'These Vagabond Shoes, they are longing to stray' - and stray they did

$5 Dollar lychee martinis are lethal, lethal I tell you... well not only lychee martinis, but lychee martinis combined with cherry soda and vodka (I usually hate cherry flavoured goods), red bull and vodka and lager (I usually hate lager). What has happened to me?! I have been here a mere 48 hours and already I am succombing to dabbling in beverages that I would have previously turned my nose up at the very thought of. I am living the american dream, clearly - anything really is possible in the land of the free - I drink BEER in the land of the free!


Lets start from the beginning shall we? - I left London on thursday morning around 8am - bleary eyed after finishing packing at 3am... took the tube to terminal 5 with the boyf and nervously downed a lemon granita at carluccios before heading through security struggling to keep it together after a rather emotional farewell. I managed to control the tearducts purely because I was overcome with frustration as the people in front of me (an entire family of about 12) had stupidly left at least 10 varying types of liquids in their hand luggage... oh for gods sake.


Went to the gate and sat down to find myself surrounded by what can only be described as 'the world and his wife' - it was excellent; a hisidic jew, an obese man, a heavily pregnant lady, some old people, some african americans, some asian americans for that matter, a weird ginger looking bunch of 6th form age kids with more freckles than the weeslies and ofcourse myself (as well as others less distinctive) - we all congregated together and eventually boarded the plane.


On board I took my seat and was shortly greeted by a very unhappy looking pregnant woman and her husband who was shocked and appalled to see that the extra seat they had requested was infact filled by a 5 4" rather emotionally fragile looking, bleary eyed, stephen fry reading me. 


They asked me to move and I did of course because Im a nice person. I moved to a seat in the middle of the cabin, and by jove, it was the best decision ever - way more leg room, and the two seats next to me were empty so I had no-one to bother me during 'cemetery junction'.


We landed in New York at 4pm local time, by which time I lost most feeling in my limbs, and struggled through immigration - to be greeted by an equally freckly man who regailed me with tales of stella mccartney and anna wintour having passed his desk the week previous. He stamped my passport with a 'have a nice day' and I was off!


Before I go any further - 'morris' the fat ginger cat living in this apartment i'm staying in has just started wailing like a 3 year old who has been told it isnt allowed an icecream... Terrifying.


So after half an hour of waiting for a cab we drove up from JFK towards manhattan to be greeted by a tornado. yes thats right - a bloody tornado hit queens just as we passed though. there were apparently 3000 trees uprooted in the process and the roads were completely flooded to the point at one stage where it felt like we were driving through the ouze (thats a river) cars had been hit by trees and the sky turned green and I have to say it was all very very exciting!


So I will admit I felt like a complete tourist driving through manhattan, my jaw dropped to the floor as I passed numerous diners, dunkin donuts, huuuuuuge skyscrapers, yellow taxis, big school buses and SUVs (anyone know what that actually means?) and arrived at the park central hotel on 56th and 7th avenue. Possibly one of the nicest hotels i've ever stayed in. I had a super kingsize bed. I could practically swim in it, it was LUSH! 


Dropped off my bags, spruced up and jumped in a cab to 7th and perry street to meet Lauren, my soon to be room mate who studied at st martins for a term with me. She took me to this insane mexican bar called Tortilla Flats in the west village, where we were greeted by possibly the perkiest waitress in the world, 'what can I get y'all' - oh yes, I had arrived in america! A jug of sangria and a quesadilla later I crawled home to my superkingsized bed and didn't surface until flat hunting the next day.


Flat hunting in New York is like pulling teeth, it is neither easy nor particularly enjoyable, you meet weird people and see equally weird looking flats. So far we have found a perfect flat in Williamsburg which is in brooklyn (think dalston/hackney) off manhattan but we have to wait to be told if we are suitable or not which sucks bigtime. 


'Rich' the 18 year old real estate agent who dragged us across manhattan was a particular highlight for me. We went to the offices of a real estate agents called HH real estate on madison avenue to be greeted by a toad like man called stuart, who sat us down and then sent us away with his friend Rich, who it turns out was a bushy eyebrowed 18 year old kid in a badly fitting suit with possibly the gangliest limbs in history. He could only be described as awkward, for those who have seen it, he walked like Christoffersen in Fantastic Mr Fox. he had NO sense of humour. we had to take the subway with him, and Im sure his lack of sense of humour may have had something to do with my slight childness at laughing in excess when seeing a sign that said 'freshly tossed salad' or when he told me his name was richard william and I exclaimed he should call himself 'dick willy'. But seriously, come on, thats quite funny.


Blueberry pancakes are literally incredible. On friday morning, Lauren took me to Bonbonierre (a greasy spoon) where literally the weirdest guy served us. He would just come and stand over our table mumbling something incoherent to the human ear and practically pour our refills in our lap. But the PANCAKES.... wow they were something else :) I think Lauren was slightly concerned for the sheer amount of syrup I doused mine in, but hey when in rome, or in NY for that matter :)


So there are some musings from my trip so far, on a general note, my jetlag is pretty bad, which coupled with a hangover and possibly a lack of proper meals, I am pretty exhausted. Thank god I have my emergency british chocolate rations to keep me going! Hitting soho today to find some suitable attire for Oscar De La Renta which starts tomorrow... so nervous but reeeeally excited too :) 


Blog blog blog... well here it is my first entry - from now they will, i'm sure, be more exciting, and less rambly.


Over and Out.


The illegal Alien.