seriously be prepared to bundle up.