Hi everyone!
My name is Pierre and I’m a french student majoring in structural engineering and Architecture. It’s already been a month since I arrived in NYC for my internship at Gilsanz Murray Steficek and I haven’t seen the time pass! I’ve walked by the streets of Manhattan, Brooklyn, I’ve visited museums, eaten at many great places in the city, but one activity that I truly enjoyed during my first month was going out of the city for a day, and enjoy some nature.
This short trip upstate felt like the opposite of what I had experienced until then in the City. I was far away from the noise of cars, sirens and ambulances, far away from the skyscrapers and the crowd. I was suprised by how simple it is to get there, we only had to take the train (with incredible views of the Hudson river by the way) from grand Central to Cold Spring, and in less than 1h30 we were in the middle of the forest! After almost 3 hours of hiking and climbing the rocks, we were on top of the hill at the observatory, the view of the landscape all around was breathtaking. It was all trees, hills, huge spaces and (almost) no building. We could see by looking closely the skyline of Manhattan, far away behind the trees.
We then went down the hill to join the small city of Beacon, to enjoy some fresh lemonade at a bar and rest a little bit after a day of hiking. This town is exactly how I expected a typical american town to be before arriving in the US, very different from the density and vibrant energy of NYC. We finally took the train back to NYC, where I could fall asleep in my bed to the lovely sound of cars and sirens.
