Reflections on my Trip to NYC...

So I recently, spontaneously, and last-minutey, went down to NYC this past weekend for a mini-highschool re-union.

I'll touch on a few personal thoughts before getting into what I thought of NYC:

Highschool dynamics

The night before I left I found myself, gnawing at the knot of excitement in the pit of my stomach, wondering how it would be with a group of us back together again. In the 6 years since I graduated I have only seen a couple of friends here and there. I was wondering if we would return to the same idiosyncratic and insecure relationships that dog all highschools, or if our new found maturation due to university degrees and life experience and now being at the baby steps of our careers, would make things really different.

What I found was that everyone was more mature and therefore was able to get along better. But at the same time, in some ways everyone returned to the roles they had in highschool as well.

Anyways, it was absolutely fantastic seeing everyone, and when I head to London either next year or the year after, I look forward to being able to see even more old friends then.



Observations of NYC

1) NYC is its own world. You really feel it when you are there. You could easily spend your entire life living there, without ever leaving the vast expanse of urban jungle that is the city.

2) Artistic. NYC is so artistic, in fact, I have to say that it REALLY reminds me of Montreal in the variety of styles that you see on the streets, the variety of bars that one can go to, the existence of parties all over the city at any hour, on any day of the week and the possibility of seeing the most random thing on any occasion (ie. someone walking down the sidewalk in their underwear in the middle of the day).

Of course, its all of that in Montreal X 50 and you get something closer to NY. But the similarites are really there.

3) Nice. People are very nice contrary to the bad rap that New Yorkers seem to get. I found everyone really friendly and nice and even somewhat helpful.

4) Wealth and inequality. New York is THE place to be for the elite and those aspiring to be the elite in the US. And you can feel it. The first night I was there I went to a bar/lounge which charged around 12 dollars per drink. You can find these places in Montreal and other big cities, the difference is that there, the clientele will be young professionals, and the average age probably be closer to 30. This place didnt have a person over 24 I don't think. The majority of them were students who were all still in school. I felt like I was in an alternate reality of some kind.

At the same time, you also have Harlem and Queens and other unbelievably impoverished areas right in the same city. I realized that I've gotten used to the quiet equality of Canada (don't get me wrong we still have our areas, but we have to be honest and compare ourselves to the big picture) and I'd somehow forgotten that the horrific inequality that exists in Latin American and parts of Asia, is also a reality in the US and other parts of the so-called "Western" world.

5) Guns for money. I saw flyers on 8th Ave. advertising, Guns for Money. You Bring your working guns in, we give you $200 bucks, no questions asked. When I saw this sign it hit me "yea man, you're now in the US".

I meant to take a picture of it but unfortunately didnt see them again. But apparently this "initiative" has been quite effective at getting guns off the streets.

6) Overwhelming hyperconsumerism. There are stores, stores, and more stores EVERYWHERE. The US as a country must have more entrepreneurs per capita than anyone else. And people, buy, buy, buy, and buy. And we're in a recession? The neverending and unrelenting flow of shoppers and stores was pretty exhausting.

7) People say its expensive but.... I actually didn't find it that bad. In the stores alcohol is about the same price or even less than in Montreal when you factor in the tax. There are soo many places to eat that, if you stay away from the expensive ones, you can actually find food relatively cheaply. It all depends on the lifestyle you are used to and where you go in the city. Having said that, the cost of housing is absolutely ridiculous.

Overall
It was a very cool city. I could see myself spending 5 happy years of my life there easily, although I do think that I wouldnt be able to last more than that.

Whoopi Goldberg Spotting

While sitting in the car with Zeke and his parents in the East Village of Manhatten, Whoopi Goldberg stepped out of her apartment and walked right in front of our car to cross the street. She waved at us when Zeke's dad tapped on the glass.

She looked EXACTLY like she did on tv. And sort of looked like she was just trying to get from Point A to point B without being spotted, dressed in a hooded grey sweatshirt with the hood up.