It was definitely a shock, the most dramatic changement I've experienced in awhile, to go from humid, tiny, rural, laid-back Martinique to New York City in the middle of winter. It wasn't my first time to New York, but it might as well have been, given the way I was staring in awe at the huge buildings, the people flooding the streets, the cars, the (dirty) snow, the bodegas, the organization of the subway.
It wasn't like this when I went to Virginia. It was suburbia there, basically; it also wasn't cold yet, and at that point I'd been in Martinique for less than a month. I wasn't totally island-ified yet, the way I seem to be now.
My friends from Berkeley that I visited in New York were impressed with my tan. Par contre I was shocked by how ghostly pale they were. But they were also homesick for California, just like me.
It was absolutely lovely to be in America. I almost regret it because afterward, I didn't want to go back to Martinique. After a week of seeing friends, speaking English, not being roasting hot, and experiencing some organization and order and familiarity, it was a letdown as we took off and I saw the friendly lights of Puerto Rico, the last vestiges of home, disappearing behind me.
Here are a few highlights.
Times Square in the rain.
Fort Tryon Park in the snow.
The Manhattan skyline, viewed from Hoboken, New Jersey.Gray, gray, and gray. Just to provide some contrast, here's a photo of the Plage Cap Macré in the south of Martinique, which I visited this weekend.
It's nice to have some color in my life again.
Awwwww America... How did the interview go?
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