Arrival and first days...

So, I am safely in New York City. I have a place to stay, and finally, some internet (thank you starbucks, rewards, the Robinsons, etc...). I've been missing it immensely, so I'm not gonna lie--it's pretty exciting to have. My flight up here was pretty uneventful, always a good thing. Once I got here, I had to get on a bus, subway and walk a block to the place I was staying, all with a HUGE suitcase, HUGE backpack (hiking), carry-on bag and shoulder bag. It was kind of intense--just waaay too much stuff. When I got on the bus, I had my two dollars all ready, but the driver said it had to be exact CHANGE...or a metro card. By the grace of god, I'd saved a metro card from visiting Rachel up here last August, and I had it with me, knew where it was, and it had money on it (not a whole lot--$4?). But I felt quite lucky to have that, since there was a huge line behind me and a full bus....I felt like a total inconvenience, but I kept reminding myself that I only had to do this once...maybe I'll have to do equally annoying things, but this particular one, only once.

So I almost missed my stop from the bus, on which I mostly had to stand with all of my stuff so that yesterday, muscles I had no idea existed in my arms and legs ached tremendously. But I did manage to get off at the right stop, and onto the right subway, where I could sit. I easily got off on the right stop and had to walk down a long corridor to find Bennett St, figured out which way I was supposed to go, and exhaustedly carried my stuff down the block to the apartment. There was, to my delight, an elevator. So that was nice. I'm staying with a woman named Susan/Suzanne (I think she spells it both ways at different times...) who is in her late 50s, has a son who's a few years older than I am. She is currently unemployed, and very concerned about that...she's definitely a character...but I think I'll be able to handle it. The first day I was going a bit crazy with how much she talked to me, but I've learned to leave.

Yesterday (Full Day 1) I went in search of my office in the East Village to get an idea of where it is and also how long it will take me to get there. It takes a solid hour, but wasn't difficult to find. Then I headed over to Brooklyn on the Q to check out my first apartment. I got off near Prospect Park and walked through the neighborhood, noticing that I was rather light for the area...turned down a cute little street with row houses and found the right number. The house was AWESOME--old, wood, huge, with a lot of character. The roommates seem pretty cool--there are three girls and a guy, all around my age. I chatted with them for a while, they told me the neighborhood maybe looked sort of, well, dark (they said it's mostly people from the Caribbean), but that it was mostly families and that they actually really liked it and felt safe. They took my email & phone number, and I called the person I was supposed to meet second. He didn't pick up, so I got a sandwich and drink and sat down in Prospect Park, where a seemingly homeless man came up and asked if he could see me again, telling me I was pretty, etc. I eventually brushed him off, realizing that living in the city, I'm gonna have to get a little tougher...

After I finished my lunch, the second guy called me and told me which subway stop to get off, so I got back on the subway and made my way to Bushwick--a bit more dodgy. Not as cute. The guy was nice, and the apartment cute (though with not NEARLY as much character as the other place), but I'm thinking that's probably not what I'll want. It's amazing what is in the same price range....I headed home and didn't get there until about 8pm, exhausted.

Today I slept in again, got dressed/washed/whatever and went on a quest to find Starbucks, where I could get free internet with my Rewards card or whatever...So here I am. My plan is to poke around the internet for a while, then head over to the Met, hopefully picking up a ticket for Shakespeare in the Park to go to later. So I'm trying to do some interesting things by myself, explore the city in this time that I have by myself, before life gets really crazy.

I start work on Monday, beginning with an orientation session, then I think I start real work on Tuesday. And so it begins.
Love!!