New York, New York | March 2017
Everyday (or at least every sunny day when it’s not snowing 20 inches), I look out of the tall window that I sit next to in my office in SoHo. I argued for the desk that I have because it’s one of 3 desks that are next to a window (the other 10 are deeper in the office and don’t have the window access that I do mwahaha). I am a creature of sunshine and seeing the sun shining down on the city instantly lifts any bad mood or thoughts that were lurking in my head.
Whenever I look out of my window and see downtown New York City, see the sky line with the Freedom Tower sparkling with New York’s abundant sunshine I think of how I live in the best city in the world. I look out of my window and think, “This is the place that 80% of movies are set in” “This is the place that songs are written about” “This is the place where the celebrities move and the foreigners know about” “This is my home.” I grow warm with pride every single day that I look out of that window at MY city because I am so proud of myself and of the city.
I had no intention of moving to New York City. In fact, the first time that I visited it, I wasn’t even that impressed. I thought it was dirty and I was scared that someone was going to open my suitcase and steal all of my clothes out of it while I was walking to my hotel. I was a Pittsburgher. I had studied abroad over the summer prior to visiting New York but had never really been to a major city before in the United States. I did all of the touristy things but didn’t really fall in love with the city.
The second time, I visited in the summer while Jessie was interning for Ross when I was a junior, going into senior year of college. I was very confused about where I was and what up and downtown were and how Jessie magically knew how to get on the subway and which direction to take it and was very overwhelmed but definitely had a great time this time around.
The third time that I visited was for Northwestern Mutual’s Northeastern Meeting. We stayed in Times Sq at the Marriott Marquis and experienced New York like true rich people/tourists, eating at Serendipity and buying candy at Dylan’s Candy Bar.
The fourth time was to visit Tommy in the fall. He lived in East Village (this meant nothing to me because I still didn’t understand the city) and I had to hail a cab for the first time. By myself. I finally got one and upon entering told the cab driver, “402 E 11th St”. The driver asked me what the “cross street was” and I panicked, having no idea what this meant. I called Tommy and he explained to me that you can’t just tell the driver addresses and that you actually need to just give the Ave and the St and find the actual number yourself from there. I had my first Boozy Brunch experience, walked the High Line, explored New York and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
The fifth time was for a weekend to visit Matt and Jessie. We stayed at a hotel in midtown and went to a rooftop bar for drinks and to a club at night. It was really fun but I still had no idea where I was in the city or what to do. That was the last time that I visited New York before considering moving here. I did love it but had not bonded with it enough or called it my own. It was still big and scary and I didn’t understand the trains or the people.
The sixth time that I was in the city was with Cason. And this time I wasn’t just visiting, I had a purpose: to get a job. I had called and emailed and applied so many places and had two phone interviews for companies that were in New York. Both calls went well and led to in person meetings. After living with Jessie for 9 days straight (what a great friend) I left New York hoping to hear good news in a few days from the company that I really wanted to work at, RichRelevance.
I received the email that I had gotten the job one day later while laying out at Hannah’s pool (by myself because I do things like invite myself to people’s pools) and cried on the phone out of happiness. I wanted this so badly. I wanted to move to New York. I wanted to start a new life there with Cason.
Having lived here for almost 2 years now, I can still say that I want this life. I love this life. Every single day when I leave my apartment and turn left down 27th Street toward Lex to get the 6 train, I see the skyline. I see all of the skyscrapers painted up against the amazingly, (almost) always blue sky and I smile. I reach Lex and make a right, seeing the Chrysler Building gleaming in the sun. At this point I’ve passed at least 20 people and stood with at least 5 at the cross walk at 28th and Lex. I dodge 10 or 12 more people on my way to the big intersection at Park where I wait next to the Uptown 6 train entrance to cross the street to the Downtown entrance. Everyone waits impatiently for the light to turn, always watching the amount of traffic coming up Park, ready to play a game of Live Frogger to save themselves 4 extra seconds of waiting. I love this. I too play Live Frogger and sprint across to the barrier between the uptown and downtown traffic just to save myself those 4 seconds of the light not having given me the walk sign just yet. I feel a bond with these strangers that I pass and dodge and wait with everyday. They’re like unspoken teammates that you work with but don’t acknowledge your coexistence. I can’t help but feel that even though we are all completely different ages, races, heights, and people, we are all impatiently waiting, silently rushing to work, like we do together everyday. I feel like I know them even though I’ve never spoken a word to any of them and rarely see the same person more than once. I am so at home and like I truly fit in. This is the city that accepted me with open arms, waiting for me to live up to my potential. And so I will.
And then I look back at my dusty monitor and turn my head toward my quirky start-up coworkers and smile, thinking how lucky I am to live in the best city in the world. New York, New York.