The Brooklyn Brainery

About 6 months ago, my ever-so-slightly New York obsessed friend who has never actually been to New York, told me about the Brooklyn Brainery, a place (yes, in Brooklyn) that provides the most awesome-ist (I know that isn't grammatically correct, but that is how good they are) classes that you wouldn't find in just any adult learning centre. I mean who has ever thought they could find a course on the History of the Bed Bugs, Duct Tape Crafts, Serial Killers (about them, not a how to), The History of Scotch Whiskey, or Fortune Telling.

And all at very non-New York prices.

So I finally got around to signing up for some classes (you have to get in fast, classes are small so they fill up very quickly).

And over the last few weeks I have made the hour long journey from the Upper West Side to Carroll Gardens to expand my mind at the Brooklyn Brainery, a small two room space, with a make-shift cooking area, blackboards, pink chairs, fairy lights and craft boxes.

My first BB experience was ‘Storytelling 101’, a 3 night course with a welcoming host, a great bunch of New Yorkers and even some snacks. It was a little out of my comfort zone, but in a good way.

This was followed by a more serious, ‘Confused Climates, Wacky Weather and Exasperated Experts: A Global Warming Primer’ by an extremely knowledgeable climate scientist from NASA (yes, NASA!). Importantly she was fluent in layman, i.e. could communicate rather well with people like me who don’t (or didn’t) know anything about climate change.

All in all, great value for money and worth the 2 hour round trip.

Thanks for the tip my dear ever-so-slightly New York obsessed friend - you know who you are!