This was the best winter break yet. Less than a day after I landed, I went to work at Price Chopper, a big supermarket in the next town. Even though I was just ringing customers up on the register and putting groceries in bags, working was a good way of making winter break go by quickly without spending the whole time wishing I was back at school in New York. Immediately earning back a small portion of the money I spent in Europe.
The snow over break was impressive. Winter seems to have followed me across the ocean to the United States. Over two feet of snow fell on Connecticut when I was home, and New York got another 15 inches last week. On top of this, it's been raining ice on more than one occasion, and there have been smaller snow storms in between. It's been the most snow I've ever seen in my life, by far.
The best part of being back in the United States is being back at school. It's great to be back on campus with my friends, even though a relationship has ended between two of my close friends, other friends have become enemies with each other, and everyone has more work than they seemed to last year. While all of my friends aren't necessarily friends with each other, I am very thankful that they're around. When I talk with the people I studied abroad with, they say one of the things they miss most is the friendly community of our small London dorms. NYU, as they describe it, is a cold, unfriendly school where students keep to themselves and there is no NYU community, just New York City and a bunch of students living in apartments. Manhattan College isn't like that. Manhattan College is a friendly place.
My dorm room has become a shrine to all that was good in Europe. A map of London hangs above my desk. Most nights, before going to sleep, I lie in bed and flip through my book of pictures from my trip under the collage I made of all my ticket stubs. A newspaper hangs on my wall with a front-page picture of the crowds at Heathrow from the day all the flights got canceled. I love New York, but I love London, too. Maybe even more.
I've been in a good mood despite being really busy around school. It's a combination of being really glad to be back and finding a new appreciation for things I missed while I was away and feeling like everything's a little new again. I was falling into a rut, getting a little sick of the routine, by the end of sophomore year, but now I feel refreshed. Everyone else who studied abroad says they feel run down already and sick of internship applications already, though. Maybe it just hasn't hit me yet.
I also want to travel more. I've been running searches on everything. Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, Tokyo, Taipei, and Hong Kong. I can't do anything now since I have my own money and internships to worry about (Except Washington, I'm hoping to book that trip soon). Someday, though, I'll get to all these places.
On Wednesday a Rwandan Genocide survivor came to give a talk at my school. She told her thrilling, tragic story about being trapped in a tiny bathroom in a house for three months while the rest of her family was killed and her village was destroyed. She ended her story with lighthearted anecdotes from the time she was on 60 Minutes and the process she went through to get her book published. She reminded me of an elderly woman who came by my Price Chopper line this summer. At the time, the store was collecting donations to the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. When I asked this woman for a donation, she declined, saying that camp brought back bad memories. She then rolled up her sleeve, revealing a number tattooed on her arm. She said she was in the Holocaust when she was very young. She got separated from her family, but eventually she escaped "to America. To freedom!" She was really proud of that last part. Both the Rwandan Genocide survivor and the Holocaust survivor were strong. They did not seem to be haunted all the time by memories of their horrible pasts. Instead, they were normal people. Friendly, even, like someone you might talk to if you saw them reading an interesting book in Borders. People like these women are why I can make it through the occasional bad day.
Apologies for the late, not-very-exciting post. Life here is exciting, but not nearly as exciting as Europe. Oh, I miss it.
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