Day 4 (8/18/2016)
Did you know that adults have to wake up at reasonable hours in the morning? I knew this, but I tried not to accept it.
I woke up at 9 (I know, that's still not early) and wrote some, then I decided to explore some more. I got all cleaned up and headed for the subway. I was struggling to fill my metro card yesterday and that's literally the worst problem you can have. No money on you metro card? No subway. FINALLY I got it to work and I now have unlimited rides for a week. I headed to Williamsburg and my god is it similar to Portland.
Man buns, big beards, James Dean glasses, chai everything, poster graffiti, band t-shirts, all of it. There was significantly less people on the streets than there were in Manhattan, but that was expected. My goal for the morning was to stay out of Brooklyn for at least an hour, and also go inside a mall, coffee shop, or boutique. Well... since this place was so similar to Portland and since Portlanders are all about their coffee, I decided to find a coffee shop. Now, the only coffee I drink is from Java Crew or from my parents' Keurig. New York has neither of those. Obviously. I settled for an iced latte and took a seat. The drink wasn't bad after it was mixed up (before that I wanted to gag).
I sat at a table inside and watched as people walked by.
It seems like 50% of the population here smokes cigarettes be it in Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Manhattan, any of them. I'm so used to the organic ways of Oregon that I forget people here don't recycle, they double bag plastic bags, and they smoke on the regular (not everyone, but more than I'm used to).
Another thing that (literally) jumped out at me was the driving. Everyone knows that the driving in New York is crazy but I think it's still under estimated.
Cars have the right of way in New York, not pedestrians. If a car is turning as you're about to start crossing you have to wait for them. Also if you're already in the middle of the crosswalk, they don't care! They'll zoom past you with only inches to spare. Today I watched a woman cross the street with two children by her side as a car came through the crosswalk -- if there is someone in the street legally crossing, then the driver needs to stop -- but that doesn't mean they do. The woman quickly shuffled her children and herself to safety, but even other walkers saw the danger in that moment. To my surprise, as I was half way through the crosswalk, a large SUV came screeching into the large white lines.... That's not the surprising part. The surprising part was that he actually waved and apologized after he saw me.
When crossing a street you either see the red hand and wait, or you see the white walker (Game of Thrones reference) and cross the street. Not here! The hand is red, but no cars are coming? Cross! The hand is red and cars are coming but there might be time to run by? Cross! Honestly it's more convenient this way. The lights take forever to change here because there aren't just 4 way intersections, there's often 5 and 6 way intersections as well.
For some reason whilst in that coffee shop in Williamsburg, a thought hit me. A thought that has a lot of potential to change the course I'm on. In the 7th grade when I decided I wanted to move to New York, it was for the fame and fortune. As I've grown somewhat older I've realized that I don't want fame and fortune. I want success and stories. I want to be able to support myself and my crazy ideas (like moving to New York 8 weeks after graduating from high school) while being financially stable, but not stuck in a 9-5. I know that's potentially a hard thing to achieve, but come on! It's 2016 for goodness sake. People get paid to do all kinds of stuff. Being a realtor is always an option, no matter where I'm living.... but being a writer is always an option especially where I'm living. Starting a career in writing will take time, practice, effort, and struggle. However, I'm not afraid of those things since it's for something I'm passionate about.
I want to be able to live with my best friend Emma next year, and I want to be able to get a 4 year degree in yet a different state. I'm going to stick with my marketing/business m
ajor because I'll have to market myself and sell my ideas, but I'll need some more background in writing and production.
I still have bit of time to work out the next few stages in my life, but I'm more excited now than I've ever been before.
When I got back home from my Williamsburg adventure a UPS man rang me from downstairs. My mom had sent me a night stand. The instructions were easy, the pieces were all there, but the screw driver was not. I was putting this freaking thing together using a metal nail file until 30 minutes later I struck genius and asked Emily if there was a screw driver in the apartment.... and of course there was. So I got smart and used the proper tools to finish the job.
3 days ago I was certain that I'd never adjust and that I'd hate living here for the next 10 months. I questioned whether or not I had just made the biggest mistake of my life. I may have jumped the shark a bit on that one. However, after exploring Brooklyn, the subway, Manhattan, coffee shops, Williamsburg, and more restaurants I feel confident in the fact that this was not the worst decision of my life but the first of many amazing ones. There's still so much to learn and to get used to, but as of today I'm confident in the fact that I'll feel like a New Yorker in no time.