Maymester 2012

10 whirlwind days in DC & NYC. For the blow-by-blow on Twitter, go to #dcnyc.

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News Reporting and Writing II

Students enrolled in Palo Alto College’s COMM 2315: News Reporting and Writing II class spent 10 whirlwind days (May 19-28, 2012) in Washington, D.C., and New York City. Before heading…

07 Jun

Coney Island

By Destinee Flores The last day on my trip I spent on Coney Island with my good friend, Laura. I’ve never seen this place, but I have definitely heard about…

06 Jun

Peace in Chaos

By Laura de Leon While horns honk and people yell in the streets of New York, how are you supposed to relax? One way to disconnect your mind from the…

06 Jun

Jersey Boys

By Priscilla Lopez My experience on this trip has been fabulous. It not only gave me an opportunity to see amazing things but also to meet wonderful people. I can…

06 Jun

U.S Holocaust Memorial Museum

By Nicole Henry The United States Memorial Holocaust Museum is captivating to anyone who steps through the doors. It not only serves as a dedication to those who lost their…

06 Jun

Newseum

By Destiny Castañeda The Newseum has captured all of the importance of 9/11, and it has made it so people can remember and look back on what America has gone…

06 Jun

Times Square

By Phillip Bowie The flashing lights of buildings comprised mostly of glowing video screens is a symbolic part of Times Square. Times Square is a major part of New York…

06 Jun

DC/NYC Transportation

By Margo Tovar Transportation plays a huge role in today’s society but differs from city to city. During a 10-day adventure split between Washington D.C. and New York City, my…

06 Jun

Anything Goes

By Paul Anthony Ramos New York! People call it the city that never sleeps. Some people even call it the Big Apple. I call it the city that creates stars.…

04 Jun

The Walk

Josef Seibel

A week before I left for Washington D.C. I was busy finding shoes that were comfortable yet stylish. I knew that I would be walking and standing for long period on this Maymester adventure. Feeling very worried about not finding shoes that would provide comfort, I finally came across a shoe brand from Hungary made by Josef Seibel. The brand is a European comfort shoe that is designed to support the feet for a day’s comfort. Once I tried the shoes on, I could immediately feel the quality of the brand.

I arrived in Washington D.C. on Saturday, May 19, in mid-afternoon. The pedometer that I always wear read that I was almost to 10,000 steps. For the average person, walking 10,000 steps a day is the minimum for a healthy active lifestyle. Two thousand steps equal one mile. The class had the afternoon off until 8 p.m. before touring the monuments at night. Little did I know that my feet were going to know pain that I have never experienced before later that night.

It was already time to leave for the tour and my feet felt all right. But minutes then hours went by, and I was still on my feet. I thought that maybe I would have to rest or that the class would use transportation to get to where we were going, and that I would use that time to rest my feet. That was not to be because the class ended up walking to the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and passed by the White House.  When I got back to the hostel, my pedometer read that I did 35,731 steps in one day. That’s almost 18 miles. Of course that is a lot of steps, but the day before I had an hour of sleep and was up at 1:30 in the morning. The pedometer I own is an Omron that clips to the side of your clothes. Everyday at midnight the pedometer resets.

That night I had two blisters on the side of my pinky toes. My feet ached so bad that I had to clench my teeth to keep from yelling out to reach the top bunk bed that night. I never walked that much in one day and the shoes I bought were useless. Waking up the next morning, I immediately could tell the pain and the blisters did not disappeared during the night. I had hoped that getting some sleep with my feet elevated would get better.  The pain, however, did not go away. For the rest of the trip, I averaged more than 21,000 steps a day.

 At one point, I didn’t enjoy the trip because the pain in my feet. I would just look straight ahead and focus on getting to my destination. Exhausted and sleepy, I would forget to call my mother to wish her goodnight. A day before we left for New York, I bought New Balance tennis shoes in D.C’s Chinatown. Since I have a wide foot, those are the only brand I use for long periods of walking. I don’t know why I was under the impression that I couldn’t wear tennis shoes on the trip. I didn’t take those shoes off once I got them on my feet.  Not only that, I put the foot insoles I had from my other shoes into the New Balance.   

This trip proves that I had extra strength I didn’t know existed inside me. Traveling to Washington D.C. and New York, the lifestyle is really so different from mine. The thing those two cities had in common is that people walk everywhere they go. In San Antonio, it is not so simple. Everything is so spread out and then there is a high chance of crime happening especially toward young women.  I did a total of 214,283 steps. Walked 69 miles and never again am I going to give myself the excuse that I’m tired because I now know what it really feels to be tired.

01 Jun

The Lincoln Memorial

By Lillian Ross Being at The Lincoln Memorial left me with an overwhelming sense of patriotism. The memorial looked so majestic on the hill. As a child, I had always…

01 Jun

H&M

By Rossi Ramirez Everyone has his or her own sense of style. Style is a mode of expression, and people dress according to how they feel. During my time in…

01 Jun

The Today Show

By Priscilla Degollado Located in Rockefeller Center in Midtown, Manhattan, The Today Show is one of the many nationwide morning news programs taped live in New York City. You can…

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