The City Starts To Feel Like Home

It didn’t take too long for New York, and Chelsea in particular, to start to feel like home. That’s not to say I’ve abandoned Utah, my home state. Besides, no matter how long I live here and how immune I become to the meanness of New Yorkers and the smell of hot garbage, I still feel like I’m never going to stop being a girl from Orem, Utah. It’s who I am, it’s who I’ve always been. My values are shaped by my experiences, by my surroundings, by my upbringing.. and I would be lying if I said I even could leave Utah behind, or that I'd want to. I still do miss my friends and my mom and my family and above all, my cat Daisy. But, I also feel like I am where I’m supposed to be, like everything is falling into place and I’m heading in the right direction. There are so many opportunities ahead of me and for once, I can be who I want to be, I can make the choices and decisions I want to make without having to explain myself and I never have to really think about the opinions of others if I don’t want to. I’m here, I’m an adult! With that said, I wanted to tell you guys about my first week here. It’s been quite the adventure.

my neighborhood, Chelsea *heart eyes emoji*

I was expecting my first night in town to feel like magic. I had read a blog post about a girl who moved here, who went exploring on her first night in the city and felt a sense of immense possibility and hope. I was expecting the same for myself. It was definitely my own fault, but my first day in the city was very, very exhausting. I hadn’t slept at all the night before or on the plane, so by the time I arrived I was ready to pass out, but I went grocery shopping with my roommate, Caitlin, instead and then I decorated my side of the room and I put things away. I wanted to be able to settle into my room as quickly as possible. It wasn’t exciting though, I mean it was a little but I was sad, in all honesty. That night, I was introduced to the 99 cent pizza shop across the street. THE LOVE OF MY LIFE! So cheap, so delicious. With that, my day wasn't so bad. It could have been better, but it wasn't the worst day of my life.

My second day was more exciting because I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with my friend Amber, to see Manus x Machina and we also went to Central Park. I’ve been meeting internet friends in real life since I was 13 years old, so you’d think I was used to it at this point, but it’s always so weird because you never know what they’ll be like, if they’re anything like they are online. It makes me wonder how my internet persona is as compared to my in person person. Everyone's is a little different, for some more than others. Anyway, Amber is the cutest little bean. I love her. She’s so knowledgeable too, and she walks around wearing her little Adidas Superstars and her grey Känken. I love her. Anyway, that day feels like it was so long ago, and not just a week ago. That was also the first time I got on the subway this time. I don’t know why I was so nervous about it, considering I've been on the Subway before, several times. Up until that point, it also didn't really feel real that I was in the city.

Speaking of the city, everything in this city is so beautiful, especially the architecture and the sunsets. I feel so inspired. On Sunday, my roommate Caitlin and I got matcha drinks at Cha Cha over by Little Italy. I loved the walk over there. I love the streets and the street art and all the little signs they put out in front of the stores and watching the people walking in for brunch. I love feeling purposeful. I don’t know how to explain it. I never quite felt so purposeful in Utah. I don’t think I’d go back for the matcha, but I’d definitely go back to try other places. When we got back, I went on a thrifting tour with the school. I made some friends there and we went to Chelsea Market right after, which was so fun! 

Then it was Monday and I didn’t have class until 2pm, but I went school supply shopping in the morning and the whole experience was frustrating. The entire supply shopping experience has been a nightmare in general, because the lists are all incomplete and inaccurate and I find myself spending so much extra time returning things and exchanging things and trying to find obscure brands that nobody seems to have ever heard of. And it’s all soo expensive. Anyway, class was interesting and I regained a bit of hope. My next class was interesting too, fascinating. Although I don’t particularly love sitting in/standing in four hour long classes and I don’t particularly love how intimidating the professors are. Well, some of them. I do love my classmates. They’re all the same people in all my classes, which is nice because it reminds me of how I used to see my friends in high school like that every day, and because they’re all so inspiring and I love learning from them. I love seeing their personal styles too. It makes me want to be like them and take inspiration from them. I’ve also met some of the sweetest girls. I know I just met them, but I sincerely hope they’ll stick around even after we all graduate. 

That Tuesday, we went to Central Park again, but this time with my roommates. We were trying to think of what to do, but we couldn’t think of a single thing. It’s funny how that happens when there’s too much to do. So we headed to Central Park and we walked and walked and walked until we found the castle and then we headed back home. Then, on Wednesday and Thursday I had class all day from 9am until the late hours of the evening. It was too much, so I tweaked my scheduled a bit for the remainder of the semester. Now I’m only going to have two classes on Wednesdays and two on Tuesdays as opposed to just the one. Anyway, we went to get pumpkin spice lattes during my break from class on Thursday afternoon and then we went to a club on Thursday, which was fun for a while. I’m not really a clubbing sort of gal. As for Friday, I had class until 6pm, like most days. We went to 99 cent pizza after class! Then we met some friends and went to the Met again to see Manus x Machina again because they all hadn’t seen it and I figured if I could see it one last time, I needed to. We met Amber there too and the time we spent there was perfect. I love how the Met is by donation, to be honest.

Today, it’s the end of my first week here in the city. With all the stuff that’s happened over the course of the week, all the work and time spent running errands, running up and down several flights of stairs and down streets, completing tasks and with all the sightseeing we’ve done when we’re not all in class, it feels like it’s been a lifetime since my first day here. It's almost like time is going faster than it should, but it also feels like I’ve never led a more exciting life. And if you were wondering, I did end up having my moment of realization, as we were walking through the streets of Chelsea around 11pm on Thursday night, when it dawned on me that I’m here, in the city, and that I plan on staying here even after school. All the hope in the world washed over me and the sense of immense possibility, too. 

during my moment of realization!

I’ll keep you all updated and I’ll be posting again about my experiences here as well as my usual content!

Thanks for reading!

Agenda Love

I always had a clear idea of what college would be like and how everything would pan out. and for the most part, I was tragically wrong.  I thought I would move out, for one. I thought my style would change drastically. I thought I'd have a large social circle and maybe meet interesting boys. I thought I'd become a "scholar," I thought I wouldn't cry much, I thought I would stick to nursing, and most frivolous of all, I knew I would have a Lilly Pulitzer agenda. I don't even know where that idea stemmed from. I don't know when I first chanced upon a Lilly planner and decided I needed it, but for the last two or three years, it was on the list.  It's funny how out of all the things I thought would happen, the latter is the only one that actually did, and as ceremoniously as I had imagined. Just picture 18-year old me sitting at a computer, ordering my agenda the first day of pre-orders. And you can just imagine my glee when it arrived.

Even though I've heard Erin Condren planners are better,  I think I'll stick with Lilly forever because they're so darn beautiful and they suit my affinity for floral patterns and little animals prints, both of which are very present in the agenda. And the issue with Erin Condren planners is that I can't find a way to justify paying $50 for a 12-month planner (that doesn't even have floral prints and little animals on it). Granted, $28 might be a tiny bit expensive, but you should consider that it's a 15-month agenda. In fact, I think what I'll do is use my Lilly agenda for the 15 months and then fill in that one planner-less period with a little agenda from May Books because I know they always have an agenda sale for New Years and then it would just be about $8, which sounds decent to me. Plus those ones are cute too. Granted, they're tiny and a tiny bit flimsy, but they're cute. You know, I don't think I could ever go back to having a black and white planner after having had a pretty one.

I wanted to make a post about my agenda, because when I was first deciding how I could organize it, I had a hard time finding really good information in one place. It was all scattered and different and frankly, it took me a good month to actually feel like I knew what I was doing. I figured it would be nice to make a post for students to be able to refer to when they first start using a planner.  And I mean if I'm going to touch the subject, I might as well be thorough. So keep in mind, there will be lots of pictures and it's a bit of a lengthy post.

Continue reading after the jump,