I was looking outside of the windows into the magestic city. I felt like I was in a movie, I was a lead actress and my script was full of adventures, love and happiness.
We waited for
the rest of the students to arrive, and as they did we were taken to the Coumbia University by some fancy bus. We drove past different streets, everyone looked so big, so American, so unbelievably beautiful! When we arrived in the university I felt like things are only going to get better and more fun!
The univercity was huge! My uni that I went to was only 2 stories of some industrial building in the boondocks. Well , not exactly but it definitely wasn’t in the center, that’s for sure.
And here I was. In this beautiful, enormous building that was filled with kids like me from all over the world. I definitely felt like I was in a college type of a movie. So many thoughts were going through my mind. What is my camp going to be like, what type of crowd is going to be there, will there be as many cute guys as there are here?:) I was super excited!
I was given a room key and asked if I could share it with my friend. They said, “No problem.”
Some people sat by the computers, others walked around, chatted, laughed. Some people looked like they’ve done it a million times, others were awkward, like me, smiling like an idiot and not knowing what to expect.
I shared the room with another girl who was going to the same camp as me. She was from Tatarstan, her name was Adelya, and we became friends. Later on when I was already at the camp and learnt my camp’s Alma Mater song there were these words, “… friends are friends forever, through the summer and the after”. I would also add, “you become friends in an instant” as you spend 24/7 together.
I threw my bags in the room, quickly unpacked, went to take a shower. Their shower room was huge! No wonder, since they have so many students in here, unlike in my uni. I quickly changed and went to explore the city.
We were told to stay away from certain places, not to go past certain streets like the Atlantic Ave if I remember it correctly. They said it was dangerous so we just walked in circles around the university but it was awesome! First thing we did was buying phone cards at a little newsstand right outside. My first real experience with the US dollars and locals by myself. I phoned home and told my parents I got to the place ok, told them about the plans and what’s going to happen next. They were still worried as I wasn’t at my camp yet, and you know how parents, especially moms are, well at least mine.
We went to CVS and got some snacks. I got gummy worms. Remember it as if it was yesterday. Wow, the first American store! I felt more and more like in a movie. So many different looking people, talking about something in their native tongue, speaking so fast I could hardly follow.
We returned to Columbia. It was getting late and I was pretty tired from the long flight. I took a shower and Adelya and I went to sleep. I was worn out but couldn’t close my eyes. I kept looking outside of the window into the city. It was getting dark, New York looked so beautiful in the setting sun, in the dance of yellow, orange, red and violet colors. It didn’t seem to be going to sleep and looked as captivating as it could. I slowly dozed off…
To be Continued…