First Bite of the Big Apple

As I said in my last post, I'm finally here in New York. I've never even been to the east coast before (besides a short weekend in Boston for Taekwondo), so it's been a completely new experience for me. And I'm not going to lie, my first day in 'the city' had me feeling gape-mouthed like a total tourist. Thank god I had my fellow SURP-ers to explore with this weekend and get a feel for the city.

We went into FAO Schwartz toy store- overwhelming! 

As soon as I saw the Rockefeller Plaza, the theme
song to 30 Rock popped into my head and
wouldn't leave! 

More Rockefeller..

This was at Times Square... I think. I was
engrossed in a conversation about research
at this point.

This was at Union Square and I don't know
what it is but I thought it looked cool.

I'm dying to try out the CitiBike project they
just started where you can rent a bike for a day!

This was taken from the High-line. It's
essentially an old train line that has been
converted into a garden walk that goes
over the city streets.

More High-line. It was so beautiful and
peaceful! I definitely plan to return!

Just to give you a taste, we walked from the lower part of Central Park to Union Square to the High-line and some beyond that. To tell the truth, I'm not exactly completely sure where-all we went. It was an over-whelming first day, followed by a second Sunday adventure across the Brooklyn Bridge. I haven't walked this much since back-packing when I was back in high school! I know I should have been expecting the city to be this huge, but it really hasn't hit me until finally walking the streets. I can't believe I get to spend the whole summer doing research and exploring Manhattan.

From the pier on Fulton Street.

Longhorn in Manhattan!

Freedom Tower near Ground Zero

The Brooklyn Bridge! 

I'm finally getting the hang of panoramic shots on my phone.

Oh yeah, research. That's the reason I'm here- right? Well, so far I haven't really gotten started with my actual research project. I've been assigned to Dr. Elyse Sussman's lab for the next eight weeks to continue my experience in EEG. In fact, it turned out to be the perfect match! I've spent the majority of the past year running participants on EEg, but now I get to try the other side of the coin and do actual data analyses. Based on the information I've been given so far, I will be processing an EEG data set and look for specific ERP components. It will be interesting to do work related to the auditory system instead of sleep (of which I am more familiar). But as things stand now, I've only been reading up on the subject and hope to start the real work this week!

Taken from Brooklyn.