Spending New Year's eve with my great friends at Times Square is the most unique experience that I've ever had for New Year's eve. This past new year was my first time to go to New York. I went with several friends, Shield, Shield's Mom, Wallace, Yadong, Lili, Xiawa, Meenal and Jo.

The ball drop is probably the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about Times Square on New Year's eve. I was expecting a huge ball droping from the top of Times Square to the very bottom of the building, so that we could hear the huge sound. You know, sort of like the annual monitor drop from the roof of East Campus.

We took the Chinatown Fang Wah bus at 8am on the 31st from South Station. This was a decorated train set found at South Station. It had two trains running on the tracks. (click on the image to see bigger pictures)

After 4.5 hours bus ride, we finally got to the Chinatown in New York. The Chinatown there is known to be one of the biggerst Chinatowns in the US. Comparing it to the Chinatown in Boston, it definitely has wider streets and more Chinese people. (click on the image to see bigger pictures)

Then we walked along the streets to find Times Square. New Yorkers are well-known for their hectic lifestyles, but I didn't really observe that. Maybe we were not in the right area, or it wasn't the right time. At least MIT students were a lot busier than New Yorkers. Anyways, there were a lot more skyscrapers and people in New York. Here are some pictures taken randomly in the streets(click on the image to see bigger pictures)

Here is Times Square seeing at a distance:(click on the image to see bigger pictures)

Since there were many people who wanted to see the ball-drop at Times Square, the police closed down some streets, so people could only get into the Times Square before 3pm on the 31st. Luckily, we got there right before that. Here are some pictures taken right after we got there. It was snowing pretty heavily in New York. It was ice at the beginning, then turned to snow. It reminded me of the movie The Terminals. A snowy New York made me feel happy for Victor. (click on the image to see bigger pictures)

Starting from 6pm, the show was on. I liked most of the music, especially the music that I could dance with. Mariah Carey came to the show too, which was really impressive. (click on the image to see bigger pictures)

The ball was raised at 6pm exactly. The ball was slightly smaller than I thought. Or maybe it's because we were standing too far away, the ball looked a lot smaller than it actually was. The ball weighed 1000 lbs. It had lots of mirrors, and changed colors periodically. When the ball was raised up to the tip of the pole, it was as if my happiness was rising at the same time. It was great! (click on the image to see bigger pictures)

A happy new year can't lack happy people. Though standing in the cold for 9 hours with no water or bathroom waiting for the new year to come was a pretty tough experience, when we were doing the countdown together, it was as if people were sharing my happiness and that made me extremely excited. This was my first time to spend my New Year's eve with so many people, and I love it! Here are some pictures of us. (click on the image to see bigger pictures)

The best part of the Times Square experience was people's celebration when the New Year came. People were laughing and greeting at each other. It was a great moment. (click on the image to see bigger pictures)