This tour of Harlem truly opened my eyes to the culture and past of the area.  It is actually surprising that, although I live in the dorms and attend CCNY, I have never really bothered to walk around the area.  Something about the area always felt ominous or simply not welcoming.  However, here comes the tour guide in all her joy and passion about the area.  Her pictures and most definitely her attitude brought some life into my slept-for-4-hours brain very early in the morning.  Although it seemed like we were walking around in circles stopping at places in an ineffective manner, I truly enjoyed the experience of being able to see what Harlem was.

Two things I liked the most were the apartments that were grouped together with an alleyway to connect them all instead of a backyard and the tree of hope.  The neighborhood of houses is honestly a very good way to organize buildings and it make me wonder why there aren’t more with the same layout.  The alleyway is not only good for the cleanliness of the streets but also to bring a group of people together in the neighborhood.  The tree of hope has a nice story behind it which I never heard of before.  It is kind of sad to know that the tree is gone and is now only a plate of steel in the middle of a busy street.

And… I never knew that Shepard Hall (?) was made of schist.  Seems irrelevant but fun fact?