I did it anyway.
As you can see from the picture, I didn't exactly make it to an ideal location for the ball drop, but I was close enough to check it off of my "things to do in life" list. My new roommate & sorority sister, Emilie, and I decided that we would ignore everyone's advice and experience 12:00 on the square. We arrived at 6:00 p.m. only to be told by the policeman that Times Square was closed. They kept telling everyone to walk further and further away. Apparently, you had to buy a very expensive ticket to get closer to the ball. The policeman were so rude and finally told us at 9:00 that we would never see the ball drop.
As determined as I was, I didn't except that for my fate! We finally ended up riding the subway to Central Park and then walking towards Times Square from there. We met the crowd at 57th street (the ball is on 42nd, mind you), had our bags searched, and then stood there. In the rain. It was 9:30.
Well now what? We were surrounded by people from just about every country you could name, and we were all looking at each other like, what now? We stood around and the spanish people sang songs and jumped around until FINALLY 11:59 struck and we began the countdown.
That's when it was all worth it. Everyone began jumping up and down in the rain and counting down in their own language in their most excited voice. Then everyone switched to English for 10, 9, 8, 7....and it was pretty exciting, I'm not going to lie. Then fireworks exploded on both sides of us-Times Square and Central Park. People were pouring champagne everywhere & everyone was celebrating.
Say what you want, but I'm glad I went. I'll never go again. But I'm proud I can say that I braved the cold and started my new year off the way that everyone else in the world wishes they would have started theirs!
