Touchdown

Though now I've written the title, I'm in doubt whether it's a planes-landing reference or an American football term. Either one is relatively appropriate for now though.

New York time it is about half past 10, which as my laptop so kindly informs me is 4am English time. So I've now been up for almost 24 hours. On the plus side this is the right thing to do...I think. I get very confused on the rules of dealing with jetlag, especially when I'm jetlagged.

It will please you to know that I wrote many hilarious anecdotes and much observational humour during my flight(s) today.
Sadly my brain is now too scrambled to transfer any of them from my notebook to here so just prepare to be enthralled and fascinated tomorrow!

Suffice to say my flights were lovely. I will definitely try IcelandAir again - it was super cheap, the staff were nice, the in-flight movies were excellent which is what I mostly base my airline judgements on anyway and it was all just very Icelandic and reassuring. At the stopover at Reykjavik, the airport was all gleamy wood and glass and there were adverts everywhere for knitwear brands and spring water, featuring v.furry Icelandic horses.

I watched Baz Luhrman's version of Romeo and Juliet, one of my all time favourite films, on the Britain-Iceland leg of the journey. I am making a plea - anyone who has seen or may know the whereabouts of my copy of Rom and Jul on DVD, please tell me! I lost it a while ago!

Yawn yawn yawn suddenly very sleepy.

The rest of my journey was not so smooth - I left JFK and followed the signs to the Airtrain to get me to Manhattan. Even though I was going to Brooklyn. In my usual blase way I thought I'd just hop on and change somewhere that seemed like it would get me to Brooklyn. In the end I spent at least an hour going up and down on trains in a tired stupor, lugging my huge case through the subway turnstiles and generally sticking out like a sore thumb. Eventually got to Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn. According to my directions from the Loftstel website (which so far I had miserably failed to follow) I had to find Marcy Avenue which miraculously I did, and then had to walk about 10 blocks down to find Greene Avenue and Loftstel. By this point my back is aching from carrying my bag, my case is getting damp and I quite fancy just sitting down on my suitcase for a rest.
When I finally made it to Loftstel however, I was welcomed by Susan the girl on duty who was very nice and showed me round. I'm in a room with 4 other girls. Two of them I'm with right now - a very friendly girl called Kate from Kansas (a fellow Lush devotee) and a very friendly girl called Wave from Switzerland, originally California. Have met a few other Loftstel residents who all seem v. nice too, so I'm really glad I decided to book in here. I have a feeling it's going to be awesome to live here for 2 months. Rooms are a little small but nice and very, very warm. There's a kitchen and bathroom on each floor and a living room downstairs with sofas and a TV.

Kate, Wave and myself just sat out on the fire escape for a bit chatting. Kate is studying ceramics at Queens College and Wave is here to improve her English, work and explore. They asked me why I'm here...when I find out, I will let them know!

Signing off now Mos def time to sleep. I'm so excited for tomorrow, when I can get my stuff properly sorted and wear normal clothes rather than 65 layers and get to MANHATTAN. LOWER EAST SIDE, SOHO, CHELSEA, UNION SQUARE, WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK....oh my gosh. When I was on the subway going from 42nd St there were 2 guys who both had their headphones in, and were mouthing along to their music and doing little dance movements and head swivels with closed eyes - like a silent disco, only a silent sing-off. It made me feel like I never left New York.

Starving, and exhuasted now. Time for bed, and to read some more of 'Never let me go'.

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