Rise & shine, you’re a New Yorker now…
It’s been a little over 2 weeks since I made the move to NYC. A bit of a whirlwind so far, but I’ve been loving every minute of it. Exploring my neighborhood and the city, slowly moving into my apartment, and spending time catching up with friends has filled my days.
To my pleasant surprise, I already know a lot of people in New York. Alabama, Oregon, and my time here last summer have benefited my network here beyond belief. It’s been fun catching up with friends and meeting new people through them. In a sense, this really is a new slate. Unlike college, I think being here will give me a better opportunity to pick and choose relations based purely on personality and common interests.
I’m told that I’m finally entering the “real world”. I hate that cliche, but I guess I am indeed crossing that bridge from college to some other kind of environment, and I’m feeling like I may thrive more fully in this one.
Minus the heat, humidity and deathly-hot subway rides, it’s fun to call New York City my 2nd home (real home will always be Boise). Everyday I learn something new about life in the city and I’m forced to adapt. It’s been a very interesting transition.
Here are 10 of the more worthwhile things I’ve learned since arriving in New York:
1. To those people who said things like, “Don’t get shot” and “People in New York are assholes”, when I told them I was moving to NY: You’re absolutely off your rocker. (Another great reason why no one should ever believe stereotypes.) There’s too much good in the city to think badly of it. True, there are more assholes…But let’s compare populations. More people = More assholes. More people = More kindness.
2. When there’s a crazy person in your subway car, follow the lead of the older people around you. You can learn a lot from observing true New Yorkers. Just don’t make awkward eye contact.
3. Which brings me to number three: Mind your own business. New York is not a very “personal” place. You don’t know anyone around you, so you shouldn’t really care what’s going on with them. Don’t butt in unless you have something valuable to contribute. When you do, you’ll be taken in with open arms.
4. Smile and say thank you. Hold doors open for others. The New Yorkers don’t know it, but they really preciate that.
5. Everything you need is 10-30 minutes away. Every kind of store, every type of food. There’s even a peanut butter themed restaurant. I plan to go there and get the PB-Banana sandwich.
6. There are no WinCo’s in New York. Food is spendy. $5 for Raisin Bran is standard. Beer prices are disturbing.
7. To counter that, Trader Joe’s has everything you need and is relatively affordable. Two-Buck Chuck is still Two-Buck Chuck.
8. If you want to go clothes shopping you can go anywhere imaginable. Every other clothing store I see is a store I’ve never heard of, but they are all huge and the people walking out of them seem important.
9. The PIZZA here deserves all caps.
10. No one here knows where Idaho is. Let’s keep it that way.
This city is gigantic. There are no mountains in the distance. No rivers to float through the city. You look more than 100 yards ahead and you’ll be staring at a building. The skys are still bright blue though. And a lot of stuff happens in the buildings. So that’s cool. I guess you just need to be glad P. Diddy is on the 35th floor of the building you’re looking at yelling at his personal assistant. Or something like that.
-JPB
