Being in New York brings with it its own troubles and my first months in New York were quite a test. Luckily and quite luckily might I add, I was up to it. I’ll tell you some of the funniest but most troublesome times about my adjusting here.

The first was navigating the snow, and let me tell you snow is nothing like the movies. It’s all pretty for the first night of snow when it’s all white and pretty, but after that first snow settles it’s one of the most annoying things ever. First it loses that white color and becomes brown ice from the amount of people and cars that pass over it. Walking through the snow is like trying to run through sand on the beach, but far colder. I’m from the Caribbean and South America where it never freezes and where it means it’s hot once you see the sun.

One time, it was 30 degrees outside but the sun was out. Now, I wouldn’t leave the house without my winter jacket, but back when I didn’t know sun still meant cold, I went outside in just a tank top. The initial blast of wind that hit me had me scampering back inside to the warmth. It’s safe to say I learned my lesson that day.

Also an interesting experience is riding the subway for the first time. The first day I went to school on my own, I got lost. New York truly doesn’t stop for anyone and I learned that within my first five seconds of being underground looking for my train. Hundreds of people were pushing pass me trying to get to wherever they were going. It took me ten minutes to finally find my train and then I had to use the gps to find out where to get off. Luckily google maps had my back. I finally made it to school and well the rest is history. Now riding the train is second nature to me.

It’s an amazing thing when something that was foreign to you becomes second nature. Two years later in New York and I’m beginning to think of it as my home.

Daniel Haynes is an international student from Guyana studying Journalism at St. John’s University in New York.