First Month in NYC

Sep 1

The first month living in New York was all about meeting new people and learning as much as I could about the city. I really enjoyed the memories that I made this month and look forward to the memories I will continue to form in future months.

Keep on reading to check out what I’ve gotten up to!

Apartment Update

I have now paid one month’s rent and utilities and have decorated my apartment even more to the point at which it now feels like home. The sparsity in my apartment made it seem as though I was only planning on staying for a short term during the first week, but now I have paintings and kitchen items that make it seem as though I am here to stay. Which I intend to do. But enough about the apartment, I don’t spend that much time there anyway… how could I when there is a bustling city out there waiting for me?

Meeting New People Doesn’t Need To Be Scary

I went to a meet-up event with vegans and vegetarians and we met at Lincoln Center on Broadway. I got to meet many new people and also learned a lot about the people here in NYC. I know it is a micro-sample of the entire population, but it really is a diverse group. I met some really impeccable people with whom I would love to get more acquainted. Though the night was young, the storm rolling in decided to end the night short. I got stuck in the rain again as the meeting place for this group was outside at Lincoln Center. We all ended up seeking shelter in a nearby Whole Foods and then I took the metro home from there.

I spent the night before classes began trying Ethiopian food with a girl I had met at the vegans and vegetarians meetup event. She and I meandered to a comedy show after dinner and—I am being completely honest when I say—I laughed more than I have laughed since moving to the city! We got to see the comedian, Andrew Dismukes from SNL and he was hilarious. I was honestly ‘fangirling’ the entire time.

The weekend before classes started, I went to many different meetup events with new groups, new friends, and other incoming Columbia University grad students. The Sunday before school started, we had a picnic in Central Park with a group of grad students and I had the chance to bond with a few of my impressive peers. Everyone whom I met was very accomplished, resulting in us all continuously chatting for many insightful hours about what we had already accomplished in our respective young lives. I can see myself making lifelong connections with every one of the individuals at that picnic. And of course the rest of the students whom I got to meet once classes did begin the week following.

Riding on the Subway

It’s amazing how much eye contact can affect how you feel in the moment. As I sit on the subway, I accidentally make eye contact with the girls in front of me and we are both instantly wondering what the other person is thinking at that moment. We are wondering if the other person across the metro car is judging us or if she is jealous of us... People rarely engage with one another while riding the subway because everyone just wants to get to the place to which they are going, but when we do accidentally or purposefully make eye contact or speak to one another, it can often remind one that no matter where you are, kindness exists everywhere.

I have seen multiple instances now when human kindness is shown to help others. A woman was sitting on the subway with a bag on the seat next to her. Her bag was leaking and seemed to have some sort of hole in it on the bottom. A young girl politely got the woman’s attention and notified her that there was liquid dripping out of the bottom of her bag. The woman looked down and was so thankful that the girl had called attention to the leak as the lid on her water bottle had apparently unscrewed and it was pouring all over the inside of her bag. What a nice interaction between the woman and girl! I enjoy watching such interactions because it really is the moments like these that remind me we don’t have to be afraid to help each other when we see that someone else needs help.

Comedy Show

I got to go to my second comedy show at The Stand in the Upper East Side of Manhattan! I went with a few other girlfriends and we got drinks and watched a two-hour show that flew by like it was only 15 minutes long. The opener for the guest comedians was a girl to whom I had listened on a podcast recently called “Girls Gotta Eat.” I loved seeing her in real life as I had just heard her voice before that. It is definitely a lot easier to form a picture of someone in your head when you have actually seen them in real life. After the comedy show ended, my girl group walked around the downtown area around the NYU buildings and popped into a couple of bars as we meandered about. All the interactions that I had with strangers that night were surprisingly positive! As we were waiting for a slice of pizza from a late-night pizza shop downtown, I was pointing out a sign on the wall of Arizona to my friends and must have been visibly excited about it because a few guys also waiting in line commented on it. They asked if I was from Arizona, to which I answered, “yes! It is my hooooome!” And that began a bit of a playful conversation with them as we waited for the pizza to be served.

A Touch Of History On Roosevelt Island

The Roosevelt tram has actually been functional for many many years but it was replaced by one that does not swing side to side as much as the original gondola-like carriage had. Apparently, when people used to ride the tram, it would swing back and forth in the wind––enough to actually hit the pole that was suspending the entire mechanism in the air over the flowing water. After riding the tram to Roosevelt Island, I realized that it did seem a lot smoother than it looked as I was boarding. I didn’t even have to hang onto the rails!

I believe that exploring Roosevelt Island is something that everyone in New York should try to do once while living in the city. The entire island has survived through so much traumatizing history, that though it may seem a bit haunted and scary at first, the island holds great value in learning from our past. It is amazing that such an island has become such a positive place after such a long gruesome history. My friend who lives on the island was kind enough to give me a tour of the entire piece of land, which only took a few hours to do, as the island is smaller than one may imagine.

At the end of the day, she and I biked back across the Queensborough bridge on rental bikes. I highly recommend getting an electric bike if you plan on biking across the bridge because it can feel like you are pedaling uphill nearly the entire way across. Or it could have been just my lack of physical fitness...But the gorgeous view of the entire east side of Manhattan was absolutely worth the burn in my calves.

People-Watching

I love that no matter where you are walking or what time you are walking in the city there is always a place to get food, there is always a place to meet people... there is just always a place.

Everyone has such adorable dogs in the city! It’s a different experience than when you are walking around more spread-out areas such as cities in Texas, Arizona, or California. In those cities, people have a huge range of dogs from tiny Chihuahuas to giant Great Danes. Everyone here has a small dog or a mini version of a bigger dog breed. The other day, I saw a mini Husky on the metro. The dog was so adorable and I honestly thought it looked cuter than if it had been full grown. It seems like the main reason for mini dogs is because people live in such small apartments here and it would be very cramped to have a full-sized dog sharing the small space. Just by walking down the street for a couple of blocks, I passed ten different dogs, each a slightly different mini version of the other. I even saw a small golden retriever… But maybe that was just a puppy. So many small fluffy dogs everywhere!

While walking around the city, there are so many hilarious and entertaining things that you see every minute of the day. I once watched a man spill his ice cream cone all over his shirt and then gasp and let out a huge sigh. Such a sad moment for him. But of course, his girlfriend and I thought it was hilarious! Poor guy was not having the best of moments…Despite his sincere frustration with his predicament, I had to muffle my giggle as I passed by the couple. I once saw another guy walking down the street looking very concentrated, holding a freshly iced chocolate cake... Uncovered, sitting on a round flat plate, with almost nothing stopping it from toppling over onto the ground at any moment of instability. It made me nervous just watching the trainwreck waiting to happen.

Even advertisements can be hilarious and bizarre and make you chuckle. Advertising seems to be very important in the city because of the overwhelming competition between restaurants and shops as the stream of people constantly flows by. I once saw an Indian food restaurant downtown lit up head to toe in lights, trying to be brighter and catch more peoples’ attention than the Indian food place literally two feet to the right of it. I also heard that the hosts of the two similar restaurants will literally pull in people casually walking by! Now, this sounds a bit ridiculous to me, but hey, maybe it has lead to either of their success. I wouldn’t recommend physically grabbing and pulling customers into your business though... But there are many places that have their advertising on point. I have seen many restaurants putting a sign out front naming the most popular dishes you can get at the place. I have also seen stores using enticing decorations outside the door to draw people in. But the most memorable advertising I have seen so far around the city have been the names of bars, themselves. They can just be so funny that you never forget them!

Graduate Classes Have Hit The Ground Running

Classes started a few weeks ago and I am so excited for the rest of this year! I have already challenged myself in my writing and understanding of journalism. The school has released a podcast called “How We Got Here” that covers the history of the US through many different topics such as racism, sexuality, class, and imperialism. This year is focused on the history that should always be included when working on a journalistic piece of writing. We all need to learn from the history of our wrongdoings in order to learn from them and create a better world for the future.

Too Good To Go

For an assignment in my audio recording class, I got to go out and try this new app that spread nationally in February of this year called Too Good To Go. It is a platform on which you can search different cafes, small restaurants, or markets in your area that are offering food for a discounted price. The app’s mission is to reduce the amount of food waste in the US by making it possible for restaurants to give away food at the end of the day that would otherwise just go into the trash. This way the restaurants don’t waste food, they still make a bit of profit, and you can find meals on a budget.

I reported about this app by going around for a day, finding all my meals on the app, and interviewing the servers at each of the restaurants I picked up my meals from. Each person was very friendly and gladly told me what they thought of the Too Good To Go app and how it has changed their business for the better. I also got to interview students at Columbia University and Barnard College to find out if they had heard of the app and what they thought of the concept. All the students I talked to thought it was a great idea, and one of the students actually downloaded the app right after we spoke about it!

Oktoberfest Celebration!

I got to meet up with my friend at this German restaurant downtown called Reichenbach Hall. I of course had to wear the blouse that I purchased in Hamburg last year as a traditional piece to wear while celebrating Oktoberfest. The blouse is blue and white and has puffed sleeves. I got to try the vegan wurst at the restaurant, which was very nice, but the most enjoyable part of the dish was the Rotkohl or red cabbage. It reminded me of the purple cabbage my host mom used to cook for my family in Belgium. It was always one of my favorite dishes that she would cook. With the memories of Belgium and Germany swirling around my mind and a few cocktails keeping me warm, it was a really great celebration of Oktoberfest and I am so glad I got to do it!

If you ever feel like you are losing faith in New York City, go and walk through Central Park. You’ll find your love for the city again. Also if you are looking for motivation to exercise, you’ll find it there.

Well, that’s it for the first month living in New York City! I hope you enjoyed hearing about it and look forward to reading the next blog about my second month in NYC!