31 Dec, Sun - New Year's Eve

As it was the New Year's eve and we were in New York, the best place to celebrate the countdown would be in Times Square. After all, the news always film the locations where people celebrated the New Year's countdown and Times Square is always shown. Charlene told us that it was going to be very crowded but we still decided to go ahead anyway.
We left the hostel at 3pm. When we reach Times Square half an hour later, there were already so many people there! It felt like the whole NY city was in Times Square.First, we went to buy our food at BK. All the roads surrounding times square were closed and there were police everywhere. Security was tight as the police checked our bags before allowing us to enter into the barricaded areas for the countdown. Between each block, there was a barricaded area or 'cage' for people to wait in. Becky and I were probably 'lock' at the 'cage' at 48th street.

We were hoping to get to a good location where we can watch the performances on the stage and the famous ball. However, we realised that we were pretty far from the stage so we climbed over the barricades into the next 'cage' at 47th street. Every 'cage' was crazily packed, we got pushed and jostled everywhere.

Then the speakers overhead started broadcasting the performance and we realised that from where we were standing, we could not even see the stage. Neither was there any screens broadcasting the performance. We were hoping that we could at least see the famous ball drop and people around us were all speculating on where the ball was going to be. And when the annoucement of the lowering of the ball was made, we found out that we weren't near the ball either.

At 6pm, Becky and I decided to stop waiting. There was another 6 hours more to go and getting squeezed and pushed around and not seeing anything doesn't seem fun at all. We pushed our way through to the sides, told the police we wanted to leave and climbed out of the barricades. At that time, there were still so many people streaming into Times Square and trying to enter 'cages' that were further from where we were. It was quite hilarious. I guess there were many people who wanted to soak in the atmosphere of the countdown. It's a pity that we didn't have the patience.

We left Times Square and made our way to Central Park hoping to catch the New year's eve fireworks instead. we hung around till 7pm before deciding to go home. The idea of standing out in the cold for another 5 hours to watch a 20 mins firework display was just not tempting enough.

On the way back to the hostel, we bought drinks, chips and bbq chicken and celebrated the New Year's eve with Charlene and Kelvin . Our countdown to 2007 was spent playing cards, eating and drinking. Definitely more fun then standing in the cold at Times Square.

2006 has been a very wonderful year for me. Celebrated my 21st birthday with good friends. Had so much fun on the exchange, made so many friends. The exposure and experience had been fantastic. Hopefully 2007 would be equally good. But it is going to be hard as I have to clear my 3 core modules in my last semester. And it will also be the year that I graduate and to get a job and to go on to the next stage of life. Anyway, I will enjoy myself while I can! Happy New Year 2007!