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Published: August 27th 2009
For day 3 in New York I got up a bit later and got the L Train into Manhattan again and got off at Union Square to buy a SIM card for my phone. Having been initially baffled by the security guard and sign in desk in a mobile phone shop I ended up with a number on AT&T which is 917-969-1166, but it probably needs a US prefix for anyone to actually call me.
I decided to walk up the east side of Manhattan that I hadn't previously seen - up Park Avenue which was ful of huge office buildings until I got to a McDonalds where I stopped for lunch just to see if it tasted the same as it did here... and it does. Tired of walking in the ridiculous heat I got on the subway up to the east side of Central Park and walked around for about 40 minutes till I found a huge rock to sit on and watch baseball whilst I read my guidebook.
Eventually I left to get the subway all the way down to South Pier to catch the Staten Island Ferry - a free ferry that goes out into New York Harbour and right past the Statue of Liberty with great views of Manhattan and Brooklyn too. When I actually got to Staten Island there wasn't really all that much there, but not wanting to waste the trip I bought a Hot Dog before getting back on the boat.
Next I decided to explore some more of Brooklyn - the area I was staying in was full of warehouses and cafes and street art, but as there wasn't really much to do I headed to Bedford Avenue which is just over the river from Manhattan and had a wander round. I bought a weird drink called Gatorade that was a bit like Lucozade... who knows why it's named after Alligators though! The shops around Bedford Av. were all very cool, and there were lots of people selling books and records and art on the street too. I walked down to the next area, which I think was called Greenpoint to have a look round where I found the National Slovak American Club - it seemed to have been closed for about 30 years though.
I headed back to Manhattan after this to have a look round the lower east side - an area full of cafes, bars and Jewish Deli's before returning to the hostel and meeting a couple of people from NZ and the US who I had a chat with before going to sleep to get up early the next day for my coach.
I dragged all of my luggage back to Penn Station in Manhattan 45 minutes before my coach and got some more Vanilla Coke. (I love the stuff) The Megabus just goes from the side of the street and there were 2 stereotypical large, black American men organising the lines for the different buses... they were a bit like Keenan from Keenan and Kel and were so funny! The bus itself was nicer than the Megabus's in England, the AirCon was good and they even have WiFi - although I couldn't see the power sockets so I didn't bother using my laptop.
The bus was out of NYC within 10 minutes and on the highway (Whereas in London you have to spend an hour driving through it) and for the first time I realised how huge this country is - whilst there were towns inbetween NYC and Albany not one of them was visible from the Interstate, it was a bit like being back in the mountains of Slovakia as we passed through the Catskills - with huge forests as far as you could see, only interrupted by huge highway junctions.
I ended up sat next to a girl who was also moving upstate to attend university, but she was going to be a first year at SUNY in Albany. (State Uni. of New York) Having initially mistaken her for a Mexican (How am I supposed to know what someone from the Dominican Republic looks like?) we got chatting about university in America, as well as NYC seeing as she was from Brooklyn herself.
We arrived in Albany 30 minutes ahead of schedule, just 2 hours after leaving NYC. I got a cab for $23 up to the admissions office of RPI in Troy and left my luggage there whilst I went to check in at the international office. Walking across the campus to the office everything was so nice - al of the buildings are very old (in terms of America anyway) and everything is so green, with huge lawns everywhere and everything in pristine condition. Arriving at the international office I was given some introductory information and was told that I can come home at Christmas due to me booking a flight that is possibly before some of my exams actually being there fault due to them putting the wrong date on one of my forms.
After this I went to get my ID card from the union (which lets me get all the buses in this region for free) and picked up my room key from the Ice Hockey Arena. My room itself is in a great old brown stone building and as of yet I don't have a room mate - although there aren't that many people here yet and my bed is part of a bunk bed.. There are 2 guys in the room next to me - Ted from Philadelphia and Steven, another international student from Hong Kong. I got on with both of them really well and we went for a walk round campus and then out to get some Chinese food. I ordered Chicken Chow Mein which isn't the same as Chow Mein in England and consists mostly of onions and leeks but it was still okay.
I seem to have cable TV in my room which is pretty cool, but as of yet no television to watch it on, but I'll probably see if my room mate (Assuming I have one) has one with him. I watched some crazy American TV in the lounge downstairs before bed, at which point I realised I had no bedding so used a towel as a pillow, a coat as a duvet and my blanket from the plane as a sheet.
Today I need to open a bank account, pick up my email address, see my academic advisor in the Chemistry building and go to Walmart and buy bedding, food, and various other things with my remaining $64
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anon
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Everytime you say 'going upstate' i want to shoot you in the face :)