Inaugural Visit to New York, New York

New York, New York.

Such a loaded phrase. I recall watching "Silence of the Lambs" for the first time and having so many preconceptions, knowing so many plot details from endless pop culture references ("It puts the lotion on the skin," "Hello Clarisse"), and hearing it was one of the greatest movies ever so many times that it was nearly impossible for it to live up to the hype. I still loved the movie, but I felt a bit cheated and wished I'd been able to experience it all freshly. Now this analogy doesn't perfectly carry over to New York, but there was a certain deja vu about the whole visit from the familiar movies, TV shows, etc. that made my visit surreally impossible consider I'd never been there before.

First of all, flying Virgin America was the right call. Cheapest, great in-flight entertainment options, ability to order drinks through the monitor, and very attentive flight-attendants. I got in to NY on Friday night and it was super rainy, leaving me without the ability to check out the city as I rode in. Friday night was spent playing beer pong at Colombia, which was a lot of fun, followed by an inebriated taxi ride back to Brooklyn.

On Saturday, it was still rainy, so I spent the day going to the museums. I saw the Met, which I absolutely loved. The collection of Cezanne, Rembrandt, Matisse, Seurat, Monet, etc. was exactly what I wanted to see. Relative to the Louvre or the Museo Del Prado, which were impressive but too esoteric for me to really say I loved (I liked Musee de Orsay and Museo Reina Sofia much much more), the Met was a truly great experience. Also checked out the Jack Kerouac exhibit at the public library, which was also incredible. Saturday night, I went out New York style. We had a delicious dinner (although NY restaurants are way more cramped than LA) at Crispo (sitting next to Molly Shannon weirdly) and then went out to a bar and eventually Club 205. I really liked the scene in New York, although I think everything in New York is more expensive than LA (except cabs). The food throughout the weekend was incredible. New York pizza, Chinese, Italian, everything I ate was delicious.

Sunday was my day to walk around and enjoy the sun. It was finally beautiful weather (although 28 degrees in temperature) and I saw Times Square, Central Park, Ground Zero, the Statue of Liberty, Soho, and got to walk around a lot. I loved it. Sunday night was more laid back, spending the night in Columbia playing too much Smash Brothers (but in a good way). Although due to some questionable travel advice on the subway, I had to walk through Spanish Harlem with my luggage, which scared the bejeezus out of me. It wasn't as bad as it could have been or as my imaginary fears, but it was a stupid position to put myself into. On Monday, I went into our New York office (in the middle of Times Square right in front of where the bombing was last week) and saw a bunch of people I'd missed throughout the weekend.

Overall impressions: New York, despite being eerily familiar with the types of buildings and layout of the city from pop culture, must be experienced to be known. I certainly could not have anticipated just how sprawling, how large, or how intimidating the city really can be. There is so much to do and so much to see, I almost immediately understood how different it was from LA but how those two were the singular rivals for the greatest city in the union. It is literally teeming with culture and diversity, it was pretty incredible to behold. And, relative to LA, is much, much more concentrated. An apartment like mine would be completely unaffordable to almost anyone in NY. It was a great experience to not only see a bunch of my friends but to get to know a new city, which has become one of my favorite past times.

That said, I failed to own New York. I know how cocky that sounds, but on my travels through Europe my friend Jenna never even picked up a map or had a watch. I figured out the subways, I figured out how to get where we were going, and I had figured out every city we stayed in pretty well by the time we left. It's tough to do that in New York in 3 1/2 days, but it should have/could have been done. As a result of being passed from place to place and person to person in my weekend of couch-hopping, I never had to navigate the city myself (except that unfortunate experience in Harlem, but that gave me more confidence if anything) or move outside of my comfort zone. Things are a lot easier when you have a veteran of the city in your pocket all the time. But I really regret never gaining this independence (and packing too much) and these are things I would change big time the next time I go to New York. One bag, period, and much more self-reliance.

Would I want to live in New York? Tricky question. The answer is yes, but not indefinitely. While I did really enjoy myself, I really missed the open space of Los Angeles, having a car, the weather (God does NY weather suck), the beach, proximity to the family, etc. So I would love to live in NY for 6 months, go to school there for a few years, but not indefinitely. I couldn't settle down in NY. LA is my type of city.