Other end of the planet



(Assignment: write about your first impression about the US)



 “It’s official, I’m now in the United States of America.” I thought, when I was sitting in the cabin on my own, looking down at the New York city saturated in the golden twilight. The city was glowing. Exhausted but still alert, I started to check my bags under the front seat. It was only half hour to our landing and I barely even slept. The plane was steady, but my mind wasn’t. I tried to run through the immigration procedure over and over again in my head in case missing anything important.





I followed the crowds to the customs, said good bye to the nice gentleman who was sitting next to me on the flight and helped me with my form, and I waited in the line. No hard interrogations, no bag-checking. “so far so good.” I said to myself. After I found my enormous suitcase – I’ve never traveled with such a huge luggage before – I went to the exit of the terminal, searching for my uncle’s figure. “He should be here already.” When I searched every face standing in front of the gate and didn’t find my uncle, I got a little worried. And when he finally found me a few minutes later, I felt that the anxiety, the uneasiness, the concern, all of them is gone with the wind. “I’m with family now.”

The next day, he drove me all the way to New Haven. The sunshine was really bright but to my surprise, the temperature was cool and nice, like the early fall of Beijing. Leaving the bustling metropolis of New York, the street view gradually become familiar. That familiarity relaxes me even more. We laugh and chat along the way, I felt the home was far away, and worries were behind my back.




On the other end of the planet, where little Alice would call it the “antipathic country”, I’m not quite upside down yet. But my own “wonderland adventure” has just begun.









Comments

  1. Carrie AllenJuly 10, 2014 at 6:22 PM

    Beautiful voice and beautifully shared memories...thank you.

    ReplyDelete

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