First time for everything

So, my niece from Maine is a senior in high school and has started visiting colleges she has been accepted to. This weekend, she's been in my neck of the woods to explore Pace University in NYC and Rutgers in New Brunswick.

On Friday, I took her up to NYC. While she's been in the city before, this was her first time to see anything beyond Times Square. We arrived at Penn Station and headed down to the Fulton Street exit on the Subway, where she was able to have her first Five Guys burger. Pace University was a few blocks away, so we walked on and explored around the building. Quite a different world for her than Maine, for sure.

Next, we took the subway to Union Square, and proceeded to make the afternoon one long trek through the southern tip of Manhattan. All around Union Square down to Washington Square, down to Noho, Little Italy where she had her first cannoli, and then Soho. I loved showing people around NYC when they've never really seen it. Taking her on this trip reminded me of when i went last, a few months ago when a friend and I visited pretty much the same areas where my niece and I were exploring. It was still warm then, and when it's warm, the crowds swarm. What a difference a few months makes. Yesterday, it was fairly low key, as it was quite cold and there was still a bit of snow on the ground.

All around, it was a great trip to NYC, and we were both knocked out when we returned back to the apartment.

Today, we visited some of the places she remembered when she had last visited Princeton, and then we drove through the Rutgers campus in New Brunswick. We were able to cap that visit with her first trip to a White Castle.