When I decided to visit another continent, I planned to go to New York, but the flights were too expensive. So, I asked the travel agent for the cheapest flight to Anywhere in North America. It brought me to the summer in Toronto. I spent my first night in a backpacker, very close to the nightlife. Sheets were of plastic. The city was hot and humid, and at night there was some kind of fight going on outside – with police sirens and screaming. No gun shots; I had to wait for these until New Orleans.

Welcome to the New World.