Heh, it can be described in one word, being in NYC. Overwhelming!

It’s just so different, being here. Heh, there’s lots to describe, but feeling quite tired now. Still a little jet lagged, and noted that the toilet flush does go anti-clockwise up in the northern hemisphere.

The flight from KL to NY was long, with just a quick stop at Stockholm to refuel and restock the plane’s supplies. It was raining at the time and looking out the windows of the boarding lounge, I could see just surrounding forests and nothing else. Contrast this to the busy highways and buildings upon arrival at NY. I had flown for almost 22 hours, yet the sun was still shining on me when I touched down. Really marvel that mobile phones can roam internationally. Could at least call home and Vyanne to give updates on my whereabouts.

Immigration wasn’t as bad as I expected, only blot was the customs person asking silly questions and messing up my luggage. Managed to get onto Manhattan island fine, and thought I saw a glimpse of the Empire State building.

Checked into my apartment and it’s a little different from what I expected. Heh, it was more brightly lit than in the pictures I saw.

* * *

Got to work this morning and thank goodness Vyanne gave me a morning call. My alarm was still set to Melbourne time and would not have rung eventhough I noted the time as it was in PM and not AM. Sleep was disrupted throughout the night as I kept waking up, not sure why.

Heh, walked to work, and got incredulous looks from my colleagues. Not a wonder though, considering it took an hour to reach my workplace from where I stayed. NYC is really large, and while one may cover two ends of Melbourne’s CBD in 40 minutes, you’d probably only manage like an inch on the map in NYC.

My first day was okay. Rather relaxed actually. Had lunch with colleagues and was shown around. The office had security everywhere, unlike the Melbourne office where one could waltz in and out as they pleased. Here you needed a swipe card to go into the building, to get up the lift, to go into the office, etc. Even to access the toilet, you needed to know a lock combination to get in.

When I took the subway back to my apartment, there were policemen at the entry points to the subway. Maybe I’m just a little intimidated by all the security measures taken for the safety of the city. Does it make me feel any safer? Not really.

* * *

Heh, it’s 330am now. Got woken by blaring horns and sirens an hour back, and I just couldn’t go back to sleep. This adventure has been strange so far, with me worrying about all the things to get into the US of A and by far, all the actual things in the country itself is proving harder to tackle at the moment. Heh, wonder if I’ll make it through my 3 month probation period in one piece. Am more mentally exhausted than anything else right now.