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[listen to: Absynthe Minded - I Am a Fan]
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Friday night, fifth day in Bethlehem. Number 646 in Montclair Avenue finally starts to feel like home. Shopping cart in living room, dirt in kitchen, beer on table, more beer in fridge. Didn't think I'd actually be living here upon first entering the house last monday night.
It's been a busy week. Lots of new things. Lots of impressions, which prevent me from making a clear image of what's been happening the past five days. Try and do so anyways.
Monday. Had a nice flight, talked to a home-educated sixteen year old from Maryland most of the time. Quite interesting. Passed New York City by night; magical experience, almost gave me an orgasm! Could also have been my bladder exploding. Some friends picked me up at the airport, where I met my fellow-countrymen and housemates Ben and Wouter.
Tuesday. Woke up too early after a bad night's sleep. Couldn't wait to see Bethlehem by daylight. Made first walk through the city and noticed how steep Montclair Avenue actually is. (Our house is right at the top of a 25% hill - not joking!) Walked through Lehigh University campus site for the first time, which I didn't expect to be half as big. Later on the day we met up with Geoff, who was in Belgium last year. Ended up drinking beers - lots of them. Resulted in interesting discussion, with one American vividly suggesting a very 'practical' solution for the 'Iraque problem', which I won't bother with repeating here.
Wednesday. Another bad night, but woke up in an extremely happy mood. Spent all day with the other international students at Lehigh. Very nice day, met some very nice people. Invited all the students to our house and had some pizza. Again ended up drinking beers. Hilarious moment: Himanshu, an Indian student, forgets to hold his beer and baptises our carpet.
Thursday. Good night's rest, the jetlag finally started to vanish. Visited the library and ate pizza for the fifth time on a row. Walked a little through South Bethlehem with Myrna from Mexico, in search for coffee. It got very cold and dark at the end, so we went back to our house and had some pizza. Washed clothes for the first time of my life - turned out quite well.
Friday. Felt so good I thought I'd try out Lehigh's gym. Overestimated myself; muscles hurt. Arranged some practical things for university and must say I'm getting excited about classes.
Today. 11 in the morning. Wondering why I'm such a slow writer. Just spent an hour remembering what I'd been doing this week.
2 comments:
I noticed there are some misunderstandings about Bethlehem's location. It's not in Jerusalem, and it's not in New York either. But it's close to the latter. You can find a map here: http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=&address=&city=Bethlehem&state=PA&zipcode=18015
Hi there my friend,
Very pleased to read your first experiences. And what a pleasure it is to read it because of your story telling/writing skills. I'm looking forward to read more stories from you. Preventing a bank robbery or something like that. How is your mission progressing? Allready collected important data? :-)
Be carefull there and enjoy your time at the most.
Till soon,
Kristof (aka cuñado).
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