EC New York English Language School

EC New York offers a 2-Day Excursion to Boston.
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial “Capital of New England” for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper, covering just 48.43 square miles, had a population of 617,594 according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Boston is also the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Greater Boston as a commuting region is home to 7.6 million people, making it the fifth-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.

In 1630, Puritan colonists from England founded the city on the Shawmut Peninsula. During the late 18th century, Boston was the location of several major events during the American Revolution, including the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Several early battles of the American Revolution, such as the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston, occurred within the city and surrounding areas. Through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the peninsula. After American independence was attained Boston became a major shipping port and manufacturing center, and its rich history now helps attract many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone attracting over 20 million every year. The city was the site of several firsts, including America’s first public school, Boston Latin School and the first subway system in the United States (1897).

With many colleges and universities within the city and surrounding area, Boston is an international center of higher education and a center for medicine. The city’s economic base includes research, manufacturing, finance, and biotechnology. As a result, the city is a leading finance center, ranking 12th in the Z/Yen top 20 Global Financial Centers.The city was also ranked number one for innovation, both globally and in North America, for a variety of reasons. Boston has one of the highest costs of living in the United States, though it remains high on world livability rankings, ranking third in the US and 36th globally.

One of EC’s weekend trips is to the Amish Country.
In the early 18th century, many Amish and Mennonites emigrated to Pennsylvania for a variety of reasons. Today, the most traditional descendants of the Amish continue to speak Pennsylvania German, also known as Pennsylvania Dutch. However, a dialect of Swiss German predominates in some Old Order Amish communities, especially in the American state of Indiana.[4] As of 2000, over 165,000 Old Order Amish live in the United States and approximately 1500 live in Canada.[5] A 2008 study suggested their numbers have increased to 227,000,[6] and in 2010 a study suggested their population had grown by 10% in the past two years to 249,000, with increasing movement to the West.[1]

Amish church membership begins with baptism, usually between the ages of 16 and 25. It is a requirement for marriage, and once a person has affiliated with the church, he or she may marry only within the faith. Because of a smaller gene pool, some groups have increased incidences of certain inheritable conditions.[7] Church districts average between 20 and 40 families, and worship services are held every other Sunday in a member’s home. The district is led by a bishop and several ministers and deacons.[8] The rules of the church, the Ordnung, must be observed by every member. These rules cover most aspects of day-to-day living, and include prohibitions or limitations on the use of power-line electricity, telephones, and automobiles, as well as regulations on clothing. Many Amish church members may not buy insurance or accept government assistance such as Social Security. As Anabaptists, Amish church members practice nonresistance and will not perform any type of military service.

Members who do not conform to these expectations and who cannot be convinced to repent are excommunicated. In addition to excommunication, members may be shunned, a practice that limits social contacts to shame the wayward member into returning to the church. During adolescence rumspringa (“running around”) in some communities, nonconforming behavior that would result in the shunning of an adult who had made the permanent commitment of baptism, may meet with a degree of forbearance.[9] Amish church groups seek to maintain a degree of separation from the non-Amish world. There is generally a heavy emphasis on church and family relationships. They typically operate their own one-room schools and discontinue formal education at grade eight. They value rural life, manual labor and humility.

Macy’s Flower Show
•Dates: March 27 – April 10, 2012
•Price: Free Event

The Macy’s Flower Show takes place each spring in New York City at the flagship Macy’s store in Herald Square, located in the heart of Manhattan.

Easter in New York City
•Date: Easter Sunday, April 8, 2012
•Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
•Price: Free Event

A fun way to enjoy Spring in New York City is to celebrate Easter here. The Annual Easter Parade and Easter Bonnet Festival is held on Fifth Avenue between 49th and 57th Streets.

Tribeca Film Festival
•Dates: April 18 – 29, 2012
•Price: $8 – $25

The Tribeca Film Festival is held to celebrate film making in New York City. It was initially created to help bring life and energy back to the Tribeca neighborhood of September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It has since become very popular, attracting celebrities, Manhattanites, and tourists.

New York Baseball
•Dates: Baseball season begins in April
•Price: Varies

The Yankees play at Yankees Stadium in the Bronx and the Mets play at Citi Field in Flushing, Queens. Both state-of-the-art stadiums opened in 2009. Both stadiums are accessible by subway, meaning easy access from Manhattan.

Founded in 1874 as the Young Men’s Hebrew Association by German-Jewish professionals and businessmen, 92nd Street Y has grown into an organization guided by Jewish principles but serving people of all races and faiths.

92Y serves over 400,000 people annually and offers over 200 programs a day. Its 33 program areas include community outreach; lectures and panel discussions; Jewish education and culture; concerts featuring classical, jazz and popular music; humanities classes; dance performances; literary readings; film screenings; parenting programs; camps; a nursery school; fitness classes, singles programs; seniors programs; and a residence program that rents rooms in the Y’s main building at 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue.

The New Yorker Hotel was built by Garment Center developer, Mack Kanner. When the project was announced in 1928, the Sugarman and Berger designed building was planned to be 38 stories, at an estimated cost of $8 million. However, when it was completed in 1929, the building had grown to 43 stories, at a final cost of $22.5 million and contained 2,500 rooms, making it the city’s largest for many years. Hotel management pioneer, Ralph Hitz, was selected as its first manager, eventually becoming president of the National Hotel Management Company. An early ad for the building boasted that the hotel’s “bell boys were ‘as snappy-looking as West Pointers’” and “that it had a radio in every room with a choice of four stations.” It was a New Yorker bellboy, Johnny Roventini, who served as tobacco company Phillip Morris’ pitchman for twenty years, making famous their “Call for Phillip Morris” advertising campaign.

Much like its contemporaries, the Empire State Building (1931) and the Chrysler Building (1930), the New Yorker was designed in the Art Deco style which was popular in the 1920s and 1930s. In his book, New York 1930, Robert A. M. Stern said the “New Yorker’s virtually unornamented facades consisted of alternating vertical bands of warm gray brick and windows, yielding an impression of boldly modeled masses. This was furthered by the deep-cut light courts, which produced a powerful play of light and shade that was enhanced by dramatic lighting at night”.

In addition to the ballrooms, there were ten private dining “salons” and five restaurants employing 35 master cooks. The barber shop was one of the largest in the world with 42 chairs and 20 manicurists. There were 92 “telephone girls” and 150 laundry staff washing as many as 350,000 pieces daily.

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s the hotel was among New York’s most fashionable and hosted many popular Big Bands, such as Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey, while notable figures such as Spencer Tracy, Joan Crawford and Fidel Castro stayed there. Inventor Nikola Tesla spent the last ten years of his life in near-seclusion in Suite 3327, where he died, largely devoting his time to feeding pigeons while occasionally meeting dignitaries. The New York Observer noted that in the building’s heyday, “actors, celebrities, athletes, politicians, mobsters, the shady and the luminous—the entire Brooklyn Dodgers roster during the glory seasons—would stalk the bars and ballrooms, or romp upstairs”. In later years, Muhammad Ali would recuperate there after his March 1971 fight against Joe Frazier at the Garden.