Competition, liberty and cavaletti

On the Sunday before last we all went to a CT (combined test- dressage and show jumping competition) at Full Gallop Farm which is quite local. All 4 working students competed, and Emma rode two horses, one her own and one Michelle's. We borrowed a trailer big enough to carry 5 horses and took the horses to Full Gallop the evening before so that they could settle in. The next morning we arrived at about 9am, but I wasn't riding until midday so I volunteered as a dressage ring steward until then. 

My dressage test went really well, I felt it was the best I could have done and I was so pleased with my horse, Teddy, as it was probably the best she's ever gone for me. My show jumping round wasn't as good- we only knocked one pole down but it wasn't the smoothest round! To be fair neither Teddy nor I have jumped a full course of jumps in a long time so we are both a bit out of practice! Overall I was really pleased with how it went. Although I didn't get a particularly high score and I came 9th (would have been 5th without the 4 penalties for the pole down in show jumping), I had so much fun and wish I could compete every weekend! The three other working students were in a different class to me and did well- Emma came 2nd on her horse and 5th on the other, Anni came 6th and Maude came 7th. 

Teddy

Over the past few days I have been trying out 'liberty' with Teddy. This is like playing with the horse on-line but without a halter and rope, so you have to communicate with the horse using only body language and the carrot stick. It is so cool being able to do this, and I can really see how much I have improved over the two months I have been here. So far at liberty I can get Teddy to come towards me, back up away from me, go in a circle around me then turn and face me ('disengage') when I ask, and walk and trot with me running next to her. At first I did it in a round pen so she couldn't run away, but this morning we had a group liberty session with all four working students and four horses in one of the pastures which was a real test of our communication with our horses as they could (and occasionally did) just leave.

Harcala and me

This week I have started to ride a pony called Harcala who belongs to one of Michelle's friends. I have played with him on-line quite a lot and he's great at that, but he has less experience at being ridden- in the past he has mostly done trail rides. The first time I got on him he was reluctant to move forwards (but went sideways quite happily!), so we have been doing an exercise called 'point to point.' This is where you go from one side of the arena to another as fast as you can and then stop and rest for a minute when you get there, before turning around and going fast to the other side where you rest again. This gives the horse motivation to move as they keep being rewarded for doing so by getting rests, and they quickly have a lot more enthusiasm for going forwards, especially if there's grass they can eat at the rest stops! It worked really well with Harcala, he is now like a different horse who will go forwards to trot with very little encouragement. The only problem is that now he keeps drifting towards the fence because he knows that's where he can stop and eat grass!

Cavaletti (the black things)

In the afternoons we have been testing our carpentry skills by making cavaletti (little jumps) out of old poles and fence posts. Maude, the working student from France, has made them before and is very good at DIY so she is the project manager! She also has some ideas for cross country jumps to build around the farm which would be great (although I'll probably have gone by the time they're built.) I now know how to use a circular power saw, and I always seem to be covered in paint as we're painting the cavaletti black.

Maude's skills also extend to cooking and the other day she brought a taste of France to South Carolina by making us some amazing crêpes. Anni and I had four each! (Two savoury and two Nutella.) 

Today was a very sad day for us as Anni left. She is spending a week with friends in Washington then going home to Germany. She was at Avalo for three months so has been here for my whole stay, and it will be weird without her! She, Emma and I all cried when saying goodbye, the three of us got along really well. Anni and I are going to visit each other when we're both back in Europe.

I have just over a week left at Avalo and then a week at Myrtle Beach before flying back to London. I will be sad to leave but part of me is definitely looking forward to going home. I miss everyone at home and lots of English things like pubs, English television (I have been watching lots of Peep Show on my laptop) and the abundance of tea! My mum sent me a picture of our garden yesterday and it looks so green and lush compared to here (admittedly because of all the rain.) Maybe I'm idealising England in my head, but it's nice to know that I really like the place I'm from! Having said that, I will miss everyone here as well when I leave, and I do wish I could take Teddy home with me! 

Cross country schooling, swimming and show prep.

The past week or so has again been busy and fun, and my highlight has to be cross country schooling. Michelle took Anni, me and two horses, JD and Teddy, to a local cross country course last Friday. We began by warming up on-line, and then got on our horses at the water complex. We enjoyed cantering through the water and then walked round the course trying out different jumps, some of which we put together in a small course at the end. I had so much fun! Teddy hasn't done cross country in a long time but she used to compete to a relatively high level, so she knows what she is doing but was a little cautious at first. It was great to see how much her confidence grew, and by the end she was very willing and much less hesitant which made her brilliant to ride. I had only properly been cross country schooling once before in England during Pony Camp in 2011, and I had forgotten how much fun it is- I want to do it every day! Click here to see a video (sorry about the random blank bit half way through.)

Another highlight was swimming with the horses. Emma and Maude went schooling the day after us, and Anni and I went as well to watch and photograph. At the end of their session they took their horses into the lake to play and cool off, and Anni and I got to have a go too which was great. Both of the horses we took, Rhapsody and Apache, love the water and were pawing at it with their front legs and lying down in it, and after a while we got on and took them in a bit deeper so they could swim. Click here to see a video.

 On Sunday I will be doing my first proper competition at a local farm that is running a CT (a 'combined test' which is a training show for eventing that involves only the dressage and show jumping phases- sadly no cross country.) I am taking Teddy and we have been practicing every day this week. She feels great so hopefully it will go well! I'd love to come back with a rosette (or 'ribbon' as they call them here.) All of the working students are competing and Emma is taking two horses, so we are going to have to borrow a bigger trailer to transport all five horses.

Earlier this week we had a lesson in the evening where we played games on our horses. These included weaving in and out of barrels without using your reins, and trotting around a barrel in a circle tight enough that your stick doesn't lose contact with the barrel. We also got into pairs with another horse and rider and each held one end of the stick and trotted around the arena, and then one pivoted around on the spot while the other trotted/cantered in a circle around them. This was quite challenging but we all got it in the end and it was really fun to try.

This week I have been working with a horse called Starbuck, one of those who is less highly trained in natural horsemanship. At first I only worked with him on the ground, but I have now ridden him 4 times. He likes to move his feet, is quite speedy and very reactive. He is also a space invader; he likes to stand very close to me and is reluctant to back up out of my space. As I've got more experienced I

Me riding Starbuck

can really see a (positive) change in his behaviour on the ground; we can both be calmer and I know how to deal with any problems that may come up. When I ride him he is pretty good but likes to go fast. However, if I use the 'patterns' (a shape that you follow as you ride, for example in the 'bow-tie' pattern you go in a straight line, loop around and then follow that same line in the opposite direction before looping around again back onto the line in the original direction etc.) that I have learnt he relaxes and gets much more steady. He is so rewarding to work with because I can really see Natural Horsemanship benefiting him. Apparently he used to be quite uncontrollable which I can imagine from what I know of him, but now, doing NH, he is so much more sensible and calm.

Michelle has a lot of her horses for sale at the moment as she is trying to downsize, so as it was very rainy yesterday we spent some of the day advertising them on various websites. We have also had a few people come and try out horses they are interested in, and since I've been here one has been sold.

Drive-through bank

Yesterday we went to a drive-through bank! You have to put a container holding your cheques into a plastic tube that sucks it up and into the people inside the bank who talk to you on an intercom. It was very bizarre to see and all of us foreigners were taking pictures!

Update

I have decided to extend my stay here in the US by two weeks! Emma has kindly invited me to go with her family to Myrtle Beach (in South Carolina) for a week in June, so I will now be coming home on 16th June. I'll be sad to leave Avalo but am looking forward to spending a week at the beach and to seeing another part of the state. The time has gone so quickly, I can't believe I'm half way through my stay already!

Poppy with her blue ribbon (1st place)

Trail ride

We have had a busy week here. More cross country schooling for Emma and Michelle (where I took photos again) and they also went to an event last weekend where I photographed and helped with the horses. They both won their divisions again! One afternoon six of us (Michelle, Emma, Anni, Maude the new French working student, Michelle's friend Anna and me) went on a long trail ride to the big field where we can canter. I rode Teddy who hasn't been on a trail ride in a long time and she seemed happy to be out and quite eager to go! On Teddy at the farm I have also been riding without a halter or bridle which is cool. When doing this I have to steer using body weight and (if all else fails) the stick- first I turn my head, then turn my body, and then if she still doesn't respond squeeze with my leg, and if she still doesn't respond then wave the stick near her nose so she turns away from it. We did a fun exercise off the horse where one of us gets down on our hands and knees and the other sits on their back so we can see what certain things feel like to the horse. As the 'horse' you can feel which way the person being the rider wants to turn just by them turning their head, and when the rider looks down or leans forward it adds so much weight to the horse's back! If you straighten your back, tuck your pelvis under you and look up it feels so much lighter to the horse and it is much easier for them to go forwards.
I do feel like I'm improving, especially playing with the horses on-line. Now that I know the basics and have a bit of practice I can deal with problems much more easily, and this means that both me and the horse are more relaxed. I would really like to try some of what I've learnt with horses I know in England.

Casanova

On Monday, Dr Ridgeway, a vet who travels around doing acupuncture and chiropractic work (among other alternative methods) on horses, came to the farm. He was here to look at Casanova, one of Michelle's event horses, who has stomach ulcers and had been very crooked in his body at his last competition. I was a bit sceptical of acupuncture before, but it seemed to really work on Cas. Dr Ridgeway would press on certain muscles in his back that would spasm if they were tight (Cas was very tight on his right side) and then he'd put a needle in somewhere else in his body and press the muscle again, and it wouldn't spasm because it was now loose and relaxed. It was really interesting to watch and hopefully will help Cas.

In the trailer

On Tuesday we all went to Charleston for the day, which is a couple of hours' drive away. We got up extra early to feed hoping we would leave by 7.30, but the truck had a flat tyre so we ended up not leaving until 9.30. We dropped a horse home who had been here for training on the way, and Emma, Anni and I rode in the trailer instead of the truck as there was more space there! We weren't in the section the horses go in but the bit where you put the equipment which meant we could lie down and sleep! Charleston is really nice. We went downtown first to a covered market (someone at one of the stalls said I sounded like I had an American accent..?!) and to look around the shops. We then drove around an area that has some really nice houses in it on our way to the beach. Steve, Michelle's husband, loves fish and fishing, so when we all went in the sea at the beach he took a little net and caught some anchovies. Near the beach is a marshy river area where he showed us how to cast a shrimp net. Despite not catching anything I found it really fun. It is something that I never imagined I would learn how to do! The others caught some tiny shrimp and 3 crabs. We went to Steve's parents' house for dinner which was nice.

Charleston

Charleston is very different looking to Aiken, or at least the bit of Aiken I have seen which is only the shopping area. Charleston is fairly old (for America) and pretty, and I think a bit European looking, whereas Aiken has lots of very wide, straight roads and seems totally built for the consumer. The shops in Aiken are all huge and each have their own big car parks that you drive between. I don't even know if there are pavements as I've never set foot on one, and I haven't seen a single cyclist. We went to a charity shop (or 'thrift store') yesterday that was enormous! The same size as a lot of mainstream high street shops would be in England. There are loads of churches in the area around the farm and Aiken, and what seems really weird is that they are all modern buildings. It seems silly to realise this but of course churches don't have to be old, they just are in England!

Sunburn! 

It has been hot this week, around 35 degrees celsius. I think I'm getting used to the heat, but I still got horrendously sunburnt last week! There is now a pool up in the garden that we can use, so we go in most days to cool off. Today we had a lesson in the evening instead of during the day so that it was cooler. We did some really fun things like trying to get onto the horse bareback- it's a lot harder than it looks!

Emma, Anni and I bought matching rings in Charleston

Really big charity shop

Week 3

I have had another great week learning lots of new things. As well as the horsenalities I talked about in my previous post we have been learning about 'humanalities'- the human equivalent. I find it so interesting and I think that every time I meet someone now I'll be trying to work out their humanality! Like with the horses there are 4 different personalities. Right brain extroverts are very sociable, they love connecting with other people, are loud, emotional, like being the centre of attention, are always doing something and get distracted easily. Right brain introverts are quiet, cautious, diplomatic, want to do the right thing, often creative, avoid conflict, have to get to know people before they open up, and too much pressure can mean they freeze and can't think. They can occasionally 'explode' (!)- bottle up all their negative feelings about something and then let them all out at once. Left brain introverts are also quiet and are very organised- they love systems, structure and facts.  They might be seen by others as controlling. They know what they think, think their opinion is right and don't avoid conflict. Left brain extroverts are talkative, loud and (like left brain introverts) know their opinion and think they're right. They can be stubborn and don't like being told what to do, but can often be seen as bossy themselves.
People can be more or less extreme within their humanality, and can have traits from other humanalities. They can also have triggers that might change how they behave. In order to get along better with others (including horses) we have to be able to 'flex'- modify our behaviour to help the other person, for example an extrovert might want to talk all the time, but if they are with an introvert who needs some time and space to think, they could flex by being quiet for a bit.
I think I am a right brain introvert. Because everyone here knows about the humanalities and which one each other is, we end up analysing each other, saying things like 'all the introverts are being quiet!' I have started reading a book called 'Quiet: the power of the introvert in a world that can't stop talking' by Susan Cain. Its really good so far, I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in this sort of thing.

A chart showing humanalities in relation to working with horses- only showing the negative points!

We were taught humanalities by Gen who, as I said before, is a Parelli instructor who was staying at Avalo for a bit to avoid the Canadian weather. On Monday she left to go back to Canada (via a week in New York state) so we all went out for a meal on Friday night to say goodbye. We went to the restaurant Emma waitresses at in Aiken and she had to work that night, but she served us! Gen has a really big trailer than can take her three horses and has a living area, so that's where she lived when at Avalo and it means she has somewhere to stay wherever she goes.

We (Emma, Anni and I) also went to Aiken another evening earlier in the week. We went shopping at Old Navy (I am going to need another suitcase to take everything home...) and then ate dinner at Applebee's (an American restaurant chain) with Emma's boyfriend and his friend who are both golf professionals at a local golf club (South Carolina is great for golf.)

On Sunday we went to a local schooling show (a CT- combined test- which is just the dressage and show jumping phases of eventing, these are very relaxed and are basically a practice for the more serious events.) I was stewarding for the show jumping- not an ideal job for a right brain introvert as it involves shouting across the warm up arena to tell people when its their turn to go into the ring: my voice isn't loud enough! Emma, Michelle and Michelle's friend Anna competed, and Emma and Michelle both came first in their classes! Anyone who volunteered at this show gets free cross country schooling at that farm's cross country course. We were going to do that yesterday but the weather forecast looked bad so we will do it another time. Yesterday was a really fun day anyway though, Michelle, Anni and I went on a long trail ride in the afternoon to a huge field where we practiced our cross country canters and then all cantered along together. It was so much fun!! I was riding Babe who is one of Michelle's competition horses (although he is now limited in what he can do as he head shakes- some horses get this and it is unclear what causes it but it can distract the horse a lot) and he was great, its so nice to be able to go fast in an open space but still have control! Michelle filmed us and I'll try and get the clips to post here. Sometimes when I go on Facebook and see pictures of friends who are relaxing on beaches, I do get a little jealous, especially at 7 in the morning when we're up feeding horses! But after rides like this I realise how much I like it here and I'm so glad I came to Avalo.

On Monday and yesterday morning I played on line with Teddy. She is probably my favourite, I have

Teddy

been doing a lot with her, and she is just so good! She knows how to do everything and because I have been working with her from the beginning of my stay, I can see how my communication with horses has improved through her reactions. Yesterday she was following me and walking backwards next to me without me touching the halter or holding the carrot stick, it was so cool and made me feel like we were really in sync! I was just watching a Parelli (the Natural Horsemanship programme that we do) DVD that said something like 'you want the horse to be connected to you mentally more than physically' and that's just how it felt. I could also lead her around by just softly holding her ear. Parelli has different levels that you can be assessed at. The assessments are done by video, and if I want to I can do the level 1 or 2 assessment. I think I will do it, it would be nice to know I have reached a certain level in my time here.

As well as learning new horsey things I am now able to (sort of) park the truck with the trailer attached! Its quite hard as you have to turn the car the opposite way to if you just wanted to reverse the car, so even if the trailer's in the right place the truck probably isn't... Emma taught me how to do it properly and I am getting better!

On Monday night we had a power cut. It only lasted for about an hour, but apparently earlier in the year they had one that lasted for a week during the ice storm that hit the US! It must have been so bad. There are tornadoes in the south east at the moment as you probably will have heard, but thankfully they never hit this part of South Carolina.

We have a new working student arriving this evening who is from France so I will no longer be the newbie. On Tuesday we might be going to Charleston which should be nice, lots of people both in England and America have told me to go there if I get the chance.

Week 2

My second week at Avalo has been great. Last Tuesday evening we had a lesson about 'horsenalities' from Gen, a Parelli instructor from Canada who is staying at Avalo for a while with her 3 horses to avoid the Canadian weather! The lesson was really interesting, it's an idea that I had heard about before but had never really appreciated. Horses fit into one of four horsenalities: right brain extrovert (reactive and like to go fast), right brain introvert (obedient but timid and untrusting), left brain introvert (calm and confident but needs motivation to work) and left brain extrovert (confident and playful but easily bored). Each horse normally has traits from more than one horsenality, but they usually have one that they fit into the most, and some horses show the traits in a more extreme way than others. Knowing which horsenality your horse is means you can deal with it more easily, for example if you have a left brain extrovert, you know that the best way of riding or training him/her would be to keep it interesting and varied so that you hold their attention. If I think back to horses I have ridden in the past, I can fit most of them into a certain horsenality and this explains why they behaved in a certain way.

Casanova doing a cross country on-line warm up.

On Wednesday we all went to a local cross country course. Emma and Michelle took horses and practiced over the jumps, I took photos and Anni filmed. Both of the horses we took were great. Before getting on the horses they were warmed up on-line (see previous post), so were jumping the fences without a rider- an unusual sight! Hopefully some time soon Anni and I will be able to take horses cross country.

We went to an eventing competition on cold and rainy Saturday (not that the weather really bothered me, being from England!) Michelle was competing and came 5th, and the other working students and I volunteered. I was dressage scribing (sitting with the dressage judge and writing down her comments and scores onto the score sheet) which was fun. It was really interesting to hear why the judge gave certain scores and what she thought of each horse.

Trail ride

We are located in such a good area for competing- Aiken (the nearby town) is a very horsey place and top level riders from the more northern states spend the winter around here to escape the cold, so there is loads going on- events every weekend less than a 30 minute drive away.

I went for my first trail ride on Sunday with Anni and Gen on the quiet dirt roads near the farm. The soil here is naturally really sandy which is perfect for horses- the kind of surface that people pay a lot of money to have in an arena! We used rope halters on the trail ride rather than bridles (I have only used a bridle twice in my whole time here so far) which is pretty cool, they're different to the headcollars that are normally used in traditional horsemanship and give you a lot of communication with the horse.

This morning we had a jumping lesson which was really good. I rode a mare called Teddy who I've been riding quite a lot, she's 20 and is the horse Michelle started Natural Horsemanship with. I have also been working with a few different horses on-line. Now that I know the 7 basic 'games' I am starting to try them out with other horses of differing horsenalities and levels of practice at the games.

Other than riding, we went food shopping yesterday (its so nice to have the choice of lots of new food in the fridge!), had to do some DIY and use a drill last week to put up some new electric fencing, and I have been watching DVDs about Natural Horsemanship. Emma and I planned to start working out every day but have only done it once so far and that was a week ago, so that's not going too well... I have been listening to lots of country music as that's what is generally played on the radio we have in the barn!

It was a quiet day on Sunday so I took pictures of the horses. Here are some of them:

Jazzy likes to play in the water bucket! 

Poppy shaking the dust (and lots of shedded hair) off after rolling

The sunset this evening

First week at Avalo

I arrived at Avalo Farm last Monday (7th April) or technically Tuesday morning- a flight delay meant I didn't get to the farm until 2am! So I have now been here for a week. I'm really enjoying it so far. There's a fair amount of work to do everyday and we start at 7, so I have been going to bed at about 9pm! Its peaceful here, especially compared to New York, as we aren't near any main roads and few people are around. There are 21 horses, a few owned by people from outside the farm, some are here for training, some have been rescued, and some are Michelle's competition horses.

First thing in the morning we feed the horses (we do this by driving the Chevrolet around the fields, so I've learnt how to drive it), then we have our own breakfast. During the day we do chores, like tack cleaning, and we work the horses by either riding or playing with them 'on-line' (see below.)  The last thing we do every day is the evening feed which starts at 5.30 and takes about an hour. After that we have free time. Every few days we have a lesson from Michelle, and we get 2 half days or 1 full day off per week. Occasionally we have a day doing something completely different, for example on my second day here we all went to a show that Michelle and one of the other working students were competing in.

Learning Natural Horsemanship is really interesting. From what I've seen so far the horses seem to be happier and more relaxed than other horses, and more interested in people. The methods all make sense and follow a horse's way of thinking and herd mentality. I already feel more confident when dealing with the horses in the field, and have realised it is all about body language and making yourself the leader of the herd. 'On line' is working with the horse on the ground- we do 'games' with them such as porcupine game which is where you get the horse to shift sideways by putting your hands on its side, hopefully with only very light pressure, or yoyo game which is where you stand in front of the horse and get it to come towards you or back up away from you using your body language. When doing this the horse is wearing a rope halter attached to a 12ft long rope that you hold, and we carry a 'carrot stick'- this is a stick with a rope attached to it. We have to make sure the horse isn't scared of the stick and is completely relaxed with the stick being rubbed all over it, so it isn't used to scare the horse, its more an extension of your body. A lot of Natural Horsemanship is about pressure and retreat/release, so for example if you want the horse to move its hindquarters over, you might tap the carrot stick on the ground near the back end of the horse to create rhythm (a sort of pressure), and as soon as the horse moves over, you stop tapping, and so you release. What you do with the horse on the ground can be transferred to the saddle, and you can learn a lot about a horse before riding it if you do some work on line. Sorry if this doesn't make sense, its hard to explain!

So far I have ridden two horses, Teddy and Rhapsody. We had a jumping lesson that was really fun, and that was the only time I have ridden in a bridle so far here- normally I use a halter. I didn't realise you could have so much communication with the horse without a bridle- it's easy to forget that I'm not using one. I am learning a slightly different way of riding- for example if the horse slows down when not asked, instead of closing my leg on again and 'nagging' (which in the long term results in a horse that only goes forward with constant leg aids), I have to let the horse stop but then immediately ask it go again but in a tougher way (e.g. instead of just sitting up and closing my leg on, I flick a rope over my shoulder as well- not so that it hits the horse but to create rhythm and pressure) and then hopefully the next time you ask the horse to go, all that is required is the minimum- just sitting tall and bringing my energy up. This all makes sense to me and should result in much easier horses in the long run, but I found it frustrating when I hadn't got my timing of the new method right and I struggled to keep the horse going (something that I really should be able to do, and can do using traditional methods!) I need to work on being more assertive both on the ground and in the saddle (my personality in general is not assertive!) and Michelle also noticed that my body is crooked- I collapse to the left side and tilt my head down and to the left, so I always have to remember to keep my body and head straight, even when I'm walking around or sitting down. Now that it's been pointed out I can see where it has caused problems in my riding in the past.

There are two other working students- Emma who is from Michigan and is permanent, and Anni from Germany who has been here for a month already and will be leaving on the same day as me. They're both very nice and have been showing me how everything works. I am living in a bunkhouse that I share with Emma. There are loads of cats on the farm (it is also a cat sanctuary-there are literally about 100 of them) but only one in the bunkhouse which is good as I am allergic to cats! I have to cook my own food which has been easier than I thought it would be, and American supermarkets have more healthy food than I thought they would (they just have everything! They're all huge. The only thing they don't have is marmite so lucky I brought my own!)

It is quite hot here (temperatures in the high 20s) and really sunny. I didn't think my skin tanned but spending the whole day outside means I have a farmer's tan (so basically my hands are way browner than my legs...) Emma has introduced me to Gatorade (a rehydration drink) that I love! It's so good when its hot and you've been sweating- it contains the electrolytes that you lose in sweat and it tastes like its just what you need. They sell it in England but I've never had it before. Today it has been raining and it was quite stormy during the night so we aren't riding today and are only going outside to feed the horses. To be honest if it was this weather in England they'd probably be going ahead as normal, but rain seems weird here compared to the usual sun!

I'm now off to have a lesson about 'horsenalities' - horse personalities :)

The bunkhouse 

The bunkhouse cat, Cassie

Keeping Harcala's mane tidy!

View of the farm buildings from across the field

I♥NY

We had a really great trip to New York! Neither of us had been before and we both loved it. The first thing that we noticed in the taxi from the airport was how tall the buildings are, and because all the roads are straight and run across the whole city you can see a really long way down each street, unlike in London.  The people all seem to be so nice and helpful, and the city is almost entirely litter-free. We stayed at The Library Hotel on Madison Avenue and 41st which was great, and the mid-town location was perfect. All the way along the street outside are plaques with quotes about books, and all of the hotel rooms are named after a different section of the Dewey system. We were in room 600.005- computers.
On the first day, Saturday, we went up the Rockefeller Centre which had amazing views from the top, especially of the Empire State Building and Central Park. After that we went to Grand Central Station, and the Apple store inside it to buy a macbook for me before having a really really good coffee. On our way to the metro to go to the meat packing district we came across a Tartan Day parade- basically lots of American people wearing traditional Scottish dress and playing the bagpipes- really bizarre in the middle of New York. There was also a high school marching band complete with baton twirlers. We went through Times Square after this which was crazy- it's basically lots of massive adverts but they are really colourful and bright and some move, so there are too many things to look at. In the meat packing district we had lunch and went round some cool little shops, also passing a mass pillow fight which apparently also took place that day in London. We walked up the Highline (an old train line that has been turned into a park/walkway you can walk along) to get part of the way back which was nice, but would probably have been even better in the summer when the trees have leaves and more plants are out. In the evening we ate in a restaurant called John's Pizza. Both the restaurant and pizza were enormous but the pizza was very fresh and tasty.
On Sunday we went to the Apple store again because my new mac didn't work! They gave us a replacement. Then we took the metro to Central Park and walked around some of it. There were groups of children playing baseball which seemed so typically American, and by the boathouse was an amazing group of entertainers- the highlight was when one of them jumped over about 6 people lined up. In the afternoon we went to Broadway to see 'Kinky Boots.' The show is set in England and the actors' accents were awful! The dialogue also has lots of random English slang like 'mate' thrown in that just sounds wrong in an American accent. But other than that it was a great show. We ate at a restaurant called The Spice Market that evening which had delicious south-east Asian food.
On the final day I packed my bags and then we went to the Brooklyn Bridge. We were going to go on the Staten Island ferry that takes you past the Statue of Liberty and gives you a great view of the NY skyline, but we arrived just as one was leaving and they're only every half an hour. So instead we walked across Brooklyn Bridge which also gave very good views of the city. For lunch we had curry (probably my favourite food!). I didn't think they had Indian food in America but at Grand Central Station there's a huge range of places to eat, and the curry tasted really good. The last thing we did was visit The New York Public Library. I think we somehow missed the main room so it wasn't that good, but it did have a cool shop! Behind the library is a nice square that has a 'reading room'- an area outside with lots of chairs and bookshelves so anyone can read there.
I left for South Carolina on Monday evening (7th April) and spent a long time at NY La Guardia airport as my flight was delayed by 3 hours! New York was great though, I'd definitely like to go back.

Brooklyn Bridge

View from the Rockefeller Centre

Grand Central Station

Tartan Day parade

The Highline

Central Park