On-The-Go Girl: NY

Three weeks out of my freshman year of college and it’s time to finally make my semester-long awaited move to the big city. Like interning at Standard & Poor’s in Manhattan doesn’t scream “wow!” enough, I flew JetBlue Airways from Boston To New York. Previously, I would’ve bought a last minute bus ticket and booked booked it to South Station or Chinatown with a face mask, just to later sink in my last row seat hoping the Fung Wah wouldn’t turn off the road (as it has on numerous occasions). But, life for me now is sunny side up this summer. Ive traded my face mask and hand sanitizer in for Blue Terra chips and a one-way Jet Blue Airways plane ticket to JFK International Airport. Blue loves you, baby? Despite the typical coach seat, who could complain? Flying to New York from Boston? That’s new. That’s fortunate. I asked a close friend of mine what his take on my flying to the city was. “High Maintenance?” I asked. In a less than usual sarcastic response, he responded “you’re fortunate, not high maintenance, unless you make it high maintenance”. I like that. Fortunate. Made me feel less like a spoiled brat. Just my luck.

Welcome to JFK International Airport. While driving on the highway, Brooklyn-bound, I stared out the window in amazement; like a true tourist with my mouth agape. Not that I haven’t been to the city before, but it always sends a chill and gives me goose bumps. It’s the lights, the traffic, the yellow taxi cabs, the boutiques lining each block, and the fast pace of those walking the crosswalks in such a hurry to get where they are going. Everyone seems to have a destination, one that I can only imagine to be well worth riding the crowded subway and walking multiple blocks to reach. Its gives you a thirst to venture out and become a part of such a buzzing and happening culture.

I kept replaying the virtual tour in my head (while crossing my fingers) hoping that the housing would not turn out to be just a figment of my imagination. $6,200 for the summer?! Must be modern. Most be fancy, flawless, fabulous! The Marilyn Munroe portrait decorating the walls of the lounge found in a thumbnail on the housing site seemed amazing. So classic. So chic. Just my style. It made “Educational Student Housing” sound less like the uptight well-off education environment one would assume, and more like a setting for diversity, personality, and charisma. However, the historical landmark of St. George Hotel was quite the eyesore upon pulling up to the entrance ( womp,womp), but hey, all buildings in NY are run-down on the outside, right? Wrong. I found myself enclosed by burnt orange, olive green, and mud brown walls as I searched for my room assignment. I pinched my eyes (and nose) as I slid my I.D card into the door. Instantly a massive cloud with lightning bolts and torrential rains formed above my head. My "champagne wishes and caviar dreams" were drenched; and it would take a full refund and a one-way back to Boston to wring them out. However, not wanting to let my “fortunate” compliment be replaced with “high maintenance”, I sucked it up, rolled up my sleeves, flipped the T.V to the R&B Hits channel and smeared my M.A.C lip gloss off to avoid collecting dust on my lips like a dryer filter. A couple of hours, candles, Lysol wipes, disinfecting spray, a chipped manicure and a loose hair wrap later, the clouds passed. The forecast was once again sunny side up.

Although the view in my room is no such entertainment, on the bright side, directly outside my window I have a more than incredible view of both the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge. As the sun set and the bridge lit up, as did my optimism. Baring the ultimate housing let down instead of fleeing home-sweet-home may just be the opportunity cost for an experience that is priceless. I wonder what the big city has in store for me. Maybe it will bring me that much closer to living my foolishly imagined glamorous New York city girl lifestyle. But until then, I am just another girl on the M.T.A.