Hi, you guys, welcome back. My name is Mary and you're listening to the Prologs podcast.

And this is my seventh attempt at starting this episode because I keep losing my train of thought and then stuttering really badly when I start and then going off on a tangent, not even 45 seconds into the

recording. I haven't recorded an episode in about two weeks because we took last week off for the

Labor Day weekend. And every time I go more than like five or six days or a week without

recording an episode, I forget how to speak. I forget how to speak on a microphone. I forget how to speak.

So I'm telling myself, I'm not allowed to stop and restart this recording. Okay? I need to gather

myself. I'm joining you guys today, recording from my hotel room in New York City. I've been in

town for about five days for New York Fashion Week. I have a couple more days to go. I'm

sitting on my bed, staring out at the sunset over the Manhattan skyline. It's very beautiful.

And this is my first time back in the state since I moved at the end of May. So I've had loads of

emotions on this trip. It's brought up a lot of feelings for me in a weird way coming back to the U.S., even though New York is hundreds of miles from Virginia, so it's not

like I'm going home in that sense. It does feel like I'm home because I'm in the United States.

And that makes the move feel all the more real. And again, New York City isn't home and it's never been

home. I've never lived here. But being in the United States, knowing that I'm about to actually go home when I leave here and home is not in Virginia,

is making the move feel very much, much more real in a way that I wasn't expecting. So it's been

interesting going through this sort of this first trip back to the States. But I've been here for

Fashion Week and how many days have I been here? I'm recording this on Sunday and I've been here

since Tuesday. So quite a while actually.

I've been having a great time. It's been such a good chance to see people like friends I know in the

city. I'm traveling with Clara. We're sharing this small Manhattan hotel room. So we've been roomies for the

week, which has been so fun. And I've also been very active, very social. I've gone to lots of events. I've been very

socially active, networking, seeing friends, having fun, exploring the city, all the things. And along with

...