Flew in to NYC this evening. The shared shuttle took me for a long ride, dropping passengers uptown, zigzagging its way along the city’s streets, before letting me off on 24th Street.

Long ride, it may be, but looking out the window as the shuttle weaved through town, I knew the sight belonged to one of a big city’s. There was traffic on the roads. There were people on the streets, walking. There were shops along the roads, many still open for business in the sevenish-eightish.

Each time I find myself in a city like that, I would picture myself living there. It can be New York, it can be San Francisco, it can be Chicago. More recently, I visited Mexico City, and why not, if language is not an issue? And how can I forget Paris?

What is it that is common among these cities? That they are big? That different parts of the cities seem connected to each other? That it feels like there are things going on in the cities all the time?

Probably. There are possibly other things too, that would take too much of my time to write in this short post. It may also be the result of trying to make contrasts with where I am living.

Treat this as another of my whines about the city where I live.

I am 100% educated in Singapore. And I am proud of that.

The 100% statement is true as far as formal education goes. Saying that I am proud of that also does not mean that there is nothing about the education system that I am unhappy about. Any system can never be perfect, and it is through an imperfect system that one gets to learn what works for them and what does not.

In my short life journey, whenever I came to a point where I had to stop and think about the next stage of my education, going to a non-Singaporean institution has always been an option that I evaluated. I had wanted to study “overseas”, but my wishes in this respect have never materialised.

When I was living in California, I visited the campuses of Stanford and Berkley. My first impression when walking around in the campuses was – wow! I would like to study here! I thought the environment was conducive for social development and intellectual growth.

I did not know why I had that impression without having seen how classes were conducted and how students and faculty members interacted. Maybe I did not like the environment of the university that I attended and it was a matter of having something different is always good. Maybe it was the grand, historical buildings in the campuses that struck me, somehow telling me that those were institutions that have nurtured generations of geniuses, those were institutions with their own legacies.

If you ask me today, I would still like to study in a non-Singaporean university. The notion of “overseas” has lost its meaning to me today. It is a relative notion. I can go to a school in the US, France, Switzerland, UK, Spain, China and maybe Mexico (¿Porque no?). What I would like to get out of a graduate program is a different perspective, a different kind of interaction with people of different culture, and another level of intellectual stimulation.

The impression that the Columbia campus gave me was similar to that of Stanford and Berkley. Old buildings that carry its tradition blended in the campus with the newer, modern ones. What is neat is that the campus is also in NYC itself. Taking part in campus life is also taking part in the city’s life. I like living in a big city, and make myself feel that I am part of it. Oh, did I not mention that it was in this university where Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave a speech last year?

The sheer size of the Metropolitan Museum of Art overwhelms. It is definitely not a half-day excursion if you want to seriously look at the exhibits it houses.

The Met opens till late in the evening on Fridays and Saturdays and it was during one of these late night openings that I was there. I did not do any homework to find out what was on before going there. When I first saw their program, there were (and still are) just SO MANY ongoing exhibitions. Of these exhibitions, there were SO MANY of them that aroused my interest.

For instance, they had one on “How to read Chinese Paintings”, they had a South Asian Gallery, a Gallery for European Paintings, one for Native American Arts and many more other featured exhibitions. If I were living in NYC, I would probably get a membership to visit it often.

I eventually chose to view their Egyptian Gallery. I do not have much knowledge about Egyptian art and history, except being able to say “mummies” and “pyramids”. The exhibits in the gallery were an eye opener for me.

The Met has a fine collection of Egyptian artifacts, and I learned from my visit that its department of Egyptian art has carried out a considerable amount of archaeological work in Egypt. Among some of the interesting exhibits were sphinxes, mummies, intricately painted coffins, replicas of tombs and the actual offerings that were interred in the offering chambers of the tombs of the deceased. There was one particular exhibit case where they displayed a basket that was holding food – the very same loaf of bread and grapes or dates from thousands of years ago – that the archaeologists excavated from a tomb. The design and construction of the tomb was simply able to create a condition that prevented the food from decomposing. Amazing.

In one of the huge galleries, a 15 BC temple, a gift from Egypt to the US, was reconstructed for display. This is the Temple of Dendur, built by the Roman emperor Augustus, dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis. The temple originally stood at a place called Nubia until 1963, in the environs of Lake Nasser, an open lake along the Nile. With the building of a dam further downstream on the Nile, the temple faced the threat of the rising waters of the lake. It was dismantled as a result, to save it from the waters. After finding its new home in the Met, the temple was reconstructed in this gallery that receives natural sunlight in the day through the huge ceiling-to-floor windows.

The reconstructed Temple of Dendur, as seem from the entrance to the gallery where it is housed.

The arch in front of the temple.

The temple complex.

Relief on the façade of the temple complex.

Relief on the interior wall of the temple complex.

Interior chamber of the temple complex. This part was out-of-bounds to visitors.

The last two pictures are that of the sphinx of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut (I think), who ruled in the 15th century BC.

After my satisfying meal in Chinatown, I conveniently walked towards the direction of Brooklyn Bridge, just off the south-west corner of Chinatown. I had wanted to just walk over the bridge to Brooklyn, enjoy the view of the city and call it a day.

Brooklyn Bridge is an iconic landmark in New York City. Many must have seen it before. Probably in American movies, such as a car pursuit scene where the camera trails the car from above and you see the car cruising along with the view of it blocked periodically by the iron beams laid horizontally over the parts on the two sides of the bridge that are dedicated to traffic.

Traffic lanes are on both sides of the bridge, with each side going in an opposite direction. Traffic under these iron beams is a familiar scene we see in movies and TV serials.

Otherwise, you may have seen it photographs of Manhattan’s skyline, such as the ones you see in the 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles. To give you an example of what I mean, I have a silhouette version, which contains the same elements as the photographs I was referring to.

When Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, an architectural wonder of its kind. Its majestic towers and its net-like steel cables make up the symmetries and patterns that become the focal points of photographers’ cameras.

From the bridge, you get wonderful views of both sides of the East River.

View of the Brooklyn side from the Manhattan side

Manhattan Bridge spans across the East River upstream of Brooklyn Bridge. Here is an unobstructed view from the middle of the bridge.

A view of the port of New York and the Lady herself, I mean, the Statue of Liberty.

View of the Manhattan side from the Brooklyn side.

As I started walking across the bridge, I noticed signs on the bridge indicating that it would be closed to pedestrian traffic from 7.30 pm. The reason was that there were events going on to celebrate the bridge’s 125th anniversary. In fact, there were events taking place throughout the entire Memorial Day weekend.

I thought there would have to be some important celebration programs that evening if they had to close the bridge to pedestrian traffic. I interjected the NYPD dude who was talking to his buddy and asked if there was anything going on here on the bridge that evening.

He replied that the bridge will be closed from 7.30 for a commemorative event to take place. He added that there will be fireworks-.

I probably did not catch the rest of his sentence once I heard him said the word “fireworks”. I was thrilled. I was lucky then, to have came on the day where they were having fireworks at the bridge. On second thoughts, maybe not, because I left my tripod in the hostel, not having made any plans to take any pictures that night.

In any case, since I found out about it, I was going to stay around for it. The policeman told me that there was a little park just next to the bridge in Brooklyn where people were gathering to watch the fireworks. I would make sure that I made my way there once I got off the bridge in Brooklyn.