Day one and two and three

That's because today feels like two days. I left Sacramento at 6:15 pm PST yesterday, was in Salt Lake City until 12am CST, arrived in NYC this morning at 6am EST, and it feels like it's 8pm right now...I keep wondering why it's still light out.

It's strange of me to be typing away on a computer instead of out adventuring...I feel like if someone saw me right now they'd get the wrong impression of who I am. But I'm too tired. And Milad told me to take it easy- I do have 12 days still until my program starts. So I will buy sheets, and a MetroCard, and scrounge for furniture, tomorrow. The pickins' should be good on a Friday in May outside the freshman halls.

And it's a good motivator, too--writing things down before my fried brain forgets. I'm hoping to stay up til 8pm. I can't sleep on airplanes. Who was I kidding, "I'll take the red-eye, sleep on the plane!"? The girl next to me pulled out her tray table and just flopped over on it --Wham! I was in wonderment. Maybe she practiced in school? She made it look so easy, I was tempted to try it, but I just can't picture actually sleeping like that.

I arrived at JFK at six am. I called for a shuttle and when she asked me for the address, I blanked. I was planning to go to the housing office to sign my lease and get my keys. But I hadn't thought to write down the address. I just said "Uh... Columbia...?" like a freakin' rube. Then, when I searched my emails for it, I saw that I was supposed to have made an appointment, and brought two passport photos. Crap. I didn't know how I was going to to take care of that with tons of luggage in tow. I texted my new roommate and luckily she said I could just bring my stuff straight to the apartment first. (She's my soon-to-be-ex-roommate, too, since she graduated yesterday. So she was up still at 7am, not up already...)

Here's the picture I took when I arrived at my new home.

There's a doorman! And a laundry room.

My room, which looks out on a not-so-attractive courtyard (I can claim gritty city cred, though) :

The one main room:

My roommate's view is so much better. Her room's bigger too. A bit more street noise, but still, I think I'm going to try to request to switch rooms after she's gone (they're assigned). Looky:

So, this morning, after getting my lease, keys, and tour of the building from the super, I made my second venture outwards. I was on a mission: a new bed that I wouldn't have to assemble. I had been planning to go to IKEA, but that means more than an hour on the train, plus paying for delivery anyway, and then assembling it. So I walked 12 blocks (short ones- the north-south blocks are short and east-west ones are long), went into Sleepy's Broadway, and got a new, full-size mattress set at half price. Hooray! It won't come until tomorrow, so for tonight I think I'm sleeping on couch cushions. The roomie offered her air mattress, but she thinks the pump is at the bottom of the massive pile of junk in the spare closet. I dug for it until I encountered special presents from the rabbit she says used to live here. Couch cushions it is. Better than a tray table.

Guess what sorts of sights you encounter walking a few blocks on your way to buy a mattress in my new neighborhood?

That's the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, the largest cathedral in Christendom, and the diner from Seinfeld. (I trust you can tell which is which.)

Also, a tidbit that I give special significance: Last week, I cashed the savings bond bought for me at birth by a coworker of my dad's, who won the pool on the baby's birth date. It had almost doubled the face value and the last $20 bill I saved, to spend on my first day in New York. I bought a coffee, and a pub sandwich named "the Ivy League" which I ate on my way to buy my mattress. :) I like to think that's a cool way for that money to come around...

Another little instance that is making me feel good right now: the new roommate has the same dishes my old roommate Camilla did. (and the same messy/organized aesthetic, and the same type of foods) It's weird- here I am, moving into a new city, a new apartment--and these little things put me in mind of the last time I did that.

I think it bodes well.