by Kelly-Anne Joseph
When I was blessed with the opportunity to go to New York, I could not contain my excitement. As a young person growing up in a small country such as Dominica, one would never expect such an opportunity to basically fall into their lap.
Upon arrival in the United States, the scenery was breathtaking. The architecture is definitely different from what I am used to seeing. It left me in awe. We roamed Union Square, Atlantic Avenue Barclays Center, shopping centers, Central Park, and The American Museum of Natural History. Upon entering this jaw dropping museum my immediate thought was, ‘It can’t get any better than this’, but that was before we went to The National September 11 Memorial & Museum also known as the 9/11 Memorial and 9/11 Memorial Museum. After such a gruesome attack, it is pleasant to see the American people come together to show the terrorists that what they did will not break them. In my opinion, the memorial is a wonderful way of allowing the families of persons who were not found or could not be identified in the wreckage, have some piece of their loved ones shown and appreciated by many who visit the site.
Following this, we went to the African Burial Ground National Monument. This was another fascinating museum. An 
extract from the National Park Service website reads, “The site contains the remains of more than 419 Africans buried during the late 17th and 18th centuries in a portion of what was the largest colonial-era cemetery for people of African descent, some free, most enslaved. Historians estimate there may have been 15,000–20,000 burials in what was called the “Negroes Burial Ground” in the 1700s”.
Later in the week we did a presentation at Medgar Evers College. We focused on three main projects; Imagine Homeland, Dominica History, and Carisealand. The director and assistant director started the presentations, following which the Create Caribbean interns presented on the projects we have been working on. After our presentation various volunteers, professors and students went on to show us the fascinating projects they worked on. Following the conference we were given a tour of the college. The tour guide showed us the biology labs and nursing section of the school. Unfortunately the tour was cut short because I fell ill.
The next day we visited Columbia University. Personally, this was what I looked forward to the most. Through our tour we found out that the university has eleven libraries, of which we were only able to visit two; The Butler Library and The Law Library. At the Butler Library we met the administrator and our tour guide, Mr. Alex Gil, who we later found out is a member of the Create Caribbean board and much like our director. Apart from his personality mirroring Dr. Esprit’s, they do similar work in digital humanities and have similar work ethic. At the law library, which in my opinion was the most beautiful building on the campus, we saw a list of the University’s many benefactors on its walls.
After our brief trip to the law library, we walked along the campus and saw two other interesting building; the computer center and residents hall, where professors and students reside. However, Columbia University doesn’t stop there, they have two other buildings or as some would say “sister schools”. These schools are, the Teachers College and Bernard College. Though the sister schools are separate buildings, they share resources.
After the grand tour of Columbia University, we decided that it was time to take a much deserved break, so we made our way to the Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem and viewed an amazing stage play/ theatre production, Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, Directed by Carl Cofield and choreographed by Tiffany Rea-Fisher. In my opinion Lady Macbeth would not have been crazy Macbeth if she was not married to MACDEATH, but she wanted to be Queen so she paid a heavy price.
This trip would not have been possible if it was not for the relentless efforts of or director Dr. Schuyler Esprit and our numerous sponsors. Dr. Esprit has gone above and beyond to ensure that her students get the best opportunities. I will forever be grateful that I got the chance to work for such an amazing person.
