The Train Ride Outer Journey

Traveling seventeen hours by train, mostly with faces I do not know, I am distant. I have my close friends that are experiencing this new city with me, but also a lot of new faces that I have to get to know still. I awaken from my sound sleep to the train shaking on the tracks. I feel sweaty and hot from the sweatshirt on my back and a very soft comfy blanket laid upon me. The cloth memory foam neck pillow constricting my neck. I'm sitting in this hard, leaned back train seat trying to readjust and get comfortable so I can fall back asleep with my neck clenched, body sunken in the seat with a little sharp achy pain in my lower back. I hear the train horn going off every minute or so. It sounds like a very loud whistle and a tea pot going off at the same. I'm sitting by the window I can feel the cold night stir on my arm as it is leaning against the window. The lights at the top of the ceiling are blue and white and dimmed, but still bright enough to be noticed by the closed human eye. The train sways back and forth and rocks rougher every so often. It is a bumpy ride to New Orleans. With my uncomfortable seat, loud train noises and shaking of the train driving on the tracks, I feel at peace. I don't hear a peep coming out of anyone right now. All my fellow students are laid down in their seats, leaned all the way back, looking cozy covered in their soft warm blankets and pillows. All of us on the train are just trying to get comfortable enough to get some sleep. Trains are not as comfortable as my bed, but they will do the job for me to make it to The City That Speaks.

 
Photos by Me