Liralen's Adventures Through Life

Sadly, that night, the fire alarm went off. Three times. The first time was a good hour long build up of the alarm getting louder and louder and... finally we actually got up and went out into the hallways, and there were firemen in gear, going to find something. There were also people in their pajamas going back to their rooms, as they'd found out, already, that there was no fire. Some of them had been standing outside for most of that time, in the rain. Then it went off again. This time it was relatively short, and everyone got to find out that it was being caused by a wiring short that was happening because of the rain getting in through one of the fire alarm throw switches on the outside of the building. Nearly everyone had assumed that it was one of the kids, because we were also sharing the entire floor with a summer camp as well as our own. When it went off again at 4am, I just put my pillow over my head, rolled over and went back to sleep. I was so tired, it was easy. ...

The next morning, the bus didn't leave New Jersey. Instead, Luke took us through Jersey City to the waterfront, and ended up in the huge, mostly empty parking lot, by the State Cruises pier. It was really early Sunday morning, when most normal people sleep in, but the tourists were out and out early. Including, of course, us. This used to be one of the biggest railway stations in the nation, back when everyone came in through Ellis Island, many people left for the rest of the country through this station. These days most people immigrate by plane, not by boat, and not through Ellis Island. So while these tracks are still used, the old station areas, the terminal, is no longer used or particularly maintained or repaired. Just a relic from the past. It was also our first glimpse of Lady Liberty. She'd been there all along, but I don't think we'd looked for her the way we did this morning. It was an overcast morning, we had sprinkles as we came out of the hotel, a...