The arrival: From West to East
“Hello Upper East siders” was one of the few thing that crossed my mind when I was moving to New York City. I couldn’t believe I was going to live “the gossip girl/ sex and the city life” (or that’s what at least I wanted to). Fortunately it wasn’t like that at all… People paint out the city too pretty… and don’t show off the dirty deets. It sound like I had no idea what I was getting into, but hey! don’t judge me… luckily I come from the West Coast, the chillest place ever, and don’t have to struggle with long-ass, cold as hell weather nor stuffed train commutes.
It was mid January of 2017, a “cold” day for San Diegans, and I was about to head to the coldest thunderstorm yet on the east coast. Hopped on a plane with my sister with overweight extra luggage of course, and two movies later, I was nervously arriving to JFK terminal. By five in the morning, we were arriving at my apartment in Williamsburg Brooklyn. It was quite a mission moving a bedding from one room to another at that time of the day. Anyway, we managed to sorta put some stuff together in order to go shopping later on that morning for the rest of my new room. Oh forgot to mention that I realized that my wallet was missing - it turned our that I have left it in San Diego… too little to late to go back. Fortunately my sister didn’t lose hers, so I got to do a little damage on her credit cards before mine arrived via Fedex the next day.
A week in, we managed to build a room for myself that quite expressed who I am; and obviously with a bit of a budget and dimension constraints. We had some laughs sorting and finding a better fit for every piece of furniture - sorta like playing live Tetris, but including heavy lifting.
Apart from getting my room ready, we had quite a lovely sister-sister time. We walked the city, “that’s the best way you’ll get to get around and know the city” - she said. We dined here and there, but mostly, she made me recon the incredible and lively city she lived in once not too long ago. With tremendous gratitude, I thank her for showing me and getting a taste of the city that I would soon call home - though not for long.