So I’ve been gone for a while. Sorry about that. Hope you didn’t miss me too much. Unfortunately my absence isn’t because I was on some 4-week vacation in Italy…that vacation was two years ago. Technically it was 3.5 weeks, 1.5 of which were spent in Amsterdam, Bruges, & Paris, 2 in Italy. One snapshot of me at the villa we stayed at near Perugia (the same city that whole Amanda Knox debacle happened) below. I’d go into more detail but I’m pretty sure if I keep writing, I’m going to have some haters rather than followers.
Two years? Considering I moved to New York roughly three days after I got back from that vacation, it also means that I’m about to have my two-year anniversary in the Big Apple (Side note: WHY is New York called ‘The Big Apple’? Does anybody know?) Time flies when you’re having fun. Several months before I moved here, I remember coming into the city from suburban Philadelphia with my dad and sister. We made the big (2 hours door-to-door via NJ Transit) trip for a Syracuse U basketball game at MSG (GO ORANGE!). I walked out onto Seventh Avenue from Penn Station, breathed in the New York air (which may or may not kill me someday) and felt the energy. In hindsight, that energy is the energy of midtown Manhattan, the energy that I now try to avoid on a day-to-day basis. As a New Yorker, I’m stressed enough. The last thing I need is to walk directly through Times or Herald Square…
It took a lot of courage for me to move here, and it takes courage every day to stay here. I left all of my college friends who were still in DC. It broke my heart a little bit to leave them, to leave all that I had known for the past 5+ years. But as they say, “With Great Risk Comes Great Reward.” The risk is paying off in more ways than not. On a day-to-day basis, I think most New Yorkers think of the high rent, $6 cereal, $6 FroYo, 4-5 flights of stairs they have to walk up to get to their apartment, steamy summer subway system (say that 5 times fast) and claustrophobic grocery/shopping trips. I think about those things. All. The. Time. Sure they equal up to plenty of ‘I hate NY’ moments. What keeps us here? The ‘I <3 NY’ moments, of course. Some of these moments are tangible, some are not. The tangible… The opportunities are endless. From food, to jobs (types, not necessarily numbers these days unfortunately), to being able to rent dogs in Central Park. I kid you not, you can do this. The intangible… Feeling like you can handle anything. Feeling like you can take on the world. After ‘starting over’ in a place like New York, I feel like I could start over anywhere. I don’t know that I’ll be here forever (in theory, I would like to BUY property someday), but I am so grateful to have had the chance to live here. Whatever your potential risk is, don’t be afraid to take it. It just may land you in a world of renting dogs in a beautiful 843-acre park, or on the set of a reality cooking competition (sister shout-out), or more normal things like starting that blog you always wanted to start or working your dream job. Ya never know…
umm you can rent a dog?? that’s AWESOME!! and welcome back
you were missed!