Personal Narrative: My Trip To New York City

You know those dreams you have where you’re falling, and then suddenly wake up in a fright? Nobody likes those dreams, but I was hoping that I would pop awake from the nightmare I had in NYC.

I was visiting New York with my 8th grade class on an end-of-the-year trip. We had just been to Washington D.C., and drove for a long 4 hours to New York City. We got to our hotel, and our teachers let us go to bed right away. In the morning, the tour began. It was fun for the first half of the day, until we went to Central Park. I loved the scenery and the feel to the huge park in the middle of the bustling city, and I was excited to go on a bike ride around the park. I bike often on the bike trail next to the beach, so I thought of going with the advanced group. Little did I know there were lots of hills on our path. I felt like stopping and sitting down on the side of the road multiple times, since the drive was just too long. I had even lost sight of the group once and used my natural instincts to catch up once again. Another time, I fell over on my bike, and no one in my group really “helped” me. At least Mr. Sigler asked if I was ok.

“I’m ok,” I responded with a hint

of annoyance in my voice. This trip wasn’t enjoyable, it was ridiculous! We ended our bike ride in strawberry fields, where I met up with all of my other friends. They had all gone on the easier bike ride, but were still exhausted. I knew they wouldn’t have survived the hard trail. I barely survived the hard trail.
After this long, devious ride, we got on our bus and headed back to the hotel to wash up. We all got ready to see a broadway show. We were all excited, since for some of us, it was our first time seeing any play on Broadway. The play was nice, but not too important. It didn’t leave an impact on me, and seemed kind of stale. What I didn’t know was that the worst part was to come next.
Instead of going back to the hotel, like I wanted to, the next part of our tour was going to Times Square. I did want to go, just not at that moment, because I felt my anxiety working up.
My therapist described my anxiety as a thermometer.

It was always a little over the normal level, but when I was in a crowded space with lots of noise, it would shoot up, and take a while to fall back down. The street of NYC were packed, and Times Square was a while away. The noise and the crowded space left me in a daze. I wasn’t paying attention to much, and my eyes were glistening with tears. My real self had retracted into my subconscious. My body was on autopilot. Since I was not aware of much, or too aware of everything else to be paying attention, I was almost hit by a biker. He was coming at me at such high speeds, that instead of breaking, his wheel popped up and was inches away from my face. I ran quickly away before the wheel hit me hard on the shoulder. I was not hit physically, but

mentally.
Once we got to Times Square, I was not expecting that many people compacted into one space. I was trying to stay near my friends, covering my face, because I wanted to shield my tears from anyone else but them. It felt like weeks, that I was trapped in that crowded area. I looked up at the sky occasionally, and felt that it was a ceiling instead of sky. There were no stars or clouds to indicate that this was indeed the sky. I waited and waited to hear one of my teachers say that we were moving again. It was 45 minutes of hell.
I was paranoid the entire walk back. I checked every dark corner and every dark street to see if there was any biker, coming back to hurt me for the way I had stopped him. I held my friends hand, I didn’t even know whose hand I was holding. I just felt more safe with them tugging me along. It felt like days since we got back to the hotel room.
I have promised myself never to go back to New York City, unless I am forced to, because I never want to experience that hopeless feeling again. I don’t want to have to search for my group again, or have to search for myself again. I don’t want to freeze in a crowd ever again. New York City was a nightmare that I was beginning to wake up from.