About an hour ago I sat down and began to write this week’s Rachel and The City with a quaint description about how I was “currently sitting in Washington Square Park and witnessing all walks of life around me as I quietly sat on a bench breathing in the air of the best city on Earth.” That was before I found out my very first article I wrote for my magazine internship had been published on their website. So what better way to celebrate on my day off than… [spoiler alert: The answer is Mexican food. The answer is always Mexican food].
It has been Rachel and The City for the past two weeks now. I have successfully navigated my way through the subway system, read for three hours in Central Park, and so much more. It’s just a bit different than the Tallahassee vibe that I’m used to during the fall and spring. Currently, it’s one in the afternoon and I’m sitting in the loudest Mexican restaurant that I’ve ever been in with margarita-sipping, vibrant New Yorkers. Sounds like the perfect place to write, huh?
My view in Central Park
Every time I would visit New York over the years, I’d get a feeling of validity in my gut, a feeling I have never experienced anywhere else– not my home in South Florida, not Tallahassee, nowhere else but here. I first felt it in 2008 at the age of 13. I knew someday I would call Manhattan my home. Who knew that six years later it would actually happen?! The NYU dorms may not be my permanent residence (and thank goodness for that), but it’s my home for the summer and I’ve never felt more at home in my entire life.
The past two weeks have been filled with an endless pattern of work, eat, shower, repeat and on the weekends my friend and I explore this amazing city together. When you’re living here you don’t have time to constantly go from one place to the other like you would if you were here on vacation, but it makes the wait for the weekends so worthwhile. I’m excited to share my journey with you throughout the summer as I navigate through the concrete jungle. I will be back in two weeks with my photos and finds as I experience all the city has to offer, but for now I’m going to relax and enjoy this Mexican food!
My walk home from work