2/3 of my internship, one month left!

Last week of April already and it was, how could it be otherwise, a very nice week. Last week a good friend of my parents visited the City for business and he invited me to have dinner and drink some beers afterwards.

I also bought tickets to see a New York Red Bull Football game during the weekend. The time-in between was filled with visiting clients, attending meetings and finishing work for school. Last but not least: My blog hit 1500 page views; a number I didn't even expected to hit after only 2 months. So a big thank you to all of you who keep on reading my stories! I really appreciate this!

Monday, 23/04/2012

One thing was for sure after going through the agenda for this week: it wasn't going to be a normal one. On monday we went visiting the warehouse where all the K-bear products were going to be labelled and stored. It wasn't a trip nearby,  a 1h30 drive to Port Jervis; a city where the borders of three states met at one point: New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The warehouse itself was an old place who served as an auction shop. It was a big warehouse with plenty of place to store your labeling machine and products. So it definitely has the potential of becoming something nice. In the garage of the warehouse old cars were parked, which was really nice to see. I also took some pictures.


In the afternoon we drove back to Cold Spring to drop of Marc and headed directly to the city as Marshall had an important meeting to attend to. I met with Marc, the friend of my parents. While I was driving, Marshall was caught up in work and didn't pay attention the road. There is speed limit of 55mph but as there was almost no traffic I was speeding 77mph. Unfortunately there was a cop car on the side of the road, the moment I drove by. Result: I got pulled over.

Luckily I didn't get a speeding ticket for this. This is mostly thanks to Marshall as he was smooth talking the cop by saying that I was an intern from Belgium and that his uncle was a state-trooper as well. Not so far down the road we spotted two Parkway troopers in the bushes. When being pulled over by Parkway troopers, you won't get out without a ticket; even worse they escort you to the closest Police department and make you pay the fine cash.

Once in the city Marshall went to his meeting and I took the subway downtown to the Conrad hotel where Marc was staying. We had a beer in the hotel lobby and made reservation in 'The River Café' under the Brooklyn Bridge. That restaurant was just phenomenal: exquisite food, the most beautiful view on the Manhattan skyline and nice interior of the restaurant! Here are some pictures of that night.

 




I spent the night at the hotel as I didn't want to take the train back to Cold Spring that late. I also had to take care of the broken iPhone for my cousin on tuesday morning.


Tuesday, 24/04/2012

In the morning we went to the Apple Store on 5th avenue to get my cousin's iPhone 4s replaced. Luckily this wasn't an issue and replaced the phone just like that. Afterwards my friend had to go to a convention, so I thanked him for the lovely dinner and went back on my way.

Marshall had to be in the city as well later that day. So I took the liberty of walking around in the city and visiting the set of 'The Bitter Pill' hoping to spot Jude Law or Catherina Zeta Jones. Luckily for me I got to see Jude Law but unfortunately he didn't have time/didn't want to take any pictures. However I did take a picture of him crossing the road.

In the afternoon I went to a pub to see the CL semi-finals between FC Barcelona and Chelsea. I only could stay for 30 minutes as Marshall was ready to leave the city to drop a client of at Newark airport. Too bad Barcelona didn't go through that night, it hasn't been their season this year.

In the evening we went dining in a Portuguese restaurant in New Jersey. We ordered a delicious sea-food plate for two persons, of which a picture is shown here below.

Afterwards we headed back to Cold Spring, picked up my stuff at the office and went to bed almost instantly.

Wednesday, 25/04/2012

As Marshall was very busy in the office in the morning and had to go New Jersey in the afternoon, me and Marc had to do the radio shows for that day. The first radio show was about sleeping and mattresses, I was so tired that day that I almost fell asleep during that show. Luckily I wasn't snoring and Marc gave a push so that I'd wake up.
In the afternoon I was alone in the office, so I worked on an assignment for school. As I didn't have a car, I had to wait until Marshall got home from his meeting; which arrived at the office around 7pm.

Thursday, 26/04/2012

Again I was left alone at the office. Marc and Marshall had an important meeting in Gloversville, 120miles north of Cold Spring. I was at the office and had to work on a spreadsheet for K-bear and catching up on some school work. In the morning I also had to drive to Fishkill to pick up the parents of Marc and drive them back to Cold Spring. So it was a normal day at the office, which ended around 9pm.

Friday, 27/04/2012

In the morning I had a Skype call scheduled with school to follow up my work performances and to comment on the work I have completed so far. Afterwards my mentor wanted to talk to Marshall concerning his finding on my performances; lucky for me he was and still is very happy having me here.

At 9am we had a three-hour meeting in Monroe with K-bear. It was an interesting an exciting meeting who was also very important for my management report.

In the afternoon we had a lunch scheduled with the person maintaining the Facebook page for BBPools, but this got canceled. So we drove back to the office and worked hard on the Go-to market strategy for K-bear. I also ordered tickets for a soccer match on saturday: New York Red Bulls vs. New England Revolution.

I spent the evening watching a movie and went to sleep as this was a rather tiring work week.

Saturday, 28/04/2012

I wasn't going to go and watch the soccer game by myself, I met with Alexandre at Grand Central Station around 1pm (kickoff was at 3:30pm). The Red Bull Arena is situated in New Jersey, so we had to take the train from Penn Station to Newark Penn Station. From there we walked around trying to find the stadium and failed to find it, so we took a cab there.

 

 

The Red Bull arena is really a beautiful stadium, having a capacity of 25.000 people. It was quite an experience going to an American Soccer game. People experience it in a whole other way, as European do. In Belgium for instance, we have the bad tendency to mock the referee, players and supporters of the opposing team. Here this wasn't the case: nobody complaint to the referee, the supporters from the opposing team weren't put in a cage as we are in Belgium, not even that much stewards surrounding them. They stood there amongst the other spectators. It was pretty cool to see.

The game itself was a rather boring game, but the Bulls did win by a nice goal of Thierry Henry. Too bad he got injured after 20minutes in the game. It was a really nice to see how americans experience soccer matches as well as the intensity of the game itself; it isn't that tough. When visiting New York, look for some tickets and go watch a game; It's worth going doing.

I returned back to Cold Spring around 8pm, had a three cheese pizza in the restaurant and went to bed afterwards.

Sunday, 29/04/2012

Sundays are lazy days for me. I slept out, watched some movies, cleaned my apartment, did my laundry, wrote my blog and went for dinner in the evening. Pretty exciting right, hè!

As I'm writing and updating my blog I began to realize how fast time goes here; only one month left for me in the USA. But that's down the road, until then you read more adventures on my blog!

Stay tuned!

Let the second half begin...

I am already over the half of my internship, so let the second half of an exciting and crazy period begin! In this week's blog: crazy weather conditions in Cold Spring, trying to get back in shape by running and meeting David Duchovny on the set of Californication in New York City.

Monday, 16/04/2012

When looking through the weather forecasts for that week, I barely realized how warm it was going to be that week. Here is a screenshot of the weather forecast of my iPhone. As you can see, crazy weather. Mark said that this weather is unusual for the time of the year. The year before, the average temperature was 15-16° Celsius. This year on the other hand, the average has increased by 7°C.

As you can see the temperature for monday rose to 32(!) degrees. Some weather forecast can be inaccurate in guessing the temperature, but that day they didn't lie. It really was insanely hot outside, while in Belgium temperatures were allegedly fluctuating between 10-11° C.

That day we had, instead of regular tuesdays, a meeting with B&B Pools and Spa during which we discussed the results of Hubspot and the new postcards. Back at the office, I worked on some school work concerning my management report, while Mark had to leave earlier as he had to pick up his children from school.

Tuesday, 17/04/2012


That day I had to go to the city by myself to attend the 'CO-OP and Condo Expo' in the Hilton Hotel. The expo wasn't really related to Marketing and advertising, moreover it was about Building management, security systems, insurance companies...

This expo was related to Enviro Tech Services (ETS), a client we are dealing with in California specialized in organic degreasers. I had to go in an acquire more information about what's already out there, what is used to clean large apartments and offices.

Afterwards I went for something to eat, McDonalds and headed back home afterwards. By the time I got in Cold Spring it was around 7pm, headed back home went for a delicious 3-cheese Pizza in the restaurant. After diner I watched the movie 'Inside Job' which is a really interesting movie on the scandals in Wall Street, the global crisis in 2009 and the big exuberant salaries of the consulting companies and banking services in Wall Street.

Wednesday, 18/04/2012


Just like any other wednesday we had a radio show hosted by Doctor Richar Huntoon. The show was a telephone phone interview with Susan Koening, about walking properly and how we can all benefit from doing everyday tricks to improve this. Unlike most wednesdays, we only had one radio show to host. So by 11am we were back in the office to prepare for a meeting with K-bear in the afternoon.

The meeting was a very interesting one as we did the goal-setting process for the company. After which we started doing a SWOT-analysis in which we assessed the internal Strengths and Weaknesses as well as the external opportunities and threats. It was a very interesting meeting for me as this is crucial for my Management report.

As the weather was so nice that day, I went for a run in the evening. It was a nice run alongside a new parcours I have mapped out. Afterwards I went for a nice dinner in the restaurant and read in the biography of Steve Jobs afterwards.

Thursday, 19/04/2012


On thursday I was alone at the office, as Mark had a doctor's appointment in the morning and a meeting/interview with clients in the afternoon. That day I also overslept myself a bit, so I checked in later  at the office, just in time to receive a call that the meeting Marc had scheduled for this afternoon were cancelled and to be rescheduled.

Nothing special happened that day. I was working on some work for school combined with work for the office. In the evening I went for another run to blow of some steam. I ran 6k in a little more than 30 minutes. I have to say that I felt really great afterwards!

Friday, 20/04/2012


On friday we had our second meeting scheduled with K-Bear at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, in which we finished the goal setting process and continued on the SWOT analysis. Again this was a very interactive meeting where I got to give some input in the conversation. I learned a lot from this meeting and can't wait until the following meeting.

It was a perfect day who didn't end very well as my iPhone 4 fell down on the ground while exiting the car. Result: glass was scattered. An enormously huge bummer! Luckily I went to the city on saturday to get the glass replaced in the Apple store. Here is a photo of the scattered screen.

Saturday, 21/04/2012


I already planned ahead this day on thursday as I, while reading through my tweets, came across an interesting tweet that Californication was filming in the city on saturday. Also FC Barcelona was playing 'El Clasico', a game I wouldn't miss for the world.

I arrived in the city around noon and went straight to the Apple store in Grand Central to check my iPhone. When you have a broken screen, they don't replace the screen on the premises, they just replace your phone with a new one. This service isn't free of course, I had to pay a price of 160$, which btw was totally worth.

Afterwards I headed to the set of Californication to see the legendary Hank Moodie in action. As time was nearing 2pm, I headed to a local pub to see FC Barcelona in action. Too bad of course the game (and probably the title) was won by Real Madrid. It wasn't just the season of FC Barcelona.

During the game Alexandre came to join me to have a few beers and grab a bite to eat. Afterwards we went looking for the set of Californication, and found it eventually. They were shooting the life of Hank Moodie before moving to California. So good news for the fans: there will be a 6th and probably a 7th season.

Once on the set, I got to see the legend myself. And even have a picture with him, which is just awesome!! Without further or due, here are the pictures.

Afterwards we went visiting the set of 'Kill your darlings' where we spotted the one and only Harry Potter. Too bad he didn't want to take a picture with his biggest fan lol. It was really nice seeing David Duchovny (Hank Moody), Karen and Daniel Radcliffe.

I returned back home around 9pm and went to bed almost immediately as I had to wake up early to pick up Marshall at JFK Int'l Airport at 7am.

Sunday, 22/04/2012


During the night, it was a stormy night: wind was blowing, the sky was pouring rain, and lightning & thunder made the whole picture complete. Luckily for me I slept through all that and woke up fresh and lively at 5u30am. Lucky for me it was a sunday and there was almost no traffic on the road. It took my about 1h30 min to arrive at JFK. I picked up Marshall and we were soon back on our way too Cold Spring. On the road he told me about his week and California, who was jam-packed with meetings. He also let me now he would go back to JFK the same day to pick up a client from California later that day.

Even though it was a sunday and raining as hell, I decided to go with him to the office and afterwards to JFK. Here are some pictures of how rainy and cloudy the day was that day; it was insane. Btw I had to drive in this weather on the New York highways.

   

We picked the client up around 5pm and drove to Pelham Heights where his uncle lived. Once there we were invited a little snack, which turned out the be a nice dinner. The uncle was Asa Aarons, who is a famous reporter for CBS. The food was really great, so was their hospitality.

Afterwards I drove back to Cold Spring in the pouring rain, on very bad constructed roads with almost no lights on the road. Luckily we made it safe and sound in Cold Spring. It was a rather normal week, but a weekend where I got to see three celebrities!

Stay tuned for more stories!

End of first half at Cold Spring...

I hope you all enjoyed reading my previous post on my family visiting the city. My previous post gave you also the chance to virtually meet my lovely family. Time is rushing by hear as I am already nearing the half of my internship. It has been great so far, and the prospects for the second half are looking really exciting as we are working on a new client, as I made Belgian friends in the city, as the weather is getting better and better everyday. This also means more awesome stories for you to read! 

Monday, 09/04/2012

Easter Monday in USA, but it is business as usual here in Cold Spring. Even though no meetings were scheduled for that day, I still had plenty of work to do. While I was doing research on the competitors for K-bear, Marshall was making phone calls back and forth to California; for him a busy day as well.

While I was in the city, Marshall finally switched from Blackberry to iPhone 4S. He’s never been happier with his new cell-phone. In the beginning he wasn’t really happy about it as he worked with Blackberry for a long time. But once I showed him what cool stuff could be done with this, he began to use it non-stop. We also joked around his new girl friend called ‘Siri’ by asking her question like: ‘will you marry me’, ‘what is the meaning of life’, where can I dump a body’ and many other cool questions. The answers were just hilarious.

In the evening we ate some delicious sliders in the ‘Whistling Willies’ on Main Street and went almost straight to bed afterwards.

Tuesday, 10/04/2012

On Tuesday we had our every week meeting with B&B Pools and Spa in the afternoon. The weather that day wasn’t that good that day: rainy and cloudy weather. Ever since the moment I arrived in the USA up until now the weather has been really great; not many rainy or stormy days, with relatively high temperatures. From what my parents told me time to time, the weather in Belgium hasn’t been that great.

Last year the relative temperature was down with 7°C compared to the relative temperature we are experiencing now. So far I have had nothing to complain about.

On our way back home we stopped in a new in Garrison called Garrison Café. They have an excellent bakery there with some allegedly – am not a coffee drinker – delicious coffee. I had a Chocolate croissant, which was just delicious. I’ll definitely come back there for breakfast.

Wednesday, 11/04/2012

Just like any other Wednesday morning we had to record two radio shows with Doc Rick. This also meant that I had to get up earlier as usual as it took on hour to drive all the way up to Poughkeepsie. The first radio show was a phone call with a Hypnotherapist based in California. She came to talk about the benefits of hypnotherapy and how people can use this to resolve spiritual and emotional issues. The second radio show was a conversation about Hormone Imbalances.

We spent the whole afternoon working in the office reading through legal documents, business plans and powerpoint presentations. Not only the afternoon was spent in the office, also the whole evening. It was around midnight we closed the office doors, after which we had some late night diner at the Red Line Diner in Fishkill. I always wanted to try and compare the American ‘Belgian waffles’ with the actual ‘Belgian Waffles, so I tried it but it wasn’t that good. I still prefer the typical Belgian waffles. Luckily for me I wasn’t sick after eating that waffle.

Thursday, 11/04/2012

Every month Marshall flies out to California to attend meeting with new and existing clients. That Thursday I had to drive Marshall all the way up to JFK Int’l airport. With the last time fresh in my mind I was really hoping for less traffic and a smooth ride to the airport. Luckily for us it took us about 1h40 to get there. We dropped him off at the airport and drove back to Cold Spring. Marshall also told me that I had to pick him up alone as Mark had other business to attend to. Looking already forward to that trip.

Friday, 12/04/2012

Normally we had a meeting scheduled with K-bear that day but due to some practical issues this meeting was cancelled thus rescheduled to another date. Even though the meeting was cancelled, we did worked on preparing the next meeting with them.

We went through some strategies on how to create the WOTS-UP analysis and how to approach the market. But before doing the actual approach to the market I had to find out what was already out there i.e. potential competitors, existing eucalyptus products…

In the evening I also went for a run to blow of some steam after a hard working week. Afterwards I had diner in the restaurant and planned ahead my weekend.

Saturday, 13/04/2012

Last week I met some new people from Belgium, also doing an internship in New York. As I didn’t really know somebody of my age in the city, I decided to give them a call and see what they were up to that evening. In the evening there was a party planned hosted by the company in which Alexandra was working in. Alexandra lived with her roommate Alexandre in Harlem, just above central park and I was scheduled to meet them in the evening.

During the day I continued exploring the neighborhoods of New York. That day I was planned to visit Lower East Side with sightseeing spots of China Town, Little Italy and Canal Street.

I wasn’t in a rush that day so I woke up around noon, washed and dressed myself and took the train around 2pm. As I haven’t had diner yet, I decided to take the subway all the way downtown to get some Belgian Fries in ‘Pommes Frites’. According to their website, they really made the authentic Belgian Fries. But I was rather disappointed when I started eating e.g the fries were way too thick and the potato peel was still visible; Luckily the taste of the fries was good. However I do prefer the fries they serve back on ‘Rumbeke Platse’ in my hometown.

Afterwards I started walking around in Lower East Side. On my way I passed ‘people playing Basketball in Sara D. Roosevelt Park’, the crowdedness of Canal Street, the small little shops, restaurants and bars on Orchard Street, the huge Roman-looking gate marking the beginning of the Manhattan-bridge. It was nice walk alongside all those small streets, pubs, restaurants and shops. Once again this is prove on the huge diversity there is in New York City.

The second part of my walk was China-town and Little-Italy. Bowery Street is also the street that lies just in between the actual lower east side and China town. Walking in China town was a really cool experience as I’m a very tall guy compared to all the Asians walking around there. Which was also very convenient to me as I could see where I was going much easier.

Amongst all the restaurants, shops, Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! Shops, there was one particular place that intrigued me a lot: the Bloody angle. That place is located in the middle of China town and is very infamous for numerous gang-street battles and murders in the early thirties. This angle, part of ‘Doye Street’ is the only curved shaped street in Manhattan. Definitely worth checking out when you are in the neighborhood. Here are some impressions:

The Bloody Angle

 Adjacent the small streets of China Town is also Little Italy. Little Italy used to be a very big neighborhood as there were many immigrated Italians, but now it has only the size of one or two blocks. The sidewalks of Little Italy are filled with small and cozy Italian - what else - restaurants, all of which I took some pictures. 

By the time I was done visiting Lower East Side, Chinatown and Little Italy it was already nearing 7pm: time for me to get some good MacDonald's in the neighborhood. After which I met with Alexandre and Alexandra at their place to drink some beers before heading downtown. The apartment they are living in is really nice. It's a shared apartment where they only pay 400 & 600 dollars a month, which is a really nice offer to live in New York. 


The party was held in a night club called 'Pranna', located on the junction of Madison Avenue and 23th street. We had a really good time as we didn't have to pay for drinks or entrance. So it was a cheap night out, which was just awesome. Here are some pictures from that night. 

The party ended at 4am in the morning but that didn't stop us from going some place else. To my astonishment we went to the office of Alexandra as her boss with us. There we listened to some music, ate the birthday cake depicted here above and watched the 'city that never sleeps' wake up. The office also had an immaculate view on the Empire state building and the Chrysler building.

Once back at their apartment around 7am, I slept on a small yoga mat, which was rather uncomfortable but the good thing is that I made it through the night. The next morning we woke up around 1pm, got washed and dressed and went for a breakfast in Le Pain Quotidien.

After breakfast we both went our ways: Alexandra & Alexandre were heading back to their apartment to sleep and I headed back to Cold Spring to sleep as well.

This was also the end a hell of weekend and a crazy week. More stories to come next week!

Stay tuned!

Easter Break with the Family!!!

First of all I want to excuse myself for waiting so long to post my report on easter break, as I was so busy working in the office. But here it is, a report on a whole week in New York with the people who are most important to me. Enjoy reading! Many pictures can also be found on my Facebook account

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150801283145429.468785.525515428&type=3

Saturday, 31/03/2012


Friday evening I came home around 1am after a very busy week, so I decided to sleep out and take the rest of the day of to clean my apartment, do my laundry and maybe go for a run. So nothing special happened that day. I did all the things on my to-do list, however the run didn't go very well due to a small injury on the left thigh. I also took some time to prepare the weekend my family were going to spent in the city. I looked for some nice places we could visit, made reservations via opentable.com and visited the weather portal. In the evening I went to the restaurant to grab a bite to eat and went to bed immediately afterwards.

Sunday, 01/04/2012


I had planned to go the office around noon that day to get some work done for school and the office. The day turned out in a whole other way as I have planned, as I was invited by Maxime De Clerck, a very good friend of me, together with his family for diner in the City that evening. The time in-between I did spend some time in the office as planned and took the train around 6pm to the city.

It was nice seeing him and his family again and we had a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant called "Uva" in the upper-east side. I was also invited to spent the next day with them to visit the city, which was a very nice offer as I had easter break anyway. As they realized that it didn't make sense for me to travel the same evening back to Cold Spring and make the same journey the next morning, I could stay the night in the hotel they were staying at.

We went to sleep around 10pm, my friend fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. I, on the other hand, had more troubles falling asleep that early so I watch the season finale of Californication and some old episodes of Two and a Half Men, Friends and HIMYM and fell asleep eventually.

Monday, 02/04/2012


I woke up around 8am, dressed myself and headed down to the lobby to leave for breakfast, which took place in 'Le Pain Quotidien'. During that delicious breakfast we planned ahead what we were going to visit that day. Maxime has four sisters, one of which who was in Rome on a school trip. The two older sisters went shopping with their mother on fifth avenue while Maxime, his youngest sister, his dad and Me, agreed to visit the USS Intreprid and the Empire State Building.

Our first stop was B&H Photo, the largest camera and electronic store in New York City. When you're in the city and you're looking for a good camera at a price way cheaper that the ones in Europe, this is the place to go. Not only camera's, plenty of other multimedia devices, laptops, TV-screens, professional equipment can be bought there as well.

Our second stop was the massive aircraft carrier docked at Pier 86: The USS Intreprid. This beautiful ship is now exploited as a Sea, Air and Space museum. Tickets are $24 per adult, which included the vessel, the museum inside and the submarine. The museum consists of many interesting and interactive information on it's history, it's remarkable features, how planes take-off and land and many more.

The flight deck contains a wide range of airplanes from past to the present. Pictures of which are depicted here below.

 

 

On of the areas open for visit was also the bridge where you could see how the captain managed to direct the ship in a good direction. Within you could also visit the briefing room, the dormitory in which the marines had to sleep, the private room from the captain... If you're in New York, this is definitely a place worth visiting. This gives you also a nice view on the banks of the Hudson river and New Jersey Shore on the other bank of the river. Next to the ship, at the end of the pier you can also see the Concorde. The only way you get in the plan is if this is assisted by a tour guide. 

 

After this two hour visit we went to grab a bite to eat in an irish tavern. The plan for the afternoon was to visit the Empire State Building and the Apple Store on 5th avenue afterwards. When I went visiting the Empire State, not many people were standing in line to get a ticket. That monday was hell if you wanted to go all the way up the highest building of NY. It took us about 3 (!) hours to before getting to the elevator. Three hours we stood in that line, but the view was worth it! Definitely on a beautiful day it was that day. I have shot plenty of pictures from the scenery, but they are still the same as my post three weeks ago. But still I will show you three pictures I have shot from up there.

      

After having spent about 4hours at the Empire State Building, we took a cab to the Apple store on Fifth Avenue. As I have been there many times before, but the amazement was big my friend first walked in the store. I just checked my mails and Facebook and that was it. Afterwards we took a bicycle carriage back to the hotel, about 10 blocks uptown. Just a quick tip: huge rip-off! The price we had to pay was way too expensive!

In the evening we had another nice dinner in the restaurant next to the hotel: Café Boulud. This also was the last evening I spent with them as I had to go back to the office the next day as we had a very important meeting I definitely wanted to attend. Once again I thanked for an amazing day with them and was back on my way to Cold Spring.

Tuesday, 03/04/2012


Even though I have a week off from work, I planned with Marshall that I would check in in the office on tuesday to attend the meeting with the K-bear to create the go-to market strategy. This meeting is the first of a three-to-six week long process of meetings to point out this strategy. The goal of this first meeting was to set the goals of the newly erected company. It was a three hour meeting, which was a very intense process where I finally got to see the theory put into practice. So to me this is a huge leap in my learning process. The reason why I chose to attend this meeting is because my Management report will have be based on this process. Already looking forward to the next meetings.

Wednesday, 04/04/2012


Yaaaaaaayyyy, my family is coming over. Five days with the my dearest family in the most exciting city in the world. They were expected to land around 12.30, so I headed down the city just to be on time. Sadly it was easter holiday so the time for them to get through customs and security was insane. They arrived at the Roosevelt Hotel around 15.00. After not having seen my parents for a month, the excitement and the joy was enormous when seeing them again. After having welcomed everybody in New York, we checked in the hotel, we went for something small and quick to eat in the dining concourse underneath the Grand Central Terminal.

For most of my family this was the first time in America. The first day most of them suffered from pain in their necks by looking up all the time. After having shown the beautiful terminal in Grand Central we went to Times Square where I gave them a short overview of the city; how to orientate yourself, where to go if you want to find the hotel...

In the evening I made reservations in restaurant Buddakan on 9th avenue. A note to everyone who is about to travel to New York with a group more than 7 people, please make sure that you make reservations beforehand. No restaurant, except for Mc Donalds, KFC, Burger King, is very eager to host a group of more than 8 people without reservations.

I arranged everything beforehand, even the menus as they advised me to choose out of 4 different menus. The served food was just delicious combined with a good glass of wine in company of my lovely family was the setting for the perfect evening.

But as this was only the first night, the whole gang was jet lagged thus tired! So a good night sleep will do the trick because the day after a biking trip on the menu.

 

   

 

Thursday, 05/04/2012


The best way to explore a city the size of New York is by bike. By bike you can cover a larger area in a shorter time whereas on foot it takes longer to get somewhere hence, you are going to see less. My parents and my brothers have already been to New York five years ago and we arranged a bike tour with a women from Belgium who lives in New York since 1980. Her name is Jacqueline Goossens and her website is http://jacquelinegoossens.com/; definitely worth checking out and worth contacting here if you're in New York.

The weather was perfect for a bike tour, not too cold or too warm; just perfect. We started in the upper-east side and biked through Central Park on the banks of the Hudson river all the way to the tip of Manhatten. If you're thinking that it's just riding a bike, you're wrong. Along the way she stops and shows us interesting spots and creates a story around that highlight.

In central park she holds us about the upper east and upper west side, that the most expensive apartments can be found there. The most expensive apartment was sold not so long ago for $88 million dollar by a Russian oil magnate for his daughter who is here to study. The Billionaires can be found on the upper east side, the millionaires on upper west side. Central Park is also known for the arrival of the New York Marathon who starts every year at the Verrazono Bridge across the 5 big boroughs of New York.

 

 

Our next point of interest was on the banks of the Hudson River where an interesting story was told about the many changes New York has gone and is going through. About the fact that when you want to build an apartment on the banks of the Hudson, you also have to get your surroundings in order, make sure that every year cultural events are organized in the area of your apartment, make it open to public, maintain it... Many things you need to take in consideration here.

Our second major stop was pier 60 where a huge sport complex is located. Every sport can be exercised there, even Golf. Apart from that there is also a movie theater, a bowling alley, a bar... Don't expect an actual golf course there, it's a four floor practice where people come to shoot some balls.

On the left side you can see the golf course. On the right side we were recovering and listening to Jacqueline talking about the history of Chelsea Piers and the big sport facilities. Our next stop was land inwards near 14th street where we entered the Chelsea Market, which is a beautiful restored industry building who has plenty of small food markets, bakeries, sushi bars, wine bars. Very nice to walk through and grab a small bite to eat. Below are shown some pictures I have taken. 

 

We continued our way in the small Belgian cobble stone streets of Greenwich Village, the old meat factories in Meat Packing District, the cosy Duane Park near Staple street, ending back on the banks of Hudson River. West-Village, Meat-Packing District, Soho, Tribeca: beautiful neighborhoods that are definitely worth checking out. Those neighborhoods are filled with history and commerce; remains are still noticeable of flourishing businesses back in the day. It was just beautiful!

 

This maze of small streets brought us back on the banks of the Hudson river where we had lunch on the terrace in front of the World Financial Center where we had a beautiful view on the skyline of New Jersey and the rising One World Trade Center on the other side. 

After a one-hour break, we were soon back on our bicycles to continue our journey through the streets of New York. The place we have consumed our lunch is a part of battery park, a very nice place to walk, talk and go for a run. Our first stop was the most southern tip of the city at 'the Sphere', which is a monument who stood in the middle of the World Trade Center Plaza. The monument was destroyed at 9/11 but then afterwards rebuild with the scattered pieces of the statue that were found in the debris. Standing next to that monument gave the guide the ideal opportunity to talk about the horrific happenings of that day, how New York tried to stand up again after the attacks, how it took almost three months before the last fire was extinguished...

Our next stop afterwards was the Bull who marks the beginning of Broadway. The length of broadway is 20km and starts at the southern point of Manhattan and runs all the way to the boarder of Canada. The 20km is the length of the street in Manhattan. According to the guide it takes you about 8hours to walk the 20km long strip in Manhattan. One of the streets crossing broadway is Wall Street, which is the financial center of the world: NYSE. Before 9/11 the New York Stock Exchange was open for public, but now it's restricted area for all public. 

By passing through Wall Street we cycled from the banks of the Hudson river to the banks of the East River with our first highlight Brooklyn bridge. This was also the ideal opportunity to take some family pictures; of which the results is shown here below. 

My family

My parents and two brothers

My aunt and uncle and their sons

My grand parents and their daughters. My mom on the left and my aunt on the right. 

This was also the last stop we made before cycling all the way back uptown to the place we have rented our bicycles, which was on E 69th street. It was a beautiful cycling trip uptown, where we got to see Brooklyn, the three bridges connecting Brooklyn with Manhattan, the UN building, Chrysler building and many other spots. A beautiful day has come to an end, once more if you are interested feel free to visit her website on www.jacquelinegoossens.com. She knowns New York like the back of her pocket and she shows you spots where you might never go.

In the evening the group split up between the parents and the 'children'. We were having diner at Grimaldi's under the Brooklyn bridge while the parents where having dinner in Rivercafe also under the brooklyn bridge. Grimaldi is a very well-known Pizza place with three locations in New York. We even had to queue up outside before getting in as the place was crowded. The pizza was really nice, but it wasn't worth it standing in line for a half an hour. 

We came back at the hotel around 11pm and my brothers went straight to bed, while I decided to consumer a beer in the bar. The perfect ending to a magnificent and exciting day. 

Friday, 06/04/2012

Breakfast was planned in 'Le Pain Quotidien' in Bryant Park. We arrived there around 9am to definitely make sure we had a place to sit, but the place was crowded so we had to wait in line again. It took us about a half an hour before we could sit somewhere and another half an hour to receive our breakfast. Luckily the breakfast tasted delicious and everyone was satisfied afterwards, despite the waiting. 

Our first stop for the day was to visit Rockefeller center and go all the way up to the Top of the Rock. For my grandparents this was their first time in NY, so they were amazed by how beautiful the city was from up there. They barely knew where to look first, luckily I should them where everything was and what we did yesterday. To me the view from up the Top of the Rock is much more beautiful than the one up the Empire State Building. Depicted here below are some of the pictures we have shot from up there. 

 

 

As can be seen on the pictures the view up there was amazing, so are the pictures and the people on the pictures.

Afterwards the group split up again. We were free whatever we liked to do and the parents went for a really nice lunch afterwards in the 'basements' of the Plaza hotel in Central Park. We on the other hand had a very nice culinary diner in the Mc Donalds and went enjoying the sun in Bryant Park. We met back at the Hotel around 5pm as we had reservations for diner on a boat on pier 81.

The boat took us for a ride on the Hudson and East river where we had some beautiful scenery on the Manhattan sky scrapers, the Brooklyn bridge, the Statue of Liberty... The diner wasn't that great but the experience was definitely worth it. Here are some pictures from that evening, too bad the camera just ran out of battery.

 

 

We were back on shore around 10pm. While everyone went straight to the hotel, me and my nephew went for some drinks with a friend he hasn't seen in two years. The others would have joined us as well but they haven't the appropriate age yet. I met some people from my hometown in Belgium who were also doing an internship in New York. We had a great party that night, we went to Greenhouse near to Spring St. We were able to get in there because of another friend who knew somebody who worked there so that was really convenient for us. Finally I could experience the American nightlife, it was nice but freakishly expensive: $9 for a beer, 25$ entrance... it was insane but amazing! We arrived back at the hotel around 4o'clock in the morning. The day after however was really tuff to get out of bed.

Saturday, 07/04/2012

Another beautiful day in the city and it started for me with splitting headache after last night. Even though my bed was calling me so badly after the night out, I decided to stay awake and spent the day in the city. While the parents were visiting the Museum of Modern Art, we walked alongside 5ave and visit some shops: NBA, NFL, Niketown, A&F and many more. Afterwards we ate a real Belgian waffle from 'Wafels&Dinges'. It's a small stand just at the beginning of Central Park and they really serve good waffle. This is the ONLY place where you can eat a real belgian waffle in New York. My nephew ordered a waffle with strawberries, whipped cream, chocolate covered with powdered sugar; he didn't feel that well afterwards. Here are some pictures.

 

 Afterwards we went shopping in the Abercrombie store. There was even a line before the store because of the many people visiting the store, so we had to wait in that line for a half an hour. It's a nice store but you don't want to stay there for too long, because the loud music and the dark spots just makes your head go crazy. I bought some nice trousers and perfume and then I was out of there. What a relief it was to get in the fresh air afterwards.

We had a very nice lunch in the Food Town plaza underneath the Plaza Hotel, which is a very nice plaza to eat with a wide variety of food types: American, Italian Sea food... The entrance is on Central Park South and it's definitely worth going to for a nice breakfast, lunch or diner.

In the afternoon we went for a walk in Central Park, relaxed a bit in the grass and headed back to the hotel afterwards. In the evening the parents where going to see a musical entitled: "Phantom of the Opera" while we were going to the movie theater on Times Square to watch "American Reunion". The movie theater was enormous, 5 floors up, comfortable chairs, best quality screen, and food stands where you could buy hotdogs and hamburgers... Belgium cinemas are nothing compared to this. The movie itself was hilarious! The best American Pie I've ever seen!

Afterwards, at 11pm we had dinner in the Gallagher Steak house on W54th street. Probably the best steak in New York could be eaten there. To me this was the perfect ending to an amazing time with my family. Too bad that this was the last night already. But luckily we had still one more day to go!

Sunday 08/04/2012


Today we had a there hour Gospel tour planned. During that tour you got to see uptown New York, Harlem, Brooklyn and the Bronx. While on the bus the guide gave us interesting information on the history of Harlem, on how the neighborhood has changed enormously since the eighties. It was really interesting as this neighborhood isn't really a place where tourists go.

The grand finale of this tour was in church where we got to experience, listen and sing along with the gospel songs of the black community. People were happy, singing along, praying, moving to the rhythm of the music compared to the atmosphere of going to church, which is really boring and monotonous. Here are some pictures to illustrate this.

It was already 2pm when we arrived at the hotel and only two hours before my family was leaving for JFK again. We spent the time talking about how nice the trip was and how much everyone enjoyed seeing me again, browsed also through the photo's and grabbed a last bite to eat before taking of.

It was hard saying goodbye of course for everyone as they had to miss me for another two months. We also took a last group picture, which I unfortunately don't have on my laptop. Gave everyone a last kiss and hug and was soon back on my way to Cold Spring...

I hoped you enjoyed reading the report of this awesome, crazy, kick-ass, exciting, super trip. Thanks for reading and see you next sunday!!