by Jodine Robin
Growing up, seeing movies and commercials filmed in ‘The Big Apple’ inspired me to visit there one day. However, I was never certain of when or how I would ever go, but when Dr. Esprit spoke to us about the New York City educational excursion I knew this was my chance. I worked tirelessly to be one of the selected interns to take part in this experience. Here I am today in New York City, ‘The Big Apple’, all because I joined this inspirational, influential and life changing organization, Create Caribbean.
We arrived at JFK airport on 24 July, 2016. Although the flight was cold and almost 5 hours long, the beautiful city awaiting us at the end was worth it. After settling down, we took the train to Union Square. It was my first time taking a train and silly me was afraid that the train would get stuck underground or I would fall while the train was swaying, since it was a very rough ride. At Union Square there were dozens of people. Much more people than I would normally see on an average day in Roseau. I could not stop staring up at the multiple skyscrapers, it was my first time seeing such tall buildings.
After Union Square we went to Atlantic Avenue. There, we came across the multipurpose arena, the Barclays Centre. Some of the events held there include concerts, graduations, basketball games and conferences. In fact, the Barclays Centre is the home of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Brooklyn Nets, a popular basketball team.
On Monday we visited The American National Museum of History. The museum was founded by Albert Smith Bickmore on April 6th 1869. Since then the museum has been known for its breath taking exhibits such as The Bernard Family Hall of American Mammals on the first floor. This exhibit includes stuffed extinct and non-extinct animals. Many of the animals became extinct as a result of over hunting and disease. Animals featured in this exhibit include the stag moose, steppe bison, woolly mammoth and American mastodon. Well-known animals such as the grizzly bear, coyote, squirrels, deer and wolves are also showcased along with rare animals like the black footed ferret.
The David H. Koch Dinosaur Wing has two halls. The first is the Hall of Ornithischain Dinosaurs. Ornthischain dinosaurs are characterized by the backward point extension of the pubis bone which helps to support the massive stomach needed to digest the rugged vegetation they consumed. This hall comprises of the corythosaurus, dinosaur mummy, duck-billed dinosaur, psittacosaurus, stegosaurus and triceratops.The second is the Hall of Saurischain Dinosaurs. Saurischain dinosaurs are marked by grasping hands where the thumb counteracts the other fingers. The hall’s highlights include allosaurus, apatosaurus, coelophysis, deinonychus, the glen rose traqckway, tyrannosaurus rex and velociraptor. Many of the dinosaurs depict a kangroo strucutre while it is believed that birds are relatived of dinosaurs due to their bon structure as well. The halls also include real dinosaur bones and whenever new bones are discover they are often added to the exhibits.
Another fascinating aspect of the museum is the Hayden Planetarium Space Theatre. The theatre shows documentaries of space research done by the staff and researchers of the museum itself. The Dark Universe Documents showcases the aspects and levels of the universe, explains and proves the big bang theory and explains the work that goes into understanding the universe.
