NY, New York
New York.
Our day and a half in New York can be described in one word... HEAT!
In the hostel at 38 West 88th Street, there was no air conditioning in the 8-person dorm. The windows were wide open, but it didn't help; on the contrary, it let in the smell of fast food being cooked somewhere nearby.
And that ruined the whole experience of the hostel, which is located in the very center of New York, in Manhattan, right next to Central Park... If it weren't for the HEAT, the atmosphere there would have been just wonderful, because this student world with its own rules and laws, its own little art gallery, its own little garden and a cat walking in it, was really very cute! If it weren't for the HEAT, we would have slept normally (and if it weren't for the bunk beds))); if it weren't for the HEAT, my Snickers, bought back in Moscow and carried through all border checkpoints (you can't bring any food into the USA at all), wouldn't have melted right in my bag. It's a good thing I didn't manage to unwrap it and not finish it, as usual)
I want to say a big thank you to Ryan for helping me book the hostel and tickets to Birmingham (Alabama), and for showing me the International Christian Assembly in Moscow, where I experienced culture shock 3 weeks before the trip))
And in New York, my mood of "My God, where have you ended up, Karpman..." changed to "Damn it, I'm here!" only once - when we reached Times Square.
The first night and the first day in America were not easy. In fact, there was no euphoria, only flashes of joy sometimes. It's just hard to believe, but nothing was appealing and I didn't want to go anywhere except home, to Russia, to mom and dad, to my room with climate control.
But we went for walks, took the subway, caught taxis, searched and asked, and arrived and traveled, and understood and found - and that's how we fought this mood. And we succeeded!
... You wake up at MacArthur Airport (one of the small airports in New York serving domestic flights, located on Long Island)...
2:45 AM, and check-in won't start until 5 AM. A layover in Baltimore and by 10 AM we should be in Birmingham, AL...
Our Work and Travel started with Travel. And Work should start the day after tomorrow, in Bessemer, one of the suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama.
