Vignettes of Poughkeepsie: Poughkeepsie Train Station, Friday, September 9, 6:30 p.m.

On Friday evening, the Poughkeepsie train station is bustling with residents from across Dutchess County.

Commuters rush from their Metro North and Amtrak trains, eager to get home after a long day at work in the city. College students wait at the platform with duffel bags, ready for a relaxing weekend home.

An older British couple sits at the bench next to me, talking to each other about their weekend in Woodstock. When I hear their accent, I am initially surprised at the sound of a “foreigner” in Dutchess County. However, hearing an accent gives me a sense of familiarity as I think back to my semester in Europe where I constantly heard foreign languages spoken around me.

The wife notices me reading my book Americanah and asks me if it is a book for school or for pleasure. When I explain to her that I enjoy reading in my spare time, she smiles. Her voice is calming and sweet and I want to keep talking to her for as long as I can.

The couple boards a Metro North train to Croton Harmon and waves goodbye to me. I start to turn back to my book but an Asian man comes running down the staircase to the platform and begins to panic because he thinks that he missed his train since the doors are shut. I urge him to run down to the last car where there’s a door still open and he thanks me as he runs like a madman to board the train. He makes it and gives me a thumbs-up from the door.

I get lost in my book for a while until I am jolted out of my daze by the blaring of an incoming train. Thinking it’s mine, I prepare to get on board until the conductor announces that the train is headed for Vermont. Frustrated, I sit back down and learn that in true Amtrak fashion, my train is delayed.

I was in for a long day.