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The New York Dream – Part 2 – Empire State of Mind

Or something like that. Well, now that I’d landed, what should I do?

I actually was waiting for a friend, who was landing a few hours after me, and since I knew it would take a while to clear customs, I decided to spend my remaining time just chilling at the airport. Firstly, I had to change terminals, and I could do that using the AirTrain. Wow, the train has really tiny carriages. By tiny, I mean that it seats 4 people and maybe a maximum of 4 standing? Once I’d boarded, I can’t remember exactly what happened, but basically, I ended up in a conversation with the other passengers, and they immediately asked where I was from because of my accent, and then they talked about stuff and things, but I no longer recall what it was about! Anyway, I got off on the next stop and proceeded to discover a Starbucks at this terminal, which seemed to be least boring eatery around, if you could even call it an eatery because it was a tiny stand that served only takeaway. I paid far too much for a sausage and egg muffin, and sat down in an out of the way spot to eat it, since all the seats were taken. As I was minding my own business, I hear a voice really close to me, and when I turned to look, I realised it was just some person talking on the phone. He sounded disgruntled because his flight just got delayed and so he was stuck at the airport now, and something about it becoming expensive for him because he had to make alternative arrangements? I’m not too sure since I didn’t really care to eavesdrop. However, after a while, I got the odd feeling he was talking to me, because he was still there and no longer talking about his flight. He was saying something about how he’d had one too. One of what??

So I look again, and he really is talking to me! He saw me eating the sausage and egg muffin and felt the need to comment on my one? So he repeated himself and said that he ate one too, and that it wasn’t all that tasty, and I basically said “yeah, but it’s better than nothing” and he agreed or something along those lines. I was more bewildered that he randomly started speaking to me even though I wasn’t paying any attention to him! Then he started telling me about the call he’d just had, and repeated much of what I’d already overheard, and then as I was politely acknowledging his comments, he finished up what he was saying, bid me farewell and walked off. Wow, that was random. Please tell me not all Americans are like this?? Like, sure, it’s normal that sometimes you strike up conversations with strangers, but this was sort of really one sided… what a first impression!

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