And so the fateful day arrived. September 10th. The first thought upon waking: my last day in the States.
I had an even longer journey ahead than usual to Manhattan. I was heading to Brooklyn to see Lena, who had my suitcases. I remember her explaining to me: "Always take the trains heading Downtown, you don't want to go to the Bronx, man, you don't want to!"
A long, long way to Lena's, and then waiting until I could get her attention. The thing is, I didn't have an American phone back then, and the intercom in her building didn't really work. In the end, I arrived, shouted for her, threw pebbles at her window, and luckily, after half an hour, she finally opened the door.
"-Did you forget anything? -Doesn't look like it!" In the end, I still left behind an iPod box with an old player and a camera. Small things, Lena brought them all to me later.
The bus to Newark. Strange, but that's where I was flying out of. I took one last look at the Manhattan skyline. Mixed feelings, though.
When we entered Jersey, I immediately remembered the words from How I Met Your Mother: "Ted, you can't move to New Jersey! Teeed! It's New Jersey!"
Check-in, luggage. That was it. Time to say goodbye to Lena. Ha, we said goodbye as if we wouldn't see each other again, even though a week later we were already sitting together at university, whining to each other about how we wanted to go back. I put her on the bus back to New York; she was flying out just a day later.
I remember wandering around the airport, eating at McDonald's, going into Duty Free to buy my dad a carton of American Marlboro. Well, that's about it. Everything is a bit blurry; my head was overflowing with two diametrically opposed desires at the same time: to return home and to stay here. Well, I decided to be good and not do anything stupid, so I got on the plane. There's no point in telling what happened next, I think.
That's how my best summer ended, the most memorable one, full of ridiculously funny stories, new friends, and unforgettable impressions. It's a huge experience, not just of the language. It's an experience of survival, real survival; you have to think with your head, hustle, and do everything to make your life easier. Without that, unfortunately, it's very easy to ruin your summer. Despite all the problems and difficulties before the trip and during the trip—and there were plenty, as usual—I am wildly glad that I went through the 7 circles of hell and made it to the States. Thanks to all my relatives, friends, teachers who gave me easy exams, thanks to the guys I happened to meet in the USA, thanks to Janus Inc. for such a wonderful workplace and Pontiac, thank you, thank you, thank you.
