Back in the Q-City

Back in charlotte!...WARNING…this is long. ..just saying. So enjoy!

So…Im back in Charlotte! I must say, it is nice and I am happy to be home, but getting here was…a trip! My mother booked a last minute train ride to Charlotte for 11:50 Friday morning. Being in a new city and without a car, I was kinda stressing about how I’d get to the nearest Amtrak. Lucky for me, I had my handy-dandy computer and this thing called ‘mapquest.com’ and ‘Amtrak.com.’ The calculated distance was 9 minutes and I had a bus route just in case, so I was prepared to go! So Friday morning comes and I check to see if Campus Security could drop me off since I didn’t know where the station was. Well, that plan failed. Pondering my other options, I went to my friend’s room where I found out that yes, the station is 9 minutes by car, but an hour walking. Okay, I was freaking out at this point. It was around 10 o’clock and my dad was calling too! I’ll save the embarrassing  stuff for later, but somehow, my friend JoAnna found a girl on the 2^nd floor with a car and no class ‘til 12. I won’t give her name, but this girl is a life saver and she knows who she is. Anyway, I rushed as quickly as I could to meet her by the Heilman Residence Hall docking area and soon we were off. While chatting and laughing on the way there, I quickly realized why the route was an hour long by foot; through State’s campus, through downtown… In about 10 minutes, we had arrived at the station, and I couldn’t thank her enough. The station was smaller than I expected; I was thinking about the stations in Washington, D.C. that I used to ride. After printing my ticket, I found a seat next to this very kind family and read another Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel to eat up the hour waiting time I had. After mass confusion about which cart was for Charlotte, a group of people and I found our seats on a nice looking train.

The ride was nice. The scenery was beautiful and the clouds were amazing. Although my trip by no means compared to the circumstances in this movie, I thought of this indescribable movie I saw called ‘Sin Nombre’ about some of the experiences Hispanic immigrants face coming to America.

On the train was a large group of Shaw University students and I think a few NSCU students. Everything was quiet for the first hour or two, but towards the end, the back of the train lit up. Rap music was blasting and several of the guys even danced in the ailse. I found out that most of the Shaw kids were from Charlotte; one from East Meck, close to me, two from West Charlotte, (or Dub C) and one from Olypmic High School. After finding out that we knew many of the same people, they said that I was  ‘certified Beatties Ford’ because I was there every day, all day.  (if you’re from Charlotte, you may know about Beatties Ford Rd) I couldn’t believe it when I heard that Shaw didn’t have their own football field and other things. I told the guy next to me that I attended Meredith College and of course, I was asked why I liked a women’s college.

Anyway, it was almost 4 o’clock when I arrived in Charlotte and I met my mother at the station. Boy was it hot, but as we drove on past Independence Rd with the awesome Compare Foods, McDonalds and other stores, I realized I was happy to be home. I had actually missed Charlotte. The same feelings came when we reached the house, but I decided that I’d secretly have to come home. But my parents couldn't know! I’d play it off like I didn’t miss home, you know? Ha. Anyways, I really enjoyed being home and I can’t wait to get back… We’re up in Asheville on a ‘last vacation’ of sorts; don’t get me wrong, I love the mountains, but we don’t have wifi…!