1st WEEK IN NYC

My metro card told me I wasn’t from New York.

I had just swiped my card in the underground and proceeded to walk through the barrier, but it stayed locked in place.

The barrier read “Too Slow”.

I had swiped my metro card too slowly for comprehension.

With several impatient New Yorkers piling up behind me, I quickly sliced my metro card through the reader and walked through the barrier as a born again New Yorker.

It’s been one week since I landed in New York. My place starts with a traditional brownstone walk up and 3 creaky flights of stairs spiraling towards my white walled, parquetted 1-bedroom with views of the city.

I spent the first 5 days exclusively enjoying New York’s company. I wanted to make sure I had this time to myself. Sitting on the stoop of my walk up, waking up at 7 am to explore restaurants and primarily musing over my state of happiness and people I surround myself with.

Before planning my trip to New York, I felt a level of complacency which steeped into my life and which I was unhappy about. I needed something to physically shake me like a rag doll rattled by a child. 

And so, I dropped myself in a new environment and, to further tackle my aversion to change, I chopped 25 centimeters off my previously long hair. (Check out my Instagram Story Highlights titled CHANGE for the video)

It was only yesterday when I started inviting work and socializing into my New York experience. My photography internship began with an orientation and prep for our cookbook shoot on Monday and I began accepting dinner invitations from friends of friends.

In terms of New York, it’s so grand. I pay attention to older structures to understand how grand a city was before the age of skyscrapers.  Next to the East River (between Manhattan and Brooklyn), an abandoned redbrick factory stands several floors high and lengths wide.  And across the factory stretches Williamsburg Bridge built in the late 1800’s with bolts as big as tires and cables as thick as can be. If I’m impressed by these now, I can only imagine what people thought 100 and something years ago.

I’ll leave you with some textures of Brooklyn, New York.

Location: Brooklyn, New York