Day 1

So I made it safely to the city. The flight was easy and quick, and I even successfully navigated the shady cab drivers (thanks mostly to my prof and her husband)! My first exposure to New York driving was definitely a shock... but it's good to be back in a place where people actually use their horns. As we drove up to the city, I was completely shocked by how BIG it is. It literally takes up the entire horizon. I'm so used to tiny little Minneapolis, that this was completely unbelievable. I'm still overwhelmed.

The "apartments" are quaint -- at first we thought there were only two twin sized beds and one tiny couch for four women. We immediately pulled the two beds together and shoved as many blankets into the crack between them as we could, thinking that three of us were going to have to sleep there, but it turns out that the couch is a pull out. Thank god. I'm looking forward to making good friends here, but I didn't really want to have to get that close. And as far as cooking my own meals, which I was really looking forward too, I'm probably going to be doing more cooking pasta and pouring a can of store-bought marinara sauce on top. There are NO cooking appliances. :(

So after arriving, a bunch of us decided to venture out into the wilderness in search for some food. We found a pizza place that was pretty empty. It was good enough, and cheap, but I'm definitely looking forward to my first real new york pizza sometime soon. Then we walked up Broadway for a good six or seven blocks, avoided the religious zealots shouting passages from revelations into a loudspeaker (it literally echoed up and down the entire length of Broadway... freaky), and amazingly enough navigated ourselves through China Town and Little Italy back to the apartments. It was a good introduction to this gigantic city, but tomorrow is going to be the real deal. I think we're going out to Brooklyn and then making our way back to Soho. Should be exciting! Hopefully it will help me feel less overwhelmed. There are so many different people here. And they speak so many different languages.

Sorry no pictures today. Definitely will take some tomorrow on the grand tour. Also, I forgot my sketchbook at home. Guess that means I'll have to take a trip to the five-story art supply store tomorrow. Oh darn.

Love,

Jackie