One moment I am on campus at Lafayette College packing to go home for spring break, and the next I am taking a twelve-hour road trip to the next place I will call home. This past March, I moved from the bright lights and fast-paced lifestyle of New York City to the quiet suburban life of Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. Amid the budding pandemic and classes moving online, the world was completely transforming right under my nose, and I had one more big change to worry about. I learned to navigate not only a new town but also many new circumstances resulting from the pandemic worsening across America. Throughout my life, I have moved many times. However, this move was something that I had never before experienced. When I first heard the news that I would be moving away from New York City, I was excited to explore someplace new, but then I realized everything I would miss. Some of my friends said it was a “bummer” that I would be so far away. They were also extremely inquisitive about what Kentucky would be like. I was mostly fixated on how different Kentucky would be from The Big Apple.
New York can sometimes be overwhelming, but when living in New York City, you can’t help but feel like the most important person in the world. Even if you are just a small part of what makes New York City so special, there’s no place you’d rather be. New York City is the largest city in the United States but when you’re there, it doesn’t necessarily feel that way. Living there can also feel like a movie and a dream. When I lived in New York, I would walk a few blocks from my apartment and already be at The Met: the very place where stars from all over the world flooded the city on the first Monday in May every year, the same place which holds some of the greatest pieces of art in the city. New York is a non-stop spectacle. Walking into Times Square and looking up at the billboards and screens displaying everything from business ads to the newest Broadway musicals is a feeling of such exhilaration and astonishment which cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The art and culture of New York City are unparalleled. There is so much in one place. You can experience art, science, business, and so much culture. But what truly makes New York City incredible is the plenitude of diverse individuals all living together in one place.
Now suddenly, I find myself not only in quarantine — an experience unknown to all of us –but also having to adjust to a completely new place to live. In New York City, sirens used to be my lullabies, and the lights never went out. In my new home, I once again found out what it was like to be in the dark and experience quiet. But I surprisingly enjoyed the newfound time to think and the opportunity to adapt to a new school lifestyle without the rush and commotion I used to be a part of. Moving from state to state is not something new in my life. I’ve lived in several states across the United States and even in France and Switzerland, but I have never had to acclimate myself to a new environment without being able to explore it. For this reason, it almost felt like I hadn’t gone anywhere at all.