...Hello, New York!

It's taken me awhile to get time type this with how cuckoo-bananas the move has been (and also because the room I'm staying in for the week doesn't have wifi) but I've made it! I'm here! Living in New York City!


Granted, I haven't had a chance to see almost anything I wanted to see yet. Between apartment viewings, getting my bank account changed to show I'm a New York resident, registering to vote as a New Yorker, and figuring out the subway (did you know there's no direct line between Brooklyn and Queens, and you have to go through Manhattan? Apparently it's been a thing for awhile...), it's been one hell of a trip.

And aside from some minor setbacks - like there being a delay in my first flight which left me with less than ten minutes to basically just book it through the L.A. airport, or like me being unaware my airbnb room was a shared room until my roommate walked in (talk about awkward) - it's been really great so far. I mean, I'm tired. I'm tired. But I'm enjoying myself. I think I'm really gonna do well here once I get settled. And honestly? I'm still in shock I did this at all. This is probably the bravest thing I've ever had to do, but at the end of it all, I fucking did it. I had a dream and I followed through with it. I escaped all that was toxic for me back in California and I made it.

So far? Here is what I've learned about New York over the last two days:

• People here are very friendly! Everyone back home said New Yorkers are rude, but that hasn't been my experience at all. Everyone I've spoken to has been super friendly and helpful.
• If you walk fast and don't look up at the building, people will assume you are a local and ask you for directions. I was tickled when this happened to me in Queens. Thank god I had just passed where they wanted to go.
• Sometimes the buildings drip water onto you. I don't know if this is from rain or what.
• There are a lot of Jewish people here. I was unprepared for just how many. I mean, it's thrilling, because it means I don't have to be the token Jewish person! The neighbourhood I'm staying in has a mainly orthodox Jewish population, so half the signs are in Hebrew and the cafe down the street wasn't open because of Shabbat, but for me it's actually a good thing? Idk it's hard to explain this one, but it's validating to walk down the street and have an elderly man with curly sideburns yell out "Shabbat Shalom!" at me.
• Movies and TV don't do the skyline justice at all. At night, it looks as if someone took all the stars out of the sky and threw them on the buildings instead. They left the moon up there, though, much to my relief.
• It's really not as expensive as you'd think.
• SUBWAY PERFORMERS! I was "warned" about this via travel guidebooks, who seem to think this is some kind of nuisance??? I saw my first subway performance yesterday and tbh I loved these guys. They were very talented. It must take a lot of core strength to balance and do tricks on poles in a moving train. It was a lot of fun and I don't know if I will ever become jaded enough not to enjoy it.
• It's really hard to find a public bathroom.

 The learning curve is really sharp here, but I think if I can stay ahead of it, I'll thrive here.

But the best part is still being near Sarah.

-Nym