Views from above
KAPLAN ASPECT’S NEWSLETTER
Volume 1, Issue 1
Hey, the Holidays are here!
It is time to get rid of
your grammar book and
explore a week full of
traditions and events.
And forget about ice
skating in Bryant park or
watching the Christmas
tree at Rockefeller.
There are so much better
things to do!
For many students this is their
first holiday abroad, far, far
away from friends and fam-
ily. But instead of feeling
homesick, follow our guide to
a vacation full of fun and
happenings.
Christmas and New Year’s
Eve is probably the most well
known of the upcoming holi-
days, but there are more holy
days to come.
Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday,
which is known as the festival
of lights. It is eight nights long
and may occur from late No-
vember to late December on
the Gregorian calendar.
Another holiday that is to be
celebrated in December is
Kwanzaa, a week-long Afro-
American tradition. Kwanzaa
was created by an Afro-
American social activist in
1966. It was the first Afro-
American holiday and it is
said that it was created to
give blacks an opportunity to
celebrate themselves and
history, rather than simply
imitate the practice of the
There is more than Christmas in December.
dominant society. The cele-
brations culminate in a feast
and gift giving.
There are also Islamic holi-
days in December. This year
the Islamic New Year Eve
appears 29th Dec. Many
Muslims use the day to re-
member the Hijra or migra-
tion that the Islamic prophet
Muhammad did to Medina.
According to the Islamic cal-
endar it’s year 1429 now.
Of course you don’t have to
be religious to enjoy these
holidays, just open your mind
and try a new tradition.
Happy holidays!
Brooklyn
“Union Hall” is a bar with live
music and books. It consists of
three floors, so you can get
something different on each
floor.
www.unionhallny.com
“Monkey Town” is a fascinat-
63 floors up
December 2008
• 3 Schools
• 3 Days
• Free!
East Village Dec 22nd
Empire State Building
Dec 23rd
Midtown Dec 24th
Current and
future students are
welcome to attend!
Bring a friend and
be registered to
win!
ing restaurant, delicious food for
reasonable prices. They also
offer a varied menu and films Find us on Face-
which change daily. book and RSVP
www.monkeytown.com
now!
Mahattan
Check out “City Bakery” to get
the best and most famous hot
chocolate in the city. 3W 18th St. Winter Special
Queens Programme!
“PS1” is a gallery that is a part
of MOMA. It is located in Long Are you finishing school
Island City. Their indoor exhibi- soon?
tion is really popular. Are you wishing you could
www.Ps1.org
stay longer?
“Crescent and Vine” is a cool wine Now You can!
bar. They sell not only wine but
also beer, so you can try various Extend for 12 weeks-Get
beers and wine. 4 weeks free!
25-01 Ditmars Blvd.
during the holiday season.
Extend for 8 weeks-
New Years Eve Get 2weeks free!
The club Pacha and the restau-
rant/lounge The Rooftop always Extend for 4 weeks-
have good parties. Under 21? Get 1week free!
Go to Webster hall.
Our choice
Princeton is wondering about
the purpose of life.
Great laughs
guaranteed
What? Avenue Q,
musical
Where? The Golden
theatre, 252 West
45th Street
Avenue Q is maybe the
most fun play now running
on Broadway.
The story is about the
college student Princeton,
who comes to New York
and struggles to find the
true purpose in life.
The only hood he can af-
ford to live in is Avenue Q,
where he meets the cute
monster-girl Kate, and a
lot of other new, weird
friends.
What's unique about Ave-
nue Q is that the play
mixes actors and puppets.
It can seem strange, but it
works, and it's very enter-
taining.
The dialogue and the
songs are hilarious. The
song "Internet is made for
porn", by itself, makes the
play worth the money.
Jennie Lorentsson
Find cheap tickets!
www.playbill.com
www.broadwaybox.com
Or visit the box office the
day of the show.
You should be dancing!
As many of you know,
NYC is the most well-
known arena for jazz
around the world.
Many brilliant jazz musicians
have been walking around
Harlem and curling up with
musical instruments since the
1900s.
Back in the 1920s, Swing
dancing, which I'm going to
introduce and strongly recom-
mend learning, was started by
the black community in NYC.
For those of you who love
jazz, I'll bet there is nothing
better than swing dancing to
the big-band jazz music.
Swing dancing is the most
popular dancing style in every
single state and even across
the ocean in places such as
Time for relaxation and appreciation
There are a million things
to do every day in NYC,
and yet you might have
wandered around look-
ing for something grunt-
ing, "What am I going to
do?”, “What am I doing
here?”, ”Where am I
heading?"
I want to make your life less
trivial.
More often than not, you
wonder how many fun and
satisfying experiences you
could have on the tightest
budget.
Have you ever felt bored or
irritated whenever you hang
around Time Square or Cen-
tral Park and you need to
dodge people or be aware of
hawkers?
The Cloisters may deliver
something else into your heart;
so-called tranquility. The
The most famous dancers in
the world, Skye Humphries
and Frida Segerdahl.
England, France, Sweden,
Korea and so on.
Just as many international
students travel to study Eng-
lish, many of the dancers
travel to dance holding hands
You’ll find this marvelous
chapel and exhibition room
in The Cloisters.
Cloisters museum and gardens,
the branch of The Metropoli-
tan Museum of Art and archi-
tecture of medieval Europe, is
like a small castle. The collec-
tion is comprised of nearly
five thousand works of reli-
gious art from medieval
Europe, dating from the ninth
to the fifteenth century. You
can see exquisite stain glass
windows, tapestries, sculp-
tures, and buildings which re-
flect themes of Catholicism.
There is also a beautiful park
named Fort Tryon Park and
with each other no matter
where they're from or what
language they speak.
On the small island of Man-
hattan, you can dance with a
bunch of friends every night if
you're willing to spend your
time more actively. You'll grab
romantic opportunities both
dancing and meeting native
American friends.
"Have you never danced
before? Give it a shot!!"
Sooyoung Choi
For more information:
www.yehoodi.com
www.dancemanhattan.com
www.youshouldbedancing.com
you can see enormous land-
scapes, views of the Hudson
River and the upper west
side.
One thing I really want to
share with you is that The
Cloisters will be holding a
holiday program: Medieval
Food on December 27, 28.
This will be a unique experi-
ence to travel back in time
and eat European medieval
food.
Moreover, this is a great way
to spend less money during
the holiday season and the
New Year.
It’s only a dollar!
(admission:donation)
Why not invest a day to be
spiritual and frugal simultane-
ously while getting rid of eve-
ryday stress?
Check this out at
www.metmuseum.org/cloisters.
The hidden treasures of Greenwich
"This area is perfect. It's
so beautiful and the peo-
ple care for each other."
Susan Richardsson has been
living on Bankstreet for 50
years. She remembers a time
when there was only one res-
taurant in the area. Now there
is a lot of them, from cheap
falafel eateries to expensive
first class restaurants where
you have to be a member to
get in.
Greenwich is a pretty big
area and one of the most fa-
mous streets is Bleecker, and
that is where most of the tour-
ists and NYU-students hang
out. But there is so many more,
and better, places to go to.
Go for a walk in the block
between Greenwich avenue
and Greenwich street, and
you’ll discover dozens of
small, cozy and friendly
places.
The neighborhood is really
friendly (hey, the Friends live
here) and the old brown-
stones, which are now pro-
tected by law, gives you the
feeling of being in a different
city.
To do and see
The Friends home. On the
corner of Grovest. and Bed-
ford St.
The home of Carrie Brad-
shaw, 66 Perry St.
The pier at the end of Christo-
pher street gives you a mar-
velous view of New Jersey.
Biography book shop. This is
Green students
Students and schools around
the country are hoping to make
a difference to the environment
by switching to a water filtra-
tion system from cooled bottled
water. New York University is
If you’re looking for great jazz music Smalls is the place to
be.
a small shop compared to
Barnes and Noble, but it’s
wonderful. Don’t get fooled
by the title, you’ll find a lot
more than biographies here.
Very helpful staff. 400
Bleecker St.
Smalls. Enjoy great jazz music
and a glass of wine in their
cozy basement. 183 W 10th
St at 7th Ave. The cover is
$20 and includes a drink dur-
ing the weekdays.
Cheap & tasty eats
Taim, Israeli mini restaurant
with delicious falafel and a
humus made in heaven.
222 Waverly Pl
Ghandi cafe, Indian cousin.
Good Indian food and beer,
cheap.
283 Bleecker St
one of the latest schools
to join this green ini-
tiative. The bottled
water industry and
the transportation of bot-
tles causes a severe strain on
the environment.
The stair to Carrie’s hide-
out in Greenwich.
The city bakery, organic cof-
fee and cookies. Try the oat-
meal and raisin cookie!
175, 7th Ave.
Jennie Lorentsson
Kaplan on Facebook!
Don’t miss the chance to join
Kaplan Aspect’s group on Face- party pics and pick up gossip.
book.
There you will get the latest
news and special offers from
the school. It’s also the place to
WHAT’S THE BEST
THING ABOUT
YOUR HOOD?
Cyrus Rockwood:
"I love this area; the trees,
the plantings, the dogs, the
cafes. It's like living in a
small park. My favorite café
is Tartine, on the corner of
4th St. and 11th St.
Susan Richardsson:
"This is like the old New
York, it's so beautiful. The
place on 4th street is my
favorite restaurant. Sevilla,
on the corner of W. 4th St.
and Charles St. is also very
good.
Francis Pecick:
- I can recommend a visit to
the vintage shop Jamiola.
It's kind of high end, but the
cloths are beautiful.
find out about upcoming parties
and events, or to check out
 The winner of the essay contest
Ongoing events
during the break
New York Botanical Gar-
den: Holiday Train Show
Hey, and welcome to my place!
Ends Jan 11/09
This annual family favorite I’m New York City, your new best friend. You have
returns with model trains
traveling a magical land- probably heard a lot about me. And, probably all
scape featuring 140 repli- of it is true. I’m the coolest, hottest, most exciting
cas of NY landmarks made
from plant parts.
and most wonderful city on Earth.
www.nybg.org

The Metropolitan Sometimes other cities claim to

Opera
Lincoln Center.
Two hundred orches-
tra seats are avail-
able for $20 for
regular performances
Mon-Thu
Current Production–
La Boheme, Thais, La
Rondine, Orfeoed Euridice
www.metroperafamily.org
Upcoming Events!
Alma NYC
Part of BAMcafe Live
The epic dance floor ex-
perience offered by the
Brazillian music collective.
At the helm is first genera-
tion Brazillian and native
New Yorker DJ True,
blending in samba, pa-
gode, and drums&bass-
plus a little extra holiday
spirit-into foot– stomping
Neo-Brazillian fusion
Grooves.
www.bam.org
be the best, but they’re not.
As you already know, I’m full
of fun stuff to do. I’m the
hometown of thousands of
restaurants, nightclubs, cafes,
boutiques, shows, bars etc. I
promise you’ll never get
bored in my company.
Is this your first time here?
Let’s start with some simple
facts. The best things with me
are for free; walking and
getting lost in new neighbor-
hoods, watching the multicul-
Me, my self and I. Don’t you just love me?
tural mix of people in the
streets, relaxing in Central
money on a hotel room or a
Park and, at last, just feel my residence, you have come to
heartbeat.
the right place. I have a lot of
friendly roomies to offer. If
Don’t let all the noise stress you put your mind to it, you
you out. Think of them as the
can find really nice rooms and
soundtrack of your new life. roommates surfing the internet.
Craigslist is the site. If you’re
staying here for more than a Jennie Lorentsson from
couple of weeks, that’s the Sweden is the winner of the
”Before the fun smartest way to save money. Kaplan Aspect Essay contest.

The Swingers and

Flappers Ball
A swing dancing extrava-
ganza Tuesday,30 DEC.
Live Swing Jazz-Lavay
Smith&Her Red Hot Skillet
Lickers
@ Connolly’s 121 West
45St.6th Ave/Broadway
www.connollyspubandresta
urant.com/index.html
begins, I want to
warn you…”
Do you think I look big? Come
on! All handsome models are
tall. Think of me like your
elder brother, I’m a little bit
messy, but I really care about
you and wouldn’t let you get
hurt.
One of the best things about
me is that there’s so much to
choose from. For example, if
you want to spend your
The second smartest way to
save money, and also another
great thing about me, is to eat
cheap. You know, I’m full of
delicious food, just have a
look around. Every corner
offers you spicy tastes for a
few bucks. Don’t worry; the
drinks can be cheap too.
If you happen to get lost or
just need to know where the
nearest halal/pretzel/veggie
bar is, my streets are full of
friendly citizens. Do not hesi-
tate to ask them. They’re the
friendliest bunch of people
who are my blood, my heart,
my soul and my personality.
It’s the mix of black break
dancers in the park, stiff white
men on Wall Street, lovely
queers in the Village, stroller
packs in the Heights, and the
clubbers in the Meatpacking
district who make me so per-
fect.
Before the fun begins, I want
to warn you…before you
know it, you will have fallen in
love with me. I just wanted to
tell you before you join the
party of your life. Cheers!
NYC