Arriving in New York City!

My summer is already off to a phenomenal start. After waking up at 4:30 to fly from Dulles International to JFK, and taking a long shuttle ride from JFK to Columbia University, I made it to NYC safe and sound.

Will, Nicole, and Jen (who work with I-EARN, our implementing organization) were right at the entrance of our dorm to greet us. I was the first one there, so I spent the first couple hours roaming around the upper west side. I got some really good pizza at Koronet Pizza and a smoothie at some sandwich shore, and read a few chapters of Reading Lolita in Tehran, the book I brought with me (shoutout to Lauren for lending it to me for the summer!)

Around 2, I headed back and found some of the other NSLIY students! First it was just Deja and Olivia. We explored the (drop dead gorgeous) Columbia and Barnard campuses while getting to know each other, sharing our awe and wonder to be in such a cool place. 

We met all the rest of the students throughout the day, and let me just say, THESE KIDS ARE SO COOL! They are from all over the country: Texas, South Dakota, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kentucky, New York, Alabama, Idaho, Wisconsin. Surprisingly, there are two other kids from my lovely home state of Maryland, and one of them (Andrew) will be attending the University of Maryland with me in the fall! 

After a very chill outdoor dinner of pizza and lemonade on a patch of grass on Columbia's campus, we went out for dessert in the city and I got really good tiramisu. 

For the rest of the night, we all just got to know each other. We talked about everything from college struggles to language learning to Joe Biden to finding dead bodies to selling camel milk (Don't ask). The other students are so friendly and funny. Everyone has been really easy to talk to and get to know so far. I can also tell they're all really intelligent hardworking just from what they've done in high school. 

As of right now, the summer already looks incredible. I can't wait to be surrounded by amazing students in an amazing country, learning so many new things every day! 

Some things I learned today: camels milk tastes horrible, and never judge a person by their Facebook profile. 

PS- after much deliberation, I decided to introduce myself as Chewey, seeing as there was another Olivia on the program. This will definitely make things less confusing, and I think it will help me feel more comfortable in such a new environment.