Governor Alfred E Smith Houses

Day 2 - Realisation

We started the day with some breakfast at a nearby place. My first impression of New York therefore was eating a bagel and sipping coffee while being able to watch a homeless man dancing in the middle of the street through the window. Matt informed me that I should get used to stuff like that since Brooklyn was kinda sketchy. The answer to my question whether there were any places in New York that he wouldn't consider to be shady was a simple 'nope.' So here I was, on another continent that I've never been to before, in a country that I've seen and heard so much about yet never experienced, in one of the most - if not THE most - famous cities in the world. With only a vague idea of the things I wanted to see and experience. I realised that I lacked cash, that I had no idea about the metro system, yet alone a map of either the metro or the city, that I needed a SIM card and had no idea where to get one and that I would have to navigate a place with as many inhabitants as my entire country has without a connection to the internet. It was a little scary, I'll admit, and Matt's constant warnings about me having to be careful here didn't exactly help with that, but mostly I was thrilled by all the new impressions rushing in on me. We took a walk through Prospect Park before heading back to his apartment so that I could download a map of the metro and get my Sightseeing Pass to save money on entry fees. I walked outside and all I knew was where the metro was and that I was supposed to get on one that would take me to Manhattan. I got off at a station called DeKalb Av and made my way to Brooklyn Bridge. There, I got my first view of Manhattan and damn, was it stunning. This was the moment I finally realised where I was and what I was doing, how crazy all of this actually was. Two weeks ago, I would have never seen myself going to the States any time soon. And I realised how I haven't been this excited and happy about doing anything as much as I was about this for a very long time. The land of the free. In my case, freedom from mundane everyday life and a break from my problems. A short escape. A bit of an adventure. And man, I was going to enjoy this and make the most out of it. After crossing into Manhattan, I was surrounded by skyscrapers. It caused a beautiful sensation of feeling awfully small and as just a tiny part of something way bigger. I headed to the One World Trade Center. After waiting in line for some time, I started talking to a guy at the security check. His name was Lukass, he's a 27 year old guy from Latvia who's staying with his boyfriend's brother in Jersey. We explored the observation tower together, with breathtaking views all around us, shared a beer, exchanged numbers and decided to spend the rest of the day together. After a short walk across Wall Street, we decided to go on a boat cruise together, however, fucking up the times the boats are leaving we found ourselves stranded on Times Square instead. From there, we explored the city to our foodie-heart's content, eating some hot dogs and burgers and ended up at an American bar that's almost so cliché you could film movie scenes there. We decided to go on a little bar hopping tour until Matt would be ready to walk the High Line Park with me, almost ended up buying weed because the entire city smells like it but decided against it. Lukass and I were getting along splendidly. We even share our birthday. Matt joined us eventually at a pub in Manhattan and we ended up playing Never Have I Ever. Since it was happy hour, we kinda stuck there though and never made it to High Line Park. We had typical drunk conversations about life that I won't go into detail here. Then we went to a beer store because Matt wanted to convince us two European people that Americans actually DO have good beer. It is yet to see whether they actually do. Short update: Yes, they actually do. As long as you know which ones to buy, at least. We ate some cheap but amazing Indian food in what looked like a small grocery store which Matt frequents relatively often. Next to it was a weed store and this time, we decided to go for it. We were there for like half an hour, discussing laws regarding drugs with the cashier of the store. I smoked some of my joint and to my surprise got high from just a few puffs, although very subtly so. Matt guided us to the metro where we had to say goodbye to Lukass and then made sure we'd make it home. We tried watching a movie again but this time both of us were too tired to even get it started.Les mer