A taste of life in the Big Apple

Published on Tuesday 11 April 2006 11:04

TUESDAY 4 APRIL

I can't even begin to describe what it feels like to be sitting in my hotel room on the 37th floor in Manhattan. It seems unbelievable that a mere ten hours ago I was in Sighthill, in the freezing cold, wondering about my journey into the unknown.

After an early start this morning, we had the pleasure of getting lost in the small city known as Terminal 4 in Heathrow airport. After a brief moment of panic, we successfully boarded the plane and were on the final leg of our journey to the Big Apple.

Waiting in a queue at immigration with another 250 passengers and only two officers checking passports didn't give the best first impression of US efficiency, but the yellow cab ride to the city soon took our mind of that. The first glimpse of the New York skyline was astounding.

There are seven of us from Broomhouse and Sighthill here. We're part of a video diary project which is an eight-month project based in Sighthill Library which lets us talk about our lives and where we live through writing, film and music. We didn't know we'd be coming to New York when it started, but our project is linked to the Tartan Week literacy and language theme, and thanks to funding by the Scottish Executive and the council we got to come here to see what life is like for teenagers in New York and make a video diary of the trip. After checking into our hotel we had about 30 minutes to unpack before we had a planning meeting about what we would do while we were here, where we would film and who we would speak to.

Afterwards, we were all tired because of the travelling so we didn't see much more of New York today.

CAMERON FOLEY, 16

WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL

Today's schedule was pretty busy and it started with a visit to the planetarium part of the Museum of Natural History and a short film about space. Our next stop was the Bronx area of the city, which we reached after hopping on and off lots of trains.

We met some local teenagers from the area and the teenage writer E.R. Frank who has been very successful writing books for teenagers in America, so we spent a while talking to her and the others about writing and getting to know them. I suppose that was the "work" part of day but it didn't feel like it.

This evening we got to watch a basketball game, the New York Knicks vs Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Gardens. Apparently it is a very "New York" thing to do and we were lucky to get tickets. The game was really exciting with a really close score, the Knicks won 94 - 92 and everybody in the place was up off their seats cheering. We had these giant foam fingers to wave about. Definitely the highlight of the day.

KIRSTY DIXON, 17

THURSDAY 6 APRIL

Started today with a visit to the Chelsea Recreation Centre, a massive sports and recreation complex run by the New York City Council. We met the youth staff Corey and Carlo, who make films with teenagers. We made a short film with their help and learned about interview techniques and camera angles. Then we had a meeting with some teenagers from Brooklyn and the Bronx to talk about our lives, which we found were similar in many ways. We all agreed that even if you grow up in a tough place, you can still find opportunities to change your life - like this project!

We later headed to the Urban Visionaries Film Festival where we saw short films and documentaries made by local young people. The best film was about a boy at school having trouble but determined not to become one of the 50 per cent of Hispanic teenagers who drop out of high school. It gave us lots of ideas for our film.

We also visited Teen Central in Manhattan, which is a library designed by teenagers for teenagers. It was refreshing to see somewhere that teenagers could just hang out and be themselves.

The walk to Times Square in the evening was amazing. The lights and atmosphere were just fantastic. But we're going to interview the Lord Provost tomorrow so we weren't out late as we had to write up the questions before bed.

CLAIRE SQUIRES, 17

FRIDAY 7 APRIL

Some of us were up early as Pc Doig - who is part of our group - arranged a visit to the Bronx police. Others, including me, had a welcome lie-in and then headed off to do some film editing. After lunch we went to the Scotland Village in Grand Central Terminal that is part of Tartan Week. We met the Lord Provost of Edinburgh there and interviewed her. I admit we did try to give her a hard time Jeremy Paxman-style, like we'd been practising, but we failed and she took it all in her stride.

It wasn't a day of all work and no play - we managed to squeeze in a carriage ride round Central Park and then headed for the daddy of them all, the Empire State Building. At the top the view was beautiful and it felt like the best thing ever being that high and able to see ten miles in every direction. The lift travels from the ground to level 80 in 30 seconds. It's so fast your ears pop.

SCOTT FAICHNEY, 16

SATURDAY 8 APRIL

We marched in the Tartan Day parade. It was pouring with rain but we kept singing and laughing. Then went to see a show called "Geordie" performed by the Scottish Youth Theatre. We were so impressed with the performance we want to see it again when it comes to the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh. Hopefully we'll get a chance to meet the cast and talk to them about acting. Our film about New York, as well as the ones we're doing at home, will be shown in the City Art Centre in the summer. New York has been great. It feels safe, it's big but we never got lost, and everyone we met was really friendly too. It's been a brilliant experience.

CAMERON FOLEY