That time I went to New York

Prompt: In honor of the 100th anniversary on February 1 of New York City's famed Grand Central Station, write an essay about a time in your life when you travelled—it could be daily travel, such as the commute to and from a job; seasonal travel, such as heading to a beach community every summer; or a vacation, such as a trip to a foreign country. Focus on what compelled you to go and the transition of leaving one place and arriving in another.

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The summer before my sophomore year of college I hopped on a bus at Boston's South station and headed to the City that Never Sleeps.

I feel like a trip to New York City is a certain rite of passage for all college students in the Northeast. This would be my second time ever going to the city but my first going by myself. I had told myself that before I graduated college, I needed to do this trip. In high school when I still wanted to work in fashion, I remember not being able to wait until I got my chance to go back to New York. It seemed so much more glamorous than Boston and one of my close friends had made it sound like magical every time she told me about her trips there. Not to mention Gossip Girl was filmed there as was Breakfast at Tiffany's; the city had a special kind of allure that can't be ignored.

So, I left my dorm at precisely 6:30AM to get on a train to South Station. From there, I boarded a bus that would take me into the heart of downtown Manhattan. Gatsby in hand, I watched the endless road that passed us by from my window seat. I wasn't quite sure of what things would be like but I was excited to find out. 

As I got off the bus, I remember feeling like it was the most adult thing I had done to date. After assuring my mother that I had indeed reached the city and not died in a ditch on the side of the road, I basically had the freedom to do...whatever I wanted to. That freedom was kind of glorious. 

I ended up meeting up with a friend later that day who introduced me to the Shake Shack and then I took my first ride on the New York subway as I headed to the Lower East Side to meet my roommate with whom I was staying the weekend. We ended up walking around for a bit before heading to K-Town for Korean BBQ and froyo. I spent most of my time in the city eating Asian things and shopping though I did manage to fulfill one my dreams of finally going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art(I think my art nerd is showing a little). I stayed in the city for about 2.5 days, so my faithful roomie took me on a whirlwind tour of the area. To be honest, it's a little bit of a blur but I know that in one day we hit 4 of the boroughs which was pretty cool. 

Actual pic from the trip

I've been separated from the experience by a bit of time so I have forgotten some of the particulars of the trip. However,  I think I can sum up my impressions of the city thusly:

1) Wow, everything is open so late! There are trains running past 1:30AM? I can buy myself a cake at 3AM if I wanted? What is this madness?

2) Everyone dresses so chic-ly here; I see no Harvard sweatshirts or Sperry Topsiders so I know I'm definitely not in Boston anymore. 

3) Even the men dress better than I do. What up with that? (though I was informed that was just a product of us being in K-town)

4)  How do people have money left over for food if we keep taking the train so often?

5) Why are there so many people around me right now? I would really prefer that there weren't.

I definitely had a lot of fun that weekend and even though I haven't gone back since then, I definitely could see myself visiting again in the future. In many ways, the New York was much more the prototypical American city than Boston is. All the buildings were taller and shinier, the people moved faster and dressed better and there were exponentially more different types of ethnic cooking. I think if I ever decided that I didn't want to be found, New York would be the perfect place to disappear for awhile.  However, I think I've gotten way too attached to Boston to really want to move there without the incentive of a job/school. But it's not your fault, New York-you put up a good fight but nothing compares to my hometown, the City of Champions. ;)

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Author's note: I am incredibly tired right now an am writing this because I told myself that I wasn't allowed to go to sleep unless I posted something....so it goes.