Well damn, this adventure has gotten off to a rock rolling start!
I’m sitting on a bunk bed in a hostel on 101st street in New York City right now. It’s 7:21pm on Wednesday, January 31, 2007. Here with me is Franzeska from Germany. She’s studying abroad in New York and has to live here until she can find an apartment. She seems really cool and her English is excellent. Also staying in the hostel are two guys on my study abroad program, David and Nick. I haven’t gotten to know them very well yet (in fact, Nick ran off to an Incubus concert) but they seem like nice guys. They’re both from Oregon – west coast represent!
Right, so, you probably want to know WHY I’m in a hostel in New York and not on a plane to Moscow. Funny thing, that.
It goes something like this. Aunt Rebecca and I left her house this morning at 8:30 so I could catch my plane at Reagan airport. I left my cell phone at her house (can’t use it in Russia anyway) and didn’t think to check the voicemail before I left. I got to JFK with no problems at 11:30. Then came the fun game of getting my bags and hauling everything through the nuttiest airport ever from Terminal 9 to Terminal 1. (Remember that I’m used to an airport with 5 gates…and this place has numbered TERMINALS.) I find something called an airtrain and ride that in a circle to get where I’m trying to go. By now it’s a bit after noon, and I’m hungry having eaten only toast several hours ago. But there aren’t any food places readily apparent and wandering really sucks since I have 2 50-lb bags, a 25-lb backpack, and a 15-lb viola to lug around. So I get honey roasted cashews and apple juice from a newsstand for like $7. Read my book for a while. Alex (the guy from KEI) is supposed to show up between 2 and 3 with our passports and visas, so I keep my eye out for him (though I don’t know what he looks like) and any other students who should be congregating here.
Time passes. I read my book. I eat my cashews. And it’s around 3:15 when it strikes me that wait a second, Alex has not shown up, I see no one who looks like they’re with KEI trying to go to Moscow, I’d better look up Alex’s phone number and find a pay phone and call him and see what’s up. (Meantime I have a conversation with a random old guy about how they screwed up his Russian visa and it didn’t start being valid for a few days after he was intending to fly there.)
Just as soon as I open my computer to find Alex’s phone number, a guy comes up to me and asks “are you Meredith?” rather urgently. I look up and say “yes!” It’s Alex. And the first thing out of his mouth: “I’m afraid I have some bad news.” Uhhhhhh lovely.
Long story short(er) – Russian bureaucracy SUCKS. Like, a lot. They arbitrarily decided that student visas won’t work for five business days after being issued, and given as how they were issued yesterday (Tuesday Jan 30), that means none of the KEI students can enter Russia until February 7. We have now all been rebooked to leave JFK the evening of next Tuesday, February 6. Meantime I had the option of flying back to DC and continuing to crash with Aunt Rebecca, or staying in a hostel here with random people and bumming around New York for a week. Either way KEI will pay. I had to decide quickly and figured what the heck, I’ll go with option B.
So here I am. Eduard and Alex (both from KEI) drove me out here and paid for the hostel and then left. I think we’re supposed to meet them at their office at noon. (We being me, David, and Nick.) I don’t know where said office is or how to get there, but the other two guys have been here for a few days so they’re the resident experts (they were actually intending to do a New York stopover since they’d never been here before).
I wish there were people I knew here. Like, anyone. I know if Mudders weren’t at Mudd I’d probably know some people in New York, or semi-nearbyish, but I racked my brain and Aunt Rebecca’s brain and neither of us could come up with anyone we knew in New York for me to crash with. So off to a hostel I went. Got here around 5:30 or so, and David and I went and got some dinner while Nick went off with some random guy from Brazil to the aforementioned Incubus concert.
People here are nuts, by the way. For one they all have protected wireless networks, so it’s going to take a bit of creativity to actually post this blog entry. There are taxis everywhere. People honk just for kicks. They act like living in a big city is normal or something, and it’s no big deal to be rude to everyone else. I’m sorry, and I know I’m from Richland of all places, but people need to CHILL OUT.
I have NO F-ING CLUE what to do with myself for the next five days. So anyone who knows anything about New York, help me out?? I seriously am clueless. Like I said, I wish I had someone I knew here. Anyone. Another Mudder. Mike. Dad. Lynne. Rebecca. Pam. Dad’s former college roommate’s long lost brother in law. But so far, no such luck. Thing is, doing touristy things for a couple days is swell and all, but I just had a day of being touristy in DC surrounded by two days of travel and I’m ready to *be* somewhere already, you know? Half of me wants to just say screw it and go back home. But that half is being told to shut up and enjoy this crazy adventure we call life. Silly me for leaving my cell phone. I just knew all that good airplane karma was going to turn around and bite me in the butt. :)
4 comments:
Hello Meredith,
I am Diane's husband, Ben. Sorry to hear you are having trouble getting to Russia. There are worse things than spending a few days in New York City though, so you may end up having fun there. I've visited NYC twice and here are some things you may find interesting...
Since you are an aspiring astronaut, I would suggest visiting NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in Columbia University's Armstrong Hall. The Rose Center for Earth and Space in the Natural History Museum is also worth a look. Unfortunately it looks like the Intrepid is closed for renovations, otherwise their Sea, Air and Space Museum would be another good stop.
There are some legendary collections at the New York museums: The Guggenheim, the Met, MoMA, and Cloisters are all world-class.
The grungy college vibe of Washington Square/NYU is cool as is Central Park.
You could see one of the shows that makes Broadway famous.
There is the tourist madness of Times Square, and the slightly less frantic Statue of Liberty.
The two things to keep in mind while in New York are transit and safety.
I hope you find this helpful and have great fun in the Big Apple.
Ben
Hey Meredith
Sorry to hear about all of the craziness.
As far as people who are in NYC, Nick Carbonne is doing grad school out there. I don't have contact information for him, but you're creative, and I'm sure that you could look up something.
Get a subway pass. It lets you use all of the public transit (subways and buses), which is key if you're going to go and do anything of significance. If you think JKF is a bad airport, the NYC subway is worse, but there are maps everywhere and things are colorcoded. Besides, if you have the pass and a week to kill, getting lost once won't kill you.
As far as places to go, I definately recommend Times Square as a place to go. I thought it was completely gaudy, but it's an experience and, why not? Central Park is fantastic, and the Met is worth a stop if you're at all interested in that sort of thing. They have this really nifty collection of old musical instruments along with art from almost everywhere from every period. It was amazing when I went, and I don't overly love art museums. We spent maybe 3 hours there and fully got through 1.5 floors of one wing. It's enormous.
The Statue of Liberty is pretty cool, and if nothing else it gives you an amazing view of the NYC skyline. One way or another, get out on the water. The view is worth it.
A lot of what you'll want to see in NYC involves a lot of one-stop visits, but as long as you have the time, do it.
Have a fantastic time! And if you want an overnight trip, hop on the Chinatown bus into Boston. It runs every day every 15 minutes early morning and late afternoon on the weekends, and every half hour otherwise. Plus, it's only like 15 dollars or something like that for the 4 hour ride. If you decide to do that, Boston can definately keep you occupied for a day, and I can give you names of people that would probably be willing to host you for a night.
Have fun, and safe touring!
=]
Karen
Meredith! It's Rachel...I'm going to be in the City on Tuesday! Not sure what my schedule is (I've got an interview for a fellowship all afternoon, and should probably get back to New haven shortly after it), but just because that's a rather insane coincidence we should at least TRY to meet up. Email me--rachel.berkowitz@yale.edu. And if you need a list of things to see in ny, let me know. Heck, come to new haven (do my quantum hw for me).
Right, and you should go see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty (take the subway to Bowling Green), walk around Ground Zero, and walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. And all the museums. And bagels and pizza. Since you've got the time, take a train to all the boroughs and wander around--cool stuff--just be careful in a lot of neighborhoods.
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