Also by this author:
August 20th, 2016
I wake from my sleep to see that 2 hours had passed so we were about 30 minutes from landing. I look and the woman sitting next to me is working on some sort of spreadsheet, which makes me think that she's either a successful business woman or attempting to come off as one. The next 30 minutes pass fairly quickly, listening through half of a Mac Miller album can pass time quickly. I turn on Empire State of Mind, which only seems fitting for the occasion.
I grab my carry-on bag and get off the plane once we land. Looking around, I'm shocked at just how enormous JFK airport really is. I find my way to street, catching a bus that will go on Grand Central Parkway on my way to St. John's University. I sit down while anticipation and excitement fill my mind, staring out the window trying to see as much of the city as I can.
I find that the ride from JFK is quite a long way, taking about 50 minutes to get there. Coming from a medium sized city just outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota, where it took about 10 minutes to go from one end of town to the other, I was in for quite a surprise when I wasn't even going from end to end of one of New York's boroughs and it took almost an hour.
Getting to campus for the first time was awesome. The trees were everywhere, they must have been 15 feet high and just perfect rows of them throughout campus. The people, most walking and talking with a friend, distracted by whatever they were doing. Everything I thought I wanted in a college was right here. It had always been my dream to attend a college in the middle of a huge city, with big college sports teams to watch on weekends and cheer for, for the rest of my life.
I dropped off my clothes and everything in my dorm room, and go down for the freshman tour.
I see a crowd of freshman, gathering in an area right outside of the closest building to the front entrance. I walk over and hear a woman shouting, "Alright all incoming freshman please check in with one of the student advisors at the front desk and grab a name tag. We will go through a short tour through campus. If anyone has any extra questions, ask one of the advisors seated at the desks or find me after this!"
I stand in line for a quite a while, and I'm not exactly the best one on one conversator, but this girl I'm standing in front of in line taps my shoulder and asks me, "Is this line for students whose last names start with F-L?"
"Yeah it is." I respond.
"Alright thanks, my names Jamie."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Noah." As i'm saying this, and being just about the smoothest person ever, I trip over my own shoelace and almost fall on my face. I catch myself though, and act like I meant to do that. Thinking back, I probably should have tied my shoes after getting off the plane.
"That has to be the best first impression any guy has ever made on me," Jamie says laughing.
"Did you see those reflexes though? That was pretty impressive," I say back, which is way too confident for someone that almost tripped over himself. We continue talking, and before I know it I'm next to talk to the advisor. I let Jamie go first because I know that's the polite thing to do. She finishes, and I walk up to the advisor table.
