I flew out of Orange County (love that place), and the two flights to get to New York were comfortable enough, even with the guy sitting next to me that was whistling on the flight.
me: too early for this sh*t
Upon arriving in New York, I grabbed an Uber to the hostel I'll be living in for the next two weeks. It's a cute enough hostel, but the area around it isn't exactly... safe. There are zero streetlamps; every store and shop is completely boarded and locked up; and the streets are deserted.
me on the outside
me on the inside
However, I was in desperate pursuit of some Chinese food, and I wasn't going to let a little bit of darkness scare me off. Until I heard some man yelling to someone on the phone: "I'm not scared, I was in for ten years for nailin' a cop, that (expletive)'s nothin', you tell him that."
I was pretty sure I was not the intended messenger, so I decided to run the opposite direction as quickly as I could.
bye
While my inherent instinct was to keep my eyes down and shuffle along without disturbing anyone, I tried to fight it. Instead, I channeled my SoCal sunniness and some fake confidence and have small interactions with every individual I passed. Whether it was a smile, or a greeting, or the exchange of pleasantries, I felt it was important to hold exchanges with the people in whose neighborhood I'll be living for a few weeks. I want to ingratiate myself into the environment, even in minuscule ways, and I'm hoping to combat my shyness that I usually resort to. Plus, I felt a little bit safer with every "hello." I was making friends (kinda).
I didn't dally, though, and I was back to my hostel within thirty minutes. I plan on finishing my book and getting almost 12 hours of sleep before the official beginning of my program tomorrow.
Can't believe this is real (:
Excited beyond belief,
AubStod
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