First Impressions of New York City

New York is a smelly city by the end of the day. My first impression of the city is that it generates a lot of trash. Half of the city's sidewalks are covered with scaffolding. I don't know why, and I have a feeling this will be one of my lingering questions about the city. So here I am in New York. I drove past Times Square, and I saw the city skyline on my way over from Queens. I noticed all these dilapidated looking brick buildings, stacks and stacks of them, and thought, hey, these look like they could be projects. So I asked my cab driver what area we were in, ‘Queens’. Makes sense. I had one of those moments (which I’m sure I’ll be having more of) where you realize, ‘Oh, wow. This is real.’ I have a confession to make. My first thought when I saw my cab driver was, ‘Oh, great. They’re putting me in a cab with a terrorist?’. SO AWFUL! I am such a racist and I don’t even know it. Turns out he was quite friendly and got me right to the front door of my hotel with no hiccups whatsoever. My first hotel room was... small. Which is fine, I don’t need a lot of room. But it’s so quaint. And old. It’s an old building, so I have my laptop on the toilet seat, plugged into the only outlet in the room, which is half-way up the wall in the bathroom. My adapter is resting on the sink, because it’s not long enough to reach the floor. I have my own little patio, which would be cool if I wasn’t staying here alone (and if I smoked), but I am (and I don’t) and I can’t help feeling a little insecure about the immediate access the outside world has to my personal space that I paid more than I wanted to for. Last night I was moved into a slightly larger room, which was nice, although somewhat unecessary.

I planned to wake up early yesterday, like 8-ish, to get to Central Park before the heat of the early afternoon hit. But my alarm did not sound because my cell phone was still on silent from the comedy show I went to last night (which was fun, by the way) and I 'slept-in' because I'm on east coast time. But I did mangage to check-out of my room before noon (and get switched to another room- bigger!- in the same hotel).
When I finally left the hotel I discovered that Central Park is this big random space in the middle of the city. I was so happy when I got there because it felt like such an escape from the city. I found myself recognizing spaces from different movies, and loving that there wasn't a constant medley of sirens, horns, and people's hurried voices. I think New York City would be a really fun place to live, but I feel overwhelmed with trying to visit in only four days, with a college student budget (somewhat supplemented by generous relatives- thanks!).
Oh! I hailed my first cab. I was nervous, but I got two cabs! And I knew exactly where to ask the driver to take me, and I feel like a city girl! Although, I wanted to just hop on a bus, but I didn't know which to take, and I had no change, really. I had just given most of it to someone who wouldn't stop talking to me about something to do with youth, the news, and crime. I thought back to my soc classes and tried to figure out if giving this person $1.50 would really help anyone, but I had a long way to go and I didn't want to be rude, so I used the bus money to buy my freedom. Hence, the cab, because it was $10 instead of $2, and that I had on me.