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Evie takes a break from finals to spend the weekend in New York at Christmastime.

As the fall semester began drawing to a close, I knew now was the perfect time to cross something off my bucket list: take a trip to New York City at Christmastime. I’d visited New York once already this semester – buses and trains can run for quite cheap from DC’s Union Station – so our focus for this trip was not specifically to see the most popular sightseeing destinations, but the holidays highlights. I enlisted my friend Esther – another UCL exchange student at the University of Maryland – and we began planning the trip.

After a five hour bus ride up the East Coast, we arrived in New York just as the sun was setting. We travelled Manhattan looking at the Christmas lights this first evening. Beginning at downtown, we visited the Financial District and took in the sights of the New York Stock Exchange’s Christmas tree (and what kind of UCL students would we be if we didn’t take the opportunity to take a picture of a portico?).

We then arrived at something I have been dreaming of visiting for a long time: the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, starring the Rockettes. Although the streets around the Radio City Music Hall were jam-packed and the queues inside were immense, it was all worth it to see the show. Our favourite scene was, fittingly, called ‘New York Christmas’ – although the Nutcracker performance came in a close second. The Rockettes are known for their kick line and highly synchronised dance numbers, but I hadn’t expected the other cast members to play such a prominent role in the show –for the most part I thought this all worked, although when live animals were brought out for the nativity, I couldn’t help but wonder where they were kept in the middle of the city. Nevertheless, I felt this was a once in a lifetime experience, and I’m very glad to have gone.

On our way back to where we were staying, we caught a glimpse of New York’s most famous Christmas sight: the Rockefeller Tree. It certainly lived up to the hype.

The next day, we were determined to explore more of Manhattan on foot. We began with bagels in Tompkins Square Park before wandering uptown, stopping at the Union Square Christmas Market and the Strand Bookstore on the way. For December, the weather was surprisingly mild, however this gave us the perfect opportunity to sip our festive hot drinks outside, admiring the city architecture.

We finished off Saturday by walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. We managed to catch it at an alright time – although it was packed with people per usual, the sun was setting as we crossed and this made the experience seem so magical and memorable. Finally, we visited some Christmas-themed sights in Brooklyn – such as a neighbourhood known for every house being covered in extravagant holiday lights – before calling it a night.

Finally, on Sunday, we just had enough time for some final exploring before our bus back home. We headed to Central Park, wandering past the iconic ice rink and the Zoo, before the rain that had been building up all morning got the best of us, and we ventured into the Met for a reprieve.

The Met is massive, and you could spend days going over everything inside, but we only had a few hours before journeying home. Overall, New York completely met my expectations over Christmas – I only wish it had snowed!