It was exactly one year ago today that I drove into New York City with Minneapolis room-mate and bff Ben. [In the above video, the first scene is from when we first arrived into New York the first day, and we blasted that song in the car to celebrate our arrival.] I didn't exactly enjoy my time here upon arrival, and in the past year have dealt with it and finally am at a spot with New York where we are civil to one another.
This past year in New York, was filled with ups and downs, surprises and eye-openers. I got a crash-course in the hell that is the New York dating scene, landed my first NY job which like every New Yorker will attest to - takes up 85% of your life and time. Had my first run-in with what makes New York breed so many neurotic people. I went to house parties, dinky local bar parties, massive club parties, secret bars with pass codes to get in, underground parties out in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes just partied at the house with a 6-pak and the music up loud. Lived in a stereotypical shack of a place where it cost more than a 4 bedroom house in Minneapolis, and in a place where I didn't have my own room - just because in New York that is just something people have to do sometimes to get by and live here. I met people from countries all over this planet and spent hours dissecting their culture vs NY/usa culture. Ate tons of amazing food, had food delivered more than ever before-simply because it is something that is integral to living here, especially when you don't want to leave your house because the sidewalks haven't been plowed and it is 0degrees out. Fell in love even more with craigslist, thanks to the heavily used 'missed connections' section. Learned that bed bugs were actually a real thing to fear in NY and vowed to never get them. Spent as much time as possible at parks and discovered that biking over the bridges to Manhattan is probably one of the prettiest ways to see the city, albeit a fucking work-out. Learned to never leave home without a smart phone just in case I got lost, because asking directions doesn't work out when most of the people in the city are tourists. And about a million other things that you can only really learn and experience from living in this coveted city.
I feel as if I am just now getting my footing here, kind of just now finding how I fit into this grid-lock way of life that is nothing but the complete opposite of where I have been and what I had always known. It still feels a bit overwhelming in some areas, but mostly I feel as I am now able to flow with the crowd as we all walk down the street in ipod-synced unison towards the destinations of our choice. I think somewhere deep inside of me I want to fully be able to appreciate my favorite LCD Soundsystem song : New York I love you but you're bringing me down. Maybe it is just on the horizon but for now after my first year of all that New York had to offer me I am interested in seeing how year two of our relationship will fare.
