My New York

Considering that I was born and raised in Westchester County, I never seemed to really fit the status of a “New Yorker.” Ask any “true New Yorker” and they will tell you that where I live is upstate. I may only be a 50-minute train ride from the heart of Manhattan, but according to “New Yorkers” my hometown qualifies as “country.” For the first eighteen years of my life, New York City seemed to be this magical location, where everything glistened and shined. For most of my teen years, a trip to the city was a getaway from the sometimes humdrum lifestyle of home. Whenever I travelled into the city, I would hop aboard a Metro North train and be transported from the so-called “country” of “upstate” into this bustling, thriving metropolis of New York. The ride along the Hudson River journeyed through several small towns and then through the Bronx. The final leg of the trip was underground. The last ten minutes of the train ride is beneath the streets of New York. And once the train has been disembarked, everything changes and I entered my “New York.” I was not quite a commuter because I was never headed to work, but I was not a tourist either as I felt that New York City was too close to home to be considered a travel destination. Living in New York City is quite different from living in the suburbs. Over the past three months, my “New York” has transformed quite a bit. After moving to Brooklyn in August, I became a “New Yorker,” but there remained this tinge of foreignness. There is a divide between my home in Brooklyn and my home in Westchester. Over the past few months, I have acclimated to a New York lifestyle—learning the subway and bus routes, exploring the streets of the different boroughs. I have spent a lot of my time re-establishing my definition of New York. For me, it can be a place full of movement and progress, but it also holds a sense of confusion and puzzlement. My New York is ever changing and evolving. However, it has become my new home away from home and I’m still always looking for somewhere or someplace new to discover.

Even though I don’t think there is anyone out there looking for me, I’m still “Somewhere in Brooklyn.”

Somewhere in Brooklyn–Bruno Mars