American Life: The First Month
For the past few weeks, Facebook has been sharing my memories from my first days in the US – SIX years ago! The photos have put me in a nostalgic frame of mind and, as such, I decided to share some excerpts from my blog posts about those early days in the Empire State. It is interesting to re-examine the sense of wonder and overwhelming excitement that dominated my thoughts and experiences. I realise that one cannot live in the past but I certainly treasure all of the memories made and lessons learned. I also realised that I used lol way too much.
On The First Days In Albany
First impressions: love it! Drue and Erica were waiting at the airport holding a sign with my name :) After dropping off my stuff and having a glass of wine to celebrate my arrival, we went out for dinner in Lark Street, which is where most of the nightlife can be found. Here we had the best pepperoni pizza I have tasted. I cannot explain how good it felt to collapse into my "own" bed, in my own room. I slept so well and even managed to wake up later.
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This morning I ventured to Crossgates Mall - on my own might I add. Despite Drue and Erica's best efforts to draw a map for me, I got horribly lost and a 10 minute walk to the bus stop took over an hour! But when you are in a foreign city, getting lost is the best way to see it. So a LONG walk took me to Washington Park, which is so beautiful - I can't wait to see it in the fall. The South Africans reading this will appreciate my observations: people don't lock their front doors here or their cars for that matter! I walked past several cars with windows wide open and doors unlocked. It's still a strange concept for me, even the houses - no high fences, barbed wire, spotlights, burglar bars.
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On Being A Student
From the Capitol I headed back to campus for some more welcome parties and...free food! There was an awesome graduate student picnic on campus with a DJ and hotdogs and burgers and chicken wings and and and...I got to meet some fellow grad students. I met a guy who is an English major and whose favourite author is J.M. Coetzee. Go figure! The university has really gone out of its way to make new students feel welcome and I do feel part of the UAlbany family already.
Oh and I love the fact that more than one person has told me how "charming" my accent is...lol...today someone was literally making me say words because they loved the way I pronounced them.
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Tuesday night was bowling night at the Playdium. This was my first time as most of you know so I was really nervous. Especially while waiting for our lanes to open up because all these guys were getting strikes and I was thinking "please let my ball hit at least 1 pin". Once I got started, though, I really did much better than I expected. The rest of my team were surprised that it was my first time. I felt very American with my pizza and slushie and the TV monitors with "God bless America" flashing every couple of minutes :)
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Another Therapy Thursday saw us dancing the night (slash the next morning) away. We started with pre-drinks at my place. Drue mixed a killer "mar-hugie" (which according to him is the opposite of a "mar-teeny"...lol). I was drunk by the time we walked out of the front door. The music was good but the highlight was when Allen gave the DJ a Madonna-Gaga-Pitbull mash-up. It's such an awesome mix - "Celebration" meets "Love Game" with a little "I know you want me" thrown in! Once again the little pizza place across the street saved me - although this week the $1 pizza was suddenly a $1.50 pizza. Totally worth it though!
On American Efficiency
I love living in a country where things are designed to make your life easier, where you don't have to fight every step of the way to get something simple done. Another example: I had to get confirmation of enrolment from the registrar and it took a minute - no cost, no queue. Compared to other universities I have attended where I had to pay R40 for a transcript! I realise that I am focusing on the issue of efficient administration here...but it is still so strange to me and makes me realise how far SA still has to go.
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I am also amazed at how smoothly the administrative procedures function - once again my experiences with certain universities in South Africa which shall not be mentioned have made my Hare stand on end. It literally took 30 seconds for me to get a student card! I repeat...30 seconds to get a student card. My welcome packet had to be collected at the International Student Office and...it was there! There are computers all over the campus and...they work!
On Visiting NYC For The First Time
As you know by now this past weekend marked my first venture to the City. Everything that has been said about NYC is true: it's a concrete jungle, the city that never sleeps, full of big lights that inspire you and if you can make it there you can make it anywhere. The pace and general atmosphere is somewhat frenetic and the assault on all of your senses is overwhelming. It took me a while to adjust to all of this but once I did I could really appreciate the vibrancy and diversity of this amazing place.
I arrived in the City on the Megabus after a really comfortable 2 ½ hour ride. I felt my heart rate accelerate with my first sighting of the NYC skyline and that "OMG I'm really here" feeling hit me (not for the last time). After wandering around and around trying to find Fahad's dorm, I finally found it! I spent the afternoon with him and my awesome Fulbright friends from Portland, Duua, Gemma and Juliane, enjoying a burger and shake at the "Shake Shack" before exploring the Museum of Sex. "Interesting". I will refrain from using any other adjectives - that one says it all...lol! After our visit we had an aphrodisiac tea and almond cookies in the café below the museum. We also saw the Empire State and the Flatiron buildings which are on the same street as the museum.
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Brunch was at Smörgås chef which I later discovered is one of the top restaurants in the city according to my Top 10 guide. It's a Swedish restaurant located on the charming Stone Street. After the delicious omelette (with tomatoes and goats cheese and a side of potato salad for all you food lovers) sat on a park bench in Battery Park, staring out at the Statue of Liberty and couldn't help but feel emotional. It was a sudden realization of how far I've come and where I'm still going to go and having this amazing opportunity to experience a city that is the subject of literature, art and film - all of it symbolized by this iconic statue.
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