My first time ever at a hostel

During my time in Buffalo, NY,  I found a hostel. I was surprised to see one there. I had never seen one before in my life. I've heard of them before but didn't know that much about them. I thought that hostels were only on backpacker travel routes in Europe or only in secret special places and was surprised that one was in Buffalo.  I didn't think hostels were very common.
  I knew that at hostels I would  probably be sleeping in a room with other people. "Oh God, I wonder what kind of people will be in there" I thought as I approached the door... 
   I walked in the hostel and there was newspaper articles and all kinds of stuff stuck all over the walls. It was $25 a night! Wow, I could hardly believe this was happening!
Back then I thought $25 a night was cheap, but now I do not, haha. It is a lot cheaper than a hotel in America though.
I remember the receptionist saying "understand this IS a hostel, you will be staying with other people" as if I might not know what a hostel is. He handed me bed sheets and a towel and I walked up to my room. The room was empty, however, there were other people's stuff on some of the other bunk beds. So, they'll probably be back later.

The hostel was nice. it had WiFi, which surprised me that a place so cheap did. (what I considered cheap back then, I'm typing these words from my journal)
It also had a lounge area and a kitchen that people are allowed to bring food into and use for cooking as long as they wash the dishes afterwards.
Later someone else walked in the room. He said "hello" then went to his bunk which was across the room from me. Later another guy walked in.
I was laying down on my bunk and was on Facebook or something. The man looked at me and said "hello" then he asked "what country are you from?" which I first thought was a strange thing to ask but I soon learned that a lot people from other countries stay at hostels. "Uh, this one" I said. He was like "oh really?" sounding fascinated. He went on to tell me that he was from India.
I had heard that people meet a lot of other people by staying in hostels, but I was a little surprised when this guy just walked over and started a conversation while I was laying in my bed. I was starting to learn of the sense of community you can get from hostels.
I told him how I was wandering around and he thought it was cool.  He also told me that he wandered around at a phase in his life but he did it in India. We had a good conversation. He also told me that my money will last a long time over in Asia and that part of the world.  
Time passed on and we were both wondering if anyone else would show up. No one did. It was just us 3 in the room. The other guy didn't really talk much; he just went to his bunk and put in headphones.
In the morning, the Indian man wished me luck and I left..

Well, that was my first ever experience of a hostel. I know there really wasn't anything unusual about it and usually I try to write down unique experiences but it was unusual for me back then during the early part of my trip. I've stayed at many hostels now and it sometimes feels strange to imagine a time that I didn't even know what it was like to stay at one. So, I wanted to type my first experience. Much of this post was copied word for word from my journal which I wrote back then. It amazes me how much about my life has changed since I left on my trip and I am reminded of that as I type the words I haven't looked at in a very long time.