*Scroll to the bottom if you want to see the ten things I learned*
Originally written: June 5th, 2018
New York City - I am already in love! Where do I start?!
This first week has been exceptional. Every day has been filled with new experiences and already some stories and memories for the books. I could talk on and on about this week alone, but for your viewing pleasure I will bullet point 10 things I’ve noticed/learned in this first week here and give you a short blurb about my internship. (longer post about that coming soon!!)
enjoy xx
The First Week - A Journal Interpretation
I flew into LaGuardia, New York on May 29th and took an Uber to my dorm in Upper West Side, Manhattan. I checked in and, to my surprise, found that I would have not one but TWO roommates for the duration of the summer. I unpacked my stuff (which took like 20 minute because the room is extremely small) and went out to grab lunch. Quick rundown on our rooms: there are two twin size beds, three dressers, and three desks. A bathroom that has a toilet sink and shower/bathtub, a tv, and we rented a mini fridge and microwave. The closet is about a foot wide and three feet deep aka extremely narrow for three people. Can you tell I am salty?
Fast forward to my first day of internship (May 30th). I met my cohort (12 interns) and was introduced to the mentors that would be working with us. The next couple of days till Friday were a blur of gaining an understanding of our project/direction for our research. Then, Friday came. This was my payday, so I treated myself to a little shopping spree in Time Square. Around seven that day my friend, who is interning at Google, invited me to go to dinner with him and some of the other Google interns. My *new friends* alarm went off, and so of course, I went. I had previously met this friend at SXSW when I went with HBCU@SXSW. Linked here to apply: http://hbcuatsxsw.co (post about this program to come soon to a new tech portion of this blog) I found out he will be in NYC all summer!! This is why networking is so important people!! I went out with them and had a blast.
Saturday afternoon came and I decided to meet up with a friend from school. We had met before but never hung out, and it turned out we were both in NYC at the same time. So I caught up with him and his cousin, and we explored SOHO and grabbed a bite to eat at a Korean place! Later that night, I had plans to hang out with the Google intern group and see Amine in concert! That didn't happen though, because when Saturday night came around I went to meet up with a girl I met through the group and go together. Long story short, we ended up in Time Square at 1AM in the pouring rain (and no umbrellas, jackets or ANYTHING to cover our heads) and by 1:30AM we had realized we were in the WRONG location. At that point, I gave up the concert and walked my soaking wet body back to Manhattan.
Sunday was chill for one reason and one reason only. I have tendinitis. My sick old friend that haunted me through my track career has made a return. I got tendinitis on Thursday, after having a morning run, then walking 40 blocks to work and back all in one day. As you can see, I kind of deserved it. I was dumb for putting my feet through all that stress my first few days here and now I will probably be paying for it for the next month. I decided to take it easy Sunday in hopes it would help my foot but my pain has only gotten worse. I plan on seeing a podiatrist sometime in the next week. I did end up going to Shake Shack with my roommates and to the farmer's market that was down the street from me on this day. There was a lot of neat stuff and I almost bought a film camera. I keep telling myself I don't need a film camera but then I find myself browsing eBay at 2AM looking at fujis. That's beside the point…
Let's go to what I learned this week in good ole bullet point fashion.
10 THINGS I LEARNED MY FIRST WEEK IN NYC
Manhattan is EXPENSIVE. Don’t go to small groceries stores here because they jack up prices like no tomorrow
Don’t freaking walk everywhere you big dummy!! Your feet can’t handle it - Just don't do it!
Unlimited MetroCards are LIFE SAVERS
Bring an umbrella with you everywhere you go or be subjected to impromptu hat purchasing experiences
Pee before you leave home! Pee before you leave a restaurant! Pee before you have to go really bad and there are no stores with bathrooms around you!
Stand on the right, walk on the left
Scoot in as much as you can when on the Metro, think about if you wanted to get in and people were leaving a whole bunch of space for NOTHING
All those black women in Manhattan did not just unanimously decide to adopt a bunch of white babies. They are nannies. Duh
You will see more dogs in one day than you have in your entire life. This is how you know you are truly living the dream
If you're out at night, you're going to see rats. It’s inevitable, and they have really long tails
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