Graduate school is out.I have nearly a month of vacation, and I have made not one travel plan. shocking, I know. I super super want to go somewhere–the itch to travel is real!

The reality is though, that I have not one cent to go anywhere further than, say, Jersey. Consequently, I am doing a classic staycation in town. I figure it’s easy to be a tourist in NYC. Part of being a student is getting into a ton of places for free or cheap. My area of focus here: museums.

So there are about 40 museums in the city that I can into for free by flashing the plastic. So far, I’ve gone to about six of them already throughout the course of my stay here, but my plan now it go to all of them. This is the story of that plan.

Museum 1: The New York Historical Society

My favorite part was the 18-minute intro video about New York in the theater with split panels. It was well made and inspiring, tracing the origins of NYC from its days as a Native territory to its present. If you ever feel jaded about living in the city, watch this video. It’ll make you proud to live in this fascinating city. Another highlight was checking out the “Chinese in America” exhibit, showing the colorful history of China-America relations.

It highlighted especially, the impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which, superficially, I was was aware of, but never really thought about. Seeing the artifacts and the people that the Act affected was super interesting. There was one woman who had been detained on her arrival to the US in a holding cell for months. Despite having been married to a US national and pregnant, already with a small child, authorities refused to release her. Her child died soon after, due to poor living conditions, and she contemplated suicide by trying to hang herself in the shower.  She was found semi-conscious and finally released to her husband. This woman went on to live in New York with her husband, have several more children, and lead a more or less normal existence. In her old age, and about 15 grandchildren later, it turns out, she never even told her children about the ordeal until recounting it for the museum after the tale was dug up in public records. I find that amazing; she never complained or blamed the system as being out to get her, or sought any sort of retribution. Instead, she got the best revenge she ever could, which was to go about her life without letting it affect her. Resilience I tell ya! All of us could use a little of that.

The top floor of the museum was packed with stuff rich people once had long ago, and it was cool and beautiful and all, but what stuck out to me the most were the stories about the people from that exhibit.

Next time I’ll visit the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum!