It's Official I Must Be A NYC-centric If...

It was great to meet you yesterday, and I know that it's stilla short while but means a lot! I can't believe you David Lim! You expressed anxiety about not just whether Columbia was right for you, but if NYC was right for you, tsk tsk...shame on you and I can totally relate to that (even though I'm killing my ass here in da Burgh!)

Whenever I pass the Brooklyn Bridge and just step foot on Man' Island, I felt like my life was reaching this culturally-stagnant apex, and I was reallly looking for a more diverse and culturally rich next-phase-of-my-life, but then again I'm not in a position to transfer again, damn. For me, NYC happened to be the place, for you...well, that's a decision that you'll have to make. But I figured I would tell you the top 10 and crappy 10, and hopefully it will give you some perspective and bring you to tha dark side, you piece of pig. Let's start with the crappy first, and get it out of the way! OH-and these are in no particular order.

NYC CRAPPY 10:
1. Being surrounded by huge buildings and having to actively seek out the sunset.
2. Running and bumping into people all the time without so much as an excuse me (and after a while you find yourself not apologizing for your oafish behavior either).
3. Having to fork out 100-200 bucks for an air-conditioner, so that you can sleep at night during the month of August.
4. Having to take colder showers at night and position multiple fans on yourself at all times if you were too cheap, like me, to do #3.
5. Everytime you go out, you drop 20 bucks (whether you mean to or not). My old roommate called them "fun-tickets".
6. Having to deal with trains that don't run 100% perfectly when you depend on them, and you're late to an exam.
7. Having to invest in "winter clothes" (highly recommend a long puffy down coat or a cash/wool blend long trench, expect to drop in the neighborhood of 2/3-hund-o if you're a lady, don't know about guy's pricing).
8. Not being able to "escape it" as easily as you may want to.
9. Paying a stomach-unsettling amount of rent.
10. Adjusting to being far, far, far away from your family and friends.

Okay, now on to the reasons that make me proud to go home and brag to my friends about living in NYC before!!!

TOP 10 REASONS TO MOVE TO NYC THIS MAY:
1. Running or walking around the Jackie Onasis Reservior in Central Park at either sunrise or sunset-spectacular!
2. Going to Washington Squrare Park (down by NYU) and people watching on a Saturday (people actuallly push their dogs around in strollers).
3. Going to Coney Island, riding the Cyclone, and trying not to throw up your Nathan's hotdog.
4. Going out in the East Village/Lower East Side, staying out until 4 am, and then eating the best damn Falafel of your entire existance!
5. The Rub dance party that happens the first Saturday of every month at a venue in Park Slope, Brooklyn called Southpaw (I'm going tonight...so freakin' excited!)!
6. The day when someone asks you directions and you can actually help them!
7. Having access to pretty much anything 24 hours a day.
8. Not contributing to global warming (well as much) by riding public transportation.
9. Having access to the best music scene in the country (that's right Austin, TX and San Francisco and LA, what up now?!?).
10. okay...so one school related thing, but it's still NYC-centric, having access to seeing the coolest stuff ever because you'll be doing rotations in one of the best hospital systems in the nation, you fool. I can't get into the details because of patient-confidentiality, but trust me, some of you aren't even going to believe some of the crazy medical cases you're about to see! Only in New York City, you can't make this stuff up! I'm heading there again April 14, and you'll see what I mean!