The View from the Moon

Finally! After, eh… TWO WHOLE WEEKS of planning, I arrived in ol’ New York, the city that calls to me. Dirty, loud, busy, crowded… yet, wonderful in itself. Exciting the subway into the city always feels like entering a room with 20 stereos blasting off different sounds and music at the same time. Yet, once you settle into the noise, you find each song to be beautiful, though maybe broken, in its own.

I feel an attachment to this city, not for the fame it could provide, which holds no interest to me, but for the city in itself. As I walked past the lovely, yet touristy, Time Square I thought… “New York, you’re going to roughen me up. I gotta be tough to make it here, but I think I need a little roughing around the edges.”

It’s been less than two days, but already the word ‘epic’ is describing to travels. It’s as if the city is receiving me, allowing me to enter its jungle, like a welcoming of sorts. One thing I learned after living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is that the observing artist must build a relationship with the city he inhabits. NYC might be… overwhelming at times for this Caribbean girl, but that doesn’t make it any less magnetic. 

Now, I must say, people always say New Yorkers are terrible people, and, granted, I’ve had my little share of bad run-ins with some in earlier trips. But so far, I’ve only been experiencing some wonderful acts of help and kindness by them. I even made a new friend on the PATH train! A Chinese girl, here in NYC doing her M.A. complimented my bowler hat and we then had the loveliest conversation about our cultures and homeland. Now my Facebook friend, we plan to meet again in the city before I leave. 

So, for now New York is playing nice. I expect more highs and some lows, too. More than anything, I expect growth. Will the city become my home away from home? Let’s see how my feelings change, or grow, after two weeks.