Long Island, August 1997On August 26th, 1997, at 10:00 pm, I got on an airplane with two suitcases, leaving friends, my boyfriend, most of my stuff, and memories of home, to go to graduate school at Setauket University in New York.
Eight hours later, after a layover in Chicago, I arrived at LaGuardia. I had never been to New York before. I expected skyscrapers and subways. Instead, I found the suburban sprawl of the Straight World.
The admissions guy said that Setauket was 30 minutes from New York City. He lied! From LaGuardia Airport it took 2 hours by train, with a change at Jamaica station.
Exhausted after a night with no sleep, I got to the campus at a little after noon, only to find the Housing Office closed for lunch.
When I returned at 1:15, they had no idea who I was. There was no application for graduate student housing on file.
I was standing in the middle of Long Island with two suitcases, a day before classes started, with no place to stay!
"Don't worry," the housing clerk said. "We can move you into emergency housing until a graduate student apartment opens up. It shouldn't be longer than a week or two."
She gave me a key to a room in the freshman dormitory!
Two bunk beds, four desks and chairs, two shared closets, bathroom down the hall. With three freshman boys as my roommates.
The full story, with nude photos and sexual situations, is on Tales of West Hollywood.