Frequently I get asked the question "how do you like NY?" People ask the question heavy with anticipation, as though expecting an answer filled with great insight. Usually the answer is:
"It's hard"
"It's busy"
"It's fun"
"It's lonely"
"It's fascinating"
"It's expensive"
"It's the best city in the world"
All of these things are true.
But one of the things I feel about this place... is that it is not permanent. I've been here a year and I feel as though my time has an expiry date.
There is a song by Baz Lurhman which was a commencement address put to music. It says "Everyone should live in NY once but leave before it makes you hard. Everyone should live in LA once but leave before it makes you soft."
I like NY a lot. I am having interesting experiences. I'm meeting interesting people. I'm learning, growing and evolving. But I will reach a point when I'm ready to leave. I don't want to become hard.
1 comment:
I don't think NYC really makes you hard, I think it makes you open. Open to the different cultures, subcultures that make up NYC. Where else do you get 170 different languages spoken! I think as a New Yorker you get hard to accepting mediocrity/monoculture. Such as crappy restaurants or the blight of endless monoculture suburbs. Your post on not returning to Calgary suggests this. To me this does not make a NYC'er hard, just maybe demanding.
Post a Comment