Day Student Experiences

Day students? What? Where are they?

Many residential students never get a chance to meet any day students. This is because many of us travel to our internships in the morning then travel straight home. Day students are not simply students who already live in New York City. Some live in New Jersey and others as far away as Connecticut. Life as a day student is different than that of a residential student at Career Explorations. First off, there is the long, prosaic commute that we all make getting to and from our internships. While residential students are no more than 50 minutes away from their internships, many of us have commutes that last an hour or longer. However, public transportation can always be blamed if we show up late to work! Another aspect of our experience is that many commuters never attend the planned CE events. From taking a boat tour on the Circle Line to visiting NBC Studios, many day students see these events as touristy and ludicrous. If you hear that New Yorkers dislike tourists, it's true! We feel as if tourists take way too many pictures, and they clog up to sidewalk by walking too slowly.

However, I wanted my summer to be filled with fun and excitement, so I decided that even though I am a day student, I would try to attend most of the events planned by CE. Because of this choice, I am experiencing New York City from a different perspective. For example, I pass by Citi Field at least once a week, but I had never seen a Mets game until I went with CE. I have attended school near the Brooklyn Bridge for years and never knew they show free movies in the summer until now. I travel to Brooklyn occasionally to visit my friends, but never had Mexican food until international night with CE. There is so much to do in the city that I did not even know about until now. Next summer, I look forward to continuing these exciting, new activities on my own and with my friends from school!

-Wendy Ho