180 Days in NYC

I'm officially the worst blogger EVER! It's very easy to get caught up in the city- early morning work outs and late nights or working late or happy hours.... The city never sleeps and by city I mean people and by people I mean me. It's busy and fun and I love the city! The first day of slushy snow was Halloween weekend. I thought it would be such a great feeling to see the snow in the city. It was far from pretty. It was slushy and rainy and gross and my immediate reaction... tears. That's right, just a sob story. I'm not sure if I was homesick or tired or just dreading the thought of snow in OCTOBER, but I just cried. Luckily, I had flowers to brighten up my day! Although the "winter" started off rocky, it went on to be a great Halloween weekend and a wonderful winter. It's been really warm for a typical winter and I've been able to run outside a lot, which is really nice!

So much has happened since my last post... I'm officially a marathoner now and it feels great. Potentially running the New York City Marathon this fall so I'm looking forward to that opportunity. As far as events, there were Christmas parties, birthday parties, concerts, and even a Santa party. NYC has "benefit" party every year called Santacon. On the day of Santacon, lots of young people dress up like Santa and raid the streets of New York. As the day goes on, Santas saturate the city and people are amazed. As a participant in Santacon, I have to say, it's insane. Even with a 10 a.m. start, Santacon lasts well into the evening. Cab drivers intentionally passed by the Santa's that needed a ride and my roommate even spotted a Santa or two walking into the New York Downtown hospital- it was absolutely ridiculous and amazing. This is much like the "no pants subway ride day"- an event that I stayed VERY far away from.. but I heard it's insane. It's exactly what you think, people take off their pants and ride the subway. Very strange.

A couple of interesting things I've noticed about the city: 1- dogs are so much cuter walking on the sidewalks of New York than they have ever been back home 2- children are a rare sight.. if you stay away from touristy areas, you never see children... on the way to work, in the gym, at dinner.. where are all the children? When I see a child on the subway it is SO exciting.. generally it's a toddler that is asking "daddy, are we the next stop?" .. it's adorable. Of course the whole time I'm wondering why a child is on the subway at 8 a.m. but it's cute. 3- the youtube video "sh*t New Yorkers say" is 100% true. 4- almost everyone really is in fashion or finance (except me and my boyfriend- we're normal).

I love this city!! It has been a great experience so far and I'm excited to see what lies ahead! I do feel obligated to say at this point, it really is true that you can take the girl out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the girl. I only get maximum of 30 seconds when I meet someone new before I'm asked "wait, where are you from?"... It's strangely flattering that so many people love the accent- what "they" don't understand though, they are the ones with the accent! City slickers.

26 Days in NYC

It's officially my 26th day in the city and it has been incredible. Slowly but surely getting settled in! It's so strange how things work. In Mississippi, you simply pick out what you want at a furniture store and you call your dad or some guy you know with a truck and they pick it up for you. People here don't have cars and the few people that do have cars have exactly that... a car not a truck. In NYC I learned that most furniture is made specifically to fit in elevators and that you have to coordinate a time to use the service elevator and the list goes on.. it's different.. and for work, girls have 2 pair of shoes for the day: 1 pair for walking and then a pair to wear at work... and there is talk about rain boots and snow boots... I've never even seen a pair of snow boots. As far as clothing goes, word on the street is that I need a jacket. Not a pea coat, but a fluffy, down, sleepingbagish, long jacket.... I can't wait for that! SIKE! Then there is the gym... the nice gym or the regular gym and the specific location pass or the city-wide pass so that you can go to any location? There are so many things that I have never even thought about, so it's different, but it's nice. It's nice having thousands of restaurants and stores to go to and living in a city with 8 million people and not having a car and it still only takes 15 minutes to get to work. It's mind boggling and it has been tiring, but it's been better than I could have ever imagined and I am so thankful for the opportunity to live here!!

As far as my apartment goes... I love it!! It's really nice and it's spacious and it's new (all of which I am still very surprised by) and my roommates are great!  I love the area I live in and the running has been great along the East River and Hudson River. Luckily, it's still pretty warm outside so the shopping and running have not suffered. I have already made great friends here in the city and I am looking forward to all of my adventures to come!

Moving Day

Today started bright and early at 4:00am packing the last minute items in my carry on bag. Off to New Orleans for my flight and will say goodbye to the South and my parents ... This time it's not study abroad or a vacation, it's real life! Today is an exciting and scary day for me, as I know today starts the beginning of a new chapter in my life, very far from home. Above all other emotions today, I am thankful for all the supportive people in my life. In just a few hours I'll be a resident of Manhattan!