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Published: November 24th 2007
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sunset
check out the two rainbows on either side of the sun... I’m writing this from our lovely hostel in New York City…and by lovely I mean I cannot believe I’m paying $100 a night to stay in a place that I feel I need to disinfect before I sleep. Such is the life of a poor college student.
Our train ride up here was an adventure…the lady behind us talked (loudly) on her cell phone for a good hour about a lot of personal stuff I did not need to hear. Approximately 10 minutes after the woman hung up her cell phone, a young man (probably my age) sat down next to an older man in the seats in front of us. The young guy did not shut up for five hours. FIVE HOURS. He just talked and talked and talked and everything that came out of his mouth was complete…well, crap. We stopped in Lancaster and he talked about how he could never be Amish because he can’t live without technology. He spends so many hours a day playing computer games…and I quote… “I would probably be depressed and suicidal if I didn’t have my computer games to play”. He talked about how he didn’t graduate from high school until
rockafeller center
radio city music hall in rockafeller center he was 19 and how he blames the education system and his teachers. I blame his parents for not using birth control. (Ok that was mean, but seriously, five hours!). The entire time the poor old man that was sitting next to him just nodded and occasionally threw in a “yeah” or “uh huh”. Will’s only notation is that young Americans like him seem to be so disrespectful and patronizing of everyone that is different…and that they seem to blame their problems on everyone but themselves. I think he summed up a lot of what is wrong with this country in that observation. Oh and did I mention the train was 3 hours late because another train broke down so we had to take all of their passengers? Long day.
We finally arrived in Penn Station and had to navigate our way through hundreds of rude people…with three ginormous suitcases. I always thought the French were rude, especially in Paris, but I’ll tell you what…every time I’ve gone through the Paris metro with a large suitcase (which has happened at least 4 or 5 times), someone has offered to carry my bag up the stairs for me. Every time.
In New York people almost trampled me because I wasn’t moving fast enough. I just want to take these people by the shoulders, shake them and tell them to close their eyes and take a deep breath! May I never be so busy in my own hectic life that I don’t offer to help some young girl that’s carrying a bag half of her bodyweight up two flights of stairs. My only comment to Will was ‘welcome to New York’.
After what ended up being a rather stressful day, Will and I decided we deserved a drink. We walked up Broadway a few blocks and found a quaint little Japanese restaurant. An hour, a strangely delicious Chinese beer and lots of sushi later, we felt much more relaxed and ready to take on the frigidness that is New York City...
Today we bundled up and prepared ourselves for a whirlwind tour of the city. We walked for a good two hours down central park to Times Square and Rockafeller Center...we then took the metro down to Ground Zero and then walked to Battery Park and saw the Statue of Liberty. Will seemed to enjoy himself although many
of the sights (Radio City Music Hall, for example) he'd never heard of. Of course we ate at one of New York's best hotdog stands and filled ourselves with some unknown meat covered in mustard and a somewhat hard soft pretzel...yum yum! We made it an early night and brought some Chinese food back to our room for dinner. Tomorrow we'll have another day in New York and around 5 or 6 we'll make our way to Newark.
So that makes tonight officially my last night in America for six months. I've been away before, but this will be my first Christmas away from the family and I don't think I've been six months without seeing at least one of my parents. It's strange to know my parents are moving and I will never sleep in the house I grew up in again. The next time I see my brother he will be 20. The next time I see my father he will be 50!! It'll be difficult to miss those times, but I know this is what I'm meant to be doing...there's no turning back now! Goodbye America!
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aimee
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jelous
hey megan, this is a terrific idea. iv subscribed so il get an alert everytime u post an entry. i miss u tons and hopefully il be joining u in australia next year. think of all the countries we'd have been in together then... wow!!!! im so jelous of your trip but i hope u have a great time and il be reading your entries all the time. espeically about "b overboard project" hahahaha ul have to keep me updated. heres to taking over the world and always staying in touch. love ya and miss ya xxxxxx