Arriving in NY

It started to hit me when I looked out the window and saw the Statue of Liberty & Downtown NYC in the airplane window. I had been to NY almost every year to visit family but it took on new meaning. It began to feel like a place of opportunity, not just admiration.

The lower we got, I noticed the blanket of white everywhere. Snow. Not palm trees or turquoise beaches. It also hit me that I'm going to be colder then I have ever been in my whole life.

My uncle picked me up excited to see me & my first and only wool coat. Though a graduate & with my issues about how a college degree still to this day has not landed me a job offer, I wore my FSU sweat shirt underneath proudly. It had been a conversation starter with strangers in line for coffee in the past and I hoped it may bring me luck here too. I had already found the alum club for the area too.

We dropped off my stuff at his house and he assured me all day, that no matter what I needed I was at home. He drove me around the bus routes I would be taking and the train stops (the six train, move over J.Lo!). Then we went to the supermarket to pick up a few things. I finally came home and unpacked my stuff. I was excited but tired. I could not help but feel like a bit of a nomad; my apartment in Tallahassee, my parents and dog in South Florida, my opportunity in NY. I felt scattered.

The first night was tough. I wasn't used to the sounds the heater made through the walls. The ticking clock drove me so crazy I had to pull it off the wall. My dog wasn't at my feet...it was different. The last time I looked at my phone was around 1:30am; soon after I'm assuming my thoughts stopped racing and I fell asleep.