Homeless in the Northeast

It was sometime during my shower at a ranger station in Massachusetts that I began to wonder. What was the series of events that led me to being 25, living out of my car with no clean laundry or shower for a week and having forest service workers offering me boxes of granola bars and armfuls of water bottles because they thought me to be homeless? Where did I go wrong??

All I needed was a shower. I spent 6 nights in a row in my car which would have been fine, but I was set to do interviews in Boston and I probably smelled. Not the best for getting people to talk to you. In Pennsylvania, a homeless person complimented how clean I was for being homeless ("I never said I was homeless..." I responded sadly) and a couple tried to hand me money when I asked them to fill out a survey. Sad day, I didn't think I looked THAT bad. Anyway, after 5 nights in a car I thought that it was a good idea to get a motel room and have a real shower but Boston is the most expensive city to get hotels in. 100 dollars a night for a Super 8! Are you kidding me?? I would rather sleep in my car and shower at a state park the next morning. Which I was all set to do--until I found out the campground was closed. I'm on a time schedule so even though they kindly tried to direct me to another state park, I was pooped and whiny. A police officer had knocked on my window (again) in the middle of the night to check me out. Thankfully he let me stay but it disturbed my sleep. The night before I was not bothered by anyone, but it was so cold I was waking up every hour or so.

A kind state park worker from Rock Hill, SC took pity on me and arranged for me to shower at the park. I was SO GRATEFUL. He saved me 30 dollars in parking fees and the time and gas to get to the other state park. And his kindness didn't stop there, he offered to take me out to breakfast and we had a good time chatting about wildlife and hunting. Speaking of people from Rock Hill, SC, the couple that took me in and we had SUCH a great time talking, I LOST THEIR INFO. REV. and MRS. STEIN if you are reading this PLEASE email me!! I have a thank you note ready to go but no address to send it to :(

With a shower and clean clothes, I was ready to start my interviews in the Boston area. One thing people in Boston all had in common: MEANNESS. I hope to NEVER visit the city again or get even close. After only 10 minutes of attempting surveys, I almost cried. When people would ignore me or just say "I don't want any." Finally I just started yelling at them as they walked briskly by, "I AM NOT SELLING ANYTHING!!! I'M JUST A STUDENT!" Not a good idea to continue I was acting like a crazy person. Despite how upset I was, I continued searching for people for 4 hours. After that 4 hours, I only got ELEVEN surveys. ELEVEN!!! I stopped a postal worker to ask him where the friendly part of Boston was. "Friendly part of Boston?" He responded in all seriousness, "Oh honey, there's no friendly part of Boston. You are completely out of luck. There's not a nice person in this whole city." Not only was Boston tiring for trying to talk to people, but the driving there was the worst so far in the country, behind Seattle and San Antonio. Utter chaos!!

So that night, I stayed in a 2 bedroom suite in the heart of Providence, RI in a beautiful section of town for the same price as a motel 6 in the area. (50 dollars as compared to 240 for the original price, thank you Charlie for booking it!) I enjoyed my free morning coffee in the sunshine from my balcony, people watching at the cafes below.

Danbury, CT was much better probably because I got a real shower and a place to sleep the night before...and because they weren't from Boston. A super kind yet walking stereotype as he was a hot dog vendor named Tony from Brookyln bought me a hot dog and chatted with me for a while. After wandering around, I ended up at a downtown cafe. The people of the New York/Boston area are so very different from Seattleites or Southerners. They are loud, in your face, sarcastic, and blunt. Even so, I enjoyed this friendly culture and had a good time talking with people. Almost everyone had a snarky comment about happiness and 100% of the interviewees commented on how awful of a place Danbury is. I even had a crowd of high school boys crowding around me begging to fill out surveys. What a refreshing change from Boston!

Then, I was off to visit my friend and coteacher I met in Taiwan who loves New York and Brooklyn with a passion. She's the only person I know who would say, 'I wish you were on the subway with me today! There was a crazy man running around with a knife trying to stab people...!" Sadly I only got to stay for a night and she was crazy busy so we didn't get too much time to hang out.

Driving through New York City is like playing a video game with incredible graphics and it was AMAZING. This morning I felt like making a U-Turn and going back into the city so I could weave through traffic and speed around again, carefully avoiding pedestrians and merging vehicles. Next life: Taxi driver in the big city for sure

Now I'm heading to upstate New York and am gradually heading my way back home. Thanks again to all those who donated and hosted me along the way, there is no way I could have done this without you. By the way, hiking in the Appalachian mountains was so beautiful. I could have stayed in Vermont and New Hampshire forever!