My Last Day of Travelling

Well, it is now my last night in a Hostel for some time, and it's both a positive and a negative thing. While I have absolutely loved the last 2 months, and have learnt so much, I'm also a little relieved that I will no longer have to try and sneak into the dorm in the dark and get ready for bed silently, share the room with people I don't know, start every conversation tentatively in case the other person doesn't speak english, or worry about half dressed girls I don't know in my dorm. I have to say, I am also over the squeezing everything into my pack every 3 or 4 days! So I'm really looking forward to setting up in my dorm at York, and being able to spread out a little and give the space a bit of Laura personality!
The last week has been great fun, exploring both Washington and New York. I have to say, it took me a while to find any life in the evenings (or even an open food selling place!), but I eventually worked out where things were a little and where I wanted to go or not go. The amount of homeless there was again shocking- not in the scary way that some of the neighbourhoods in San Fran or LA had, but in a more strategic way- it was impossible to enter any McDonalds without being asked for money by at least one person, and there were several homeless on each street, throughout the whole city, rather than condensed into some areas. I think the thing for me that was most challenging was that I didn't feel comfortable dealing with any of them on my own- I was a little concerned that if I gave money to one person, or bought them a meal, the 10 others that were watching would then come up to me also. I think the whole thing kind of accented the need for community and group work when dealing with these situations, because I just didn't feel that I could help, where as in LA, at the Dream Center, I was more comfortable in poorer areas because I was there as part of a team, and knew that there was support there with me. I didn't feel threatened in Washington, more frustrated that I felt unable to help.
Other than that, it was a fun place to be. I went and way lots of memorials, and big white stone buildings with pillars out the front that have important things in them, saw Dad (or Abe Lincoln) in lots of places- he was really popular! My fun activity there was going to the 'International Spy Museum'. A little silly, and could certainly make you very paranoid about anyone sitting on a park bench, carrying a suitcase or looking out the window, but lots of fun. They believed there were 10000 spies in Washington. There were lots of factual things in the museum, and Washington would definately be a good place to spy if you were going to spy, so you never know. Maybe it's better if we just don't think about those things!
New York has been lots of fun. Not so many homeless around, and I've generally felt much safer, but still the occasional person asking for money! One woman asked me for one dollar as I got $200 out of an ATM- almost all of which was so that I could check into the Hostel. Again it was one of those strategic asks, which made me feel terrible, but couldn't do much. It's been fun wandering around looking at all the different areas and seeing the different subcultures- and very difficult not letting myself start shopping for things I will need in Canada! Almost all of the unique areas are based around little (or big) areas of shops, and there has been a great range of little, unique shops as well as some of the larger chains. I still enjoy looking around at all the different brands, styles and types of products that are available here, so that's been fun. My highlight was definately when I managed to get student tickets (bought 2 hours before the show for a quarter of the price) with another girl from the hostel to the Broadway production of Zanadu, which had Whoopi Goldberg in it for only about a month, which was very exciting! It was a really fun musical, which made are really good night out!
I finally have an address for York, so all the birthday invites and letters and care packages I know you've all been dying to send can now come (hehe). Send them to:
Laura Morgan
Room 632, 90 Atkinson Road
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON M3J 2S5
Canada
Moving in on Sunday, helped by the Robinsons, which will be fun!
Missing you all lots, and hope people are haveing a great time at camp this weekend!
Laura