New York, I Love You
My 10 weeks are nearly over and I will soon return home to Georgia. Time doesn’t seem to work the same in New York and I am still processing the fact my summer is almost over. My prior months of anxiously waiting to come to the city seemed to last ages compared to these past couple of months. I had my doubts about moving to a city I had never enjoyed visiting, a city where I knew no one. After making some of the best friends I’ve ever made and having some of the best times of my life, it’s fair to say that things turned out pretty well.
I’ll miss being able to walk wherever I want and to take the subway wherever I can’t walk to. I’ll miss Joe’s Pizza, which has fed me a disgusting amount of pizza. I’ll miss every single park I visited and all of the puppies I saw. I’ll miss people watching on literally any corner and encountering the strangest human beings I’ve ever seen. I’ll miss dodging cars and glaring at slow tourists. I’ll miss the gorgeous sunsets peeking between buildings. I’ll even miss feeling constantly drenched in sweat from the NYC humidity. I’ll miss it all.
After living my entire life in Georgia, spending the summer here felt like a bizarre fever dream, where anything could happen; where I could just stumble into places I would’ve never thought existed. I spent 8+ hours in an office featuring a Jar-Jar Binks shrine and a kitchen churning horrifyingly rich desserts out constantly. At the end of each workday, I ventured into a city filled with people and places that made my bizarre workplace seem tame. Although all of this variety has kept my life exciting, I’m definitely exhausted and ready to return back to Georgia to just rest and live with less stimulation for a while.
The hustle and bustle of the city always leave me exhausted so I’m unsure if I can ever live in Manhattan, but I’m not sure if that will keep me away. I have little control over where I’ll end up in a year since I will go wherever my first job takes me (whatever that may be), but I hope to return back, although maybe to a calmer borough. Right now, I can’t wait to go home, but I’m also aware that soon after leaving I will start to anxiously await the day I can return. Thank you, New York City, for so much. I love you.
Drops of the Week
where I *drop* recommendations of cool things this week
Article
“On Dollar Slices, Pizza Vectors, Prosciutto Zones and Topping Hyperspace” by Topos - this is a super fun read that really digs into pizza in New York and what different pizza places can tell use about the neighborhoods they are a part of.
Book
Sex Object by Jessica Valenti - I started listening to this memoir by a well-known feminist writer named Jessica Valenti. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but it’s a very intense read, underscoring the horrible occurrences that occur every single day to women throughout the country and how it represents a larger lack of respect for women in general. I haven’t finished it yet, largely because it’s disturbing and angering to confront the way things are.
Playlist
Nik@Nite - my friend Ore traded playlists with me last week, which is very on-brand with what I wrote about. After talking about how much I loved making playlists, it seems right that he shared me a playlist that was much better than any of the ones I’ve made lately.
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:~)
Love,
Nikhil