Hasta luego, Nueva York.

For two years I have been calling New York City home, but after today it will be another place on a list of locations I have called home.  It’s in good company too: Lima, Peru; rural Arizona; rural Tennessee; rural Wisconsin; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Rome, Italy; and London England.  Ok so maybe four of those aren’t way exciting, but nonetheless, it’s a good list.  However, New York has definitely been the most rewarding places I’ve called home.  That may or may not be a fair assessment since in all the other locations I’ve lived I have been a student, but I can’t imagine having a more challenging experience anywhere else in the United States.  New York City is a hard place to live, if not one of the hardest places to make it in the developed world.  It’s expensive, crowded, competitive, unforgiving, rude, dirty, and is home to the smartest people in this country.  If you live in this city and are surviving, you should be extremely proud of that accomplishment, and for two years I could say that and take pride in it.  The challenges I’ve dealt with living here have allegedly made me more mature, according to a person who met me when I first moved here and we recently worked together again this month.  And hopefully I can be a testament to the platitude; “If you can make it in NYC you can make it anywhere.”

Its always sad to say goodbye to a city you love and friends, but I won’t be able to forget my time in NYC, with all the different (sometimes crazy and neurotic) people I’ve met here and everything I’ve experienced.  I will miss my corner bodega, my subway station, seeing the Empire State building every morning then turning my head to check for traffic and seeing Yankee Stadium, going to Little Italy and pretending to be part of the Corleone family, being trendy in Soho, bashing New Jersey, Kennedy Fried Chicken, celebrity sightings, riding the elevator to my office with Marc Jacobs employees and feeling like I bought my clothes at the toilet store, the mariachi band on the 4/5/6 train, last call at 4 a.m., staying out all night until the trains are running on a regular schedule the following morning, avoiding Times Square, cursing when forced to go to Times Square, and hearing everyone complain about the city despite it being one of the most loved and admired cities in the world.

Finally, two years ago in London I saw an exhibit at the Tate Modern about the rapid increase in urban populations around the globe, and it pointed out that 14 people move to New York City a day.  14 new people competing for jobs, apartments, and queuing up for a slice of pizza at Grimaldi’s in DUMBO, every day, not to mention all the tourists and commuters.  I was excited to be one of many fresh faces in the city, and now excited, but a bit disappointed, to be one of the many that leave the city every day.

- MRP

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