New kid in town

Hi there!

As promissed, I'm writing from NYC. Yes. it's my first post and I'm writing it after spending my first day in the Big Apple.

I'm writing from Harlem, from 139th St. From some friends' place. This is not gonna be my place during the year but it's been the best alternative for me. Why? Well, the thing is that the pre-term orientation week is starting on 21 August and that students cannot move in their on campus housing (or, at least, the one in which I've allocated) until 19 August. I'm sure there are reasons for this but I find it quite inconvenient. Coming here a week in advance is a useful thing, so that you may deal with all the administrative requirements, such as registering with the office for international students, getting your NYU ID card, getting rid of health requirements, opening a bank account or getting a cell phone. In fact, we've een told to go through these pointes prior to the commencing of the pre-term week. But te thing is that I cannot move into my place...it doesn't make any sense. Students sshould be able to move in a little earlier. At least, that's my view.

Anyway, I'm here and I'm happy to be hear. In any case, some awkward feelings keep arising. For instance, I have received a short message (the first one since I arrived) from one of my best friends, I have used for the first time the leather bag that my former work friends gave me when I left my job,..., in a word, memories. And my home and my country are still very close. You know what I mean.

I've spent the whole day walking and my feet ache quite a lot right now. I have been able to get rid of some of the issues in my checklist but there are some more left. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to cross out all of them from my list. In this respect, I must say that everything is pretty well organized by NYU and it's not tough to go over one thing after another.

But the very big thing about today is that I've met a couple of new MBA students. The first ones. We were attending a presentation given by the office for international students concerning immigration issues and, following a couple of questions, our accent has probably made us suspicious....It's been good fun meeting them. We've wandering around for a few hours and it's been a good start. I had already filled up a questionnaire earlier this morning and I had stated that I was not worried at all about making new friends and this point has proved right quickly. The best thing is that this is just the beginning...lots of new people are about to come.

Some dinners and parties are already being arranged for the weekend. This is also an important part and we have to take good care of it. We are still very lost in terms of NYC nightlife but I'm sure we'll also get a masters degree soon in this respect...

I'll keep you posted.