Home Sweet Home

Today a woman almost ran me over, and I was happy.

I wasn't happy about the almost being run over part, I was happy about being home. New York City is not usually very high on the list of Friendliest Places on Earth but for me the craziness that comes with city life is natural and the inevitable rudeness is a glorious taste of reality.

This is my first time home in six weeks and I'll be gone in a few days so I have resolved to enjoy every minute of this escape. When that car came zooming around the corner with no indication of stopping I thought "It's great to be home," because the drivers on campus at my upstate college always yield to pedestrians. Yes it is a college campus and that's what drivers are supposed to do but coming from NYC I am just not used to that kind of behavior.Quite frankly it's alien to me. Trust me when I say that there is nothing else in the world that will wake you up quite like dodging traffic in the morning. In my seven years here in the city I have been nearly run over by cabs, buses and regular cars countless times. Let me make it clear that I am in no way suicidal but as any New Yorker can tell you it is just one of the facts of daily life here. You learn how to look both ways at the same time. You develop a sixth sense (nothing like the Bruce Willis movie though) and you learn to use it constantly.

All the same I love everything about this city: the sights, the feel, the smell...actually no not the smell as that can be rather disgusting...but the other stuff applies. I am not a born New Yorker but this is what I am now. I was destined to live in this city and it would take a lot for me to leave it completely behind. So while I have to go to college hundreds of miles away my mind and heart will remain in NYC.