New York was not a new place for me, one of the 2 ports on this trip I have already been to. But it was interesting as New York is prone to be. I was able to attend the opening ceremony of GPPAC at the United Nations (I got to sit in the UN General Assembly room, how cool!). I also worked at a GPPAC Reception we held on the boat. It was amazing meeting so many different people from around the world and hearing about their amazing lives.

I think the thing that surprised me most about New York was how much I had missed America and missed old friends. I didn’t get to spend nearly as much time as I wanted in New York. When you are constantly traveling and moving (as I am prone to doing) you are always starting as a blank canvas. People know nothing about you and you have to paint them a picture. I am constantly explaining myself, who I am, what I do, about my life. I do it almost daily on this boat (amazingly enough I still haven’t met everyone). I think having to always be re-creating yourself is more exhausting that I realized. Suddenly in New York to be with people who know me and don’t need an explanation of who I am, was incredible. I was able to relax in a way that I can’t really do on the boat. Of course realizing all of this made it that much harder to leave. I am always a little sad when we leave a port, but New York was the first port I have left where I had people I was waving good-bye to.