Pizza and New York City. The two are inseparable and one can hardly maneuver the streets without spotting a pizza parlor nearby. Such was the case I found myself in after seeing “The Humans” with my Arts in New York City class. I ate nothing before going to the show, and neither did my friends Mia, Brian, and Andrew so we were really craving something incredibly delicious. We walked a couple blocks, and searched for a cheap place to eat. Living on a college budget meant that we couldn’t dine at the tempting Shake Shack, or the many Zagat rated restaurants around us. Instead we settled on this unassuming, and ordinary looking 99 Cent Express Pizza place. We had all heard positive reviews from friends about NYC dollar pizza: cheap, tasty, and filling; now it was time to try it once for ourselves. Despite these promising claims, I wasn’t necessarily expecting much past the familiar tastes of mozzarella and tomato, or the sharp crispiness of a basic crust. Surprisingly, however, this night with dollar pizza and friends turned out to be one of my most memorable food experiences, as well as a big eyeopener. What led to this you might ask? Tabasco sauce. Yes, tabasco sauce, those tiny glass bottles you see at every table in gimmicky Mexican restaurants. But at 99 Cent Express Pizza, it came out of a large see-through plastic container situated on the countertop near the glass window of the restaurant. Curiosity persuaded me to pick up the out of place looking red bottle and drizzle droplets of the hot sauce on my just recently reheated 99 cent slice. And what I tasted was pure gastronomy. The contrasting taste of salty, sour, spicy, and even sweet bewildered me. Who would’ve thought that tabasco and dollar pizza would be a satisfying mouthful? Well, neither did my friends, because as soon as they tried the weird combo they were just as surprised as I was. To think that something taken for granted , as much as pizza in New York City I might add, could be redefined and reformulated  was a thought that shocked me and made me remember why I came to the city in the first place. This city is a melting pot, a tumultuous storm of ideas, dreams, and flavors. The seemingly contradictory can become the most harmonious. The way I see it, even people of color, different sexual orientations, and other minorities, who may have at first had an evil eye batted towards them, shouldn’t be seen as out of place. I came to this city in hopes that I would find my role in the clockwork of people and discover my purpose. In an unlikely allusion, just as how I never expected tabasco to go together with pizza, no one should ever assume someone is out of place because the way a person fits into society isn’t written in stone. This memorable experience brought me to believe that my next four years in this wonderful city would be filled with just as many more surprises.

After that experience with NYC dollar pizza, I find myself thankful for being able to live in a place where anything is possible, and my future is still unwritten. Uncertainty may seem to be a scary presence in my life, but until my story is written I embrace with my arm wide open.