Student Reflections: Mark Thiong'o

MY GREAT TRIP OUT

The trip down to New York City was one that involved a lot of napping. There was nothing really spectacular about the trip - nothing about a bus ride really is. All that changed when we drove up to the Port Authority and made our way to the Marriot Marquis at Times Square on foot – luggage and all. Then the fairy tale began. Never in my life have all my senses been so stimulated. The waft of warm pretzels was quickly and unfortunately replaced by that of horse dung as I wheeled my suitcase past a horse carriage. My eyes seemed to oscillate in their sockets jumping from one giant digitized billboard to the next. Different accents filled the air. A bit of Italian here and a tinge of West African dialect there all filled the humdrum in the atmosphere. This was definitely not Poultney. The sea of people was incredible and very annoying - at times kicking my luggage if I was suddenly distracted by my new surroundings. “Welcome to the centre of the world” Paul said. I chuckled.
The Acronym TGIF meant nothing to me on Friday April 10th. I was desperately ill. My throat felt like it had been rubbed down with sand paper and a fever shook my large frame. So on a trip back from the doctor’s office, Paul took me on a tour of ‘uptown’ NYC. I am not great with addresses but the general region was on the Southside of Central Park. My jaw dropped as I saw an Aston Martin DB5 casually parked outside an apartment block. Seconds after I had caught my breath, a Roll Royce Phantom pulled out of a street, its black paint glittering under the bright lights. This was a little bit of paradise come alive for me. And as we walked past another set of buildings, out of the corner of my eye I caught an all too familiar face. I have seen him at many soccer events including the World Cup. In fact, he’s the man that runs the World Cup. It’s Sepp Blatter! I glanced once, then twice and the stalker in me looked a third time only for Sepp to smile back. My dream of cars and soccer was morphed into one. New York – where dreams come true.