Grad School: NYC, Chicago, and the Future

I'm feeling rather melancholy this Sunday morning as I'm thinking about the homework I should be doing if I could be bothered to drag myself the 5 feet out of bed to where my radio book is sitting on the floor. That final is all that stands between me and graduation. Graduation. Again.

The 17^th grade is to be my last year of school. I love learning and always will, but I'm ready for Real Life now. One full year of information-packed graduate school was enough to fill my brain with things I didn't know I desperately needed to learn. Still, it's going to feel weird to have no papers to write, no tests to study for. I'm 22 years old. School has been all I've ever known.

I'm generally a quiet person who is extremely attached to my closest friends. Moving 4 states away to a place where I know nobody has been a huge test for me. In many ways it worked, in some ways it didn't. I did the whole internship in NYC like everybody else and I'm still not sure if I'd call it a success or not. Mostly, I'm disappointed in myself that I was mentally and physically unable to keep commuting the whole time, and switched to telecommuting halfway through.

I didn't see much of New York City. I've said it before, being very grounded in the landlocked Midwest made me prideful about where I come from, so I had a horrible outlook on NYC from the start. I interned there and that was it. I didn't go to Central Park, I only came within a far sight of the State of Liberty, and I never made it to the Ground Zero Memorial (which is what I'm most upset about. I wanted to see that. Every American should.). But honestly... I don't really care about the place. I wasn't happy there. NYC has the most opportunities in the magazine industry. That's where I should be working if I want to go far in my field. But it's not what I want. I want my real friends back and my family and the place I feel familiar and most comfortable with. And that's Chicago.

I've had this city-country-suburban struggle my entire life. I live in the burbs but am close enough to Chicago to go there whenever I want, and half my family lives 3 hours away in small town farmland Wisconsin, where I've spent a lot of time every school break. I'm as at home at the Metropolitan Opera House as I am drinking a beer around a bonfire while listening to a Sunday NASCAR race. And that's really confusing, but I like it that way. I'm not willing to give up my city or country side, and my suburban location makes that possible.

This is the last picture I took in NYC, out the window of my hostel on 14^th Street. It was an unusually warm day and all the trees were beginning to bud and flower. This is how I'm preferring to remember the city. Maybe I'll get back there one day, maybe not.

ME: A day in the (NYC) life

WARNING: extremely picture heavy post ahead.

Friends and family are curious to see what I'm doing in NYC, so I decided to give them a snippet of “A Day in the Life...” of a commuting intern in the city. It's really not all that exciting, but a change of scenery is nice once in a while, especially if that city is the biggest one in the country. I really don't get to do too much in NYC, since my schedule is as follows: bus-sleep-work-sleep-work-bus. 

Technically this is the day before, but this is what the 5ish hour drive from 'Cuse to NYC looked like, sans Catskill Mountains. It was snowing, that fluffy kind of snow that looks like emptying a bag of powder sugar on absolutely everything. White ground, white trees, white sky. Most of the time on this particular ride, I was spacing out from my theatre reading to just stare out the window.

Myself and 4 other Ajs stay at Hotel 309. Sometimes we get our own bed, sometimes we share. Sometimes we get a bathroom sink that's literally smaller than our faces. But we don't mind, it's part of the experience. Manhattan is expensive as hell. This place is pretty affordable, especially split 5 ways. This is Mary, who interns at Town & Country.

Morning! I walk the 14 blocks and 1 avenue (takes me about 20 minutes) to work. I pass by a ton of shops that sell flowers right on the street. I always wonder how often people just walk by, snag one, and run.

I live in the Meatpacking/ Chelsea district. Much of the street looks like this. Kind of... damp and dirty, haha.

I'd SO much rather walk than take the subway to work, which would be about 3 stops away. I like knowing what's around me. If I took the subway, all I would see is underground dirty rail lines and be sandwiched between other morning commuters. Pass.

This building is where I work, which is on the next block from Fashion Institute of Technology. Bridal Guide has the tenth floor. 

Yup, Fashion Ave.

After work, I came to the obvious realization that I work in the fashion district, so I should really be hitting up the fabric and trimmings stores since you really won't come across a selection like NYC has anywhere else.

I had heard of this place, Toho Shoji from some DIY blog the other day and decided to check it out after reading about their wonderful selection of chains.

This place blew my mindhole. You walk in, see all these little boxes, and immediately want to grab everything. You definitely have to use blinders here. I came for the chains, basically. All in all, I probably got around 10 feet total and some other trimmings. It's well worth it, I can't even find normal chain anywhere, let alone complete walls full of the stuff.

I walked the 23 blocks back to the hostel and was reminded why NYC is always so dirty. Every evening, there are piles of trash bags on the sidewalk waiting for garbage collection. Gross. They don't have alley ways or dumpsters.

Oh hey, here's me looking like a tired, business casual librarian. One of my contacts fell in the sink and disappeared (?) this morning so I'm stuck in glasses for the next 2 days.

Toho loot. Oh yes, I've got excellent plans for you.

Sri, another AJ roomie, and I went to the Chelsea Market later because I wanted to go to their bookstore. And the market is adorable and never too crowded at 7pm.

I wanted fashiony books... but they were either "here's a pile of pictures/ sketches" or "this is how you should dress." Woe behold anyone who ever tells me how to dress. I wanted something more intellectual, so I left empty handed. 

Ok, that's kind of a lie, I got this peach drinkable yogurt thing. I only went into the store because it was called a "Milk Bar" and I couldn't help chuckling and thinking of A Clockwork Orange. 

:D

Sri being cute! She interns here, upstairs at IVillage.

MY BREAD.

Back to the hostel, back to my top bunk bed and my laptop, ready to repeat the process tomorrow. And then get on a night bus back to the 'Cuse.

Is all this travel and extra expense worth it? Well... would I ever be in NYC and working for a major magazine publication otherwise? Probably not. Our wise program director once told us, "The money will come eventually. Time is something you can never get back." Truth.

Broadway... "is perfect in a whorish way"

I'm not a theatre person and this AJ program is very full of play connoisseurs. I have always found plays to be cheesy and over-pomped. Actually when comparing plays to musicals, I'd rather see a musical because if you're going to up the over-dramatized cheese factor, why no go all out? Jazz handssssss.

I probably prefer musicals because I'm totally incapable of acting. Musicals at least involve song and dance which are SO much easier to remember than straight-up lines and blocking and emotional interacting with fellow players. I've been in three productions in all of my life: middle school versions of “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Once Upon a Mattress,” and “Guys and Dolls,” all of which were fabulous and surprisingly enjoyable. But I didn't live and breathe theatre the way the main roles did. Half the time I wished I was in the pit with fellow band members busting out some twirly upper octave runs with my best friend and our beginner Gemeinhardts.

But the play that I saw today reminded me that good theatre isn't over-dramatic and can be really enlightening. Today's highlight was only announced to us yesterday: we saw the play Seminar at the John Golden Theatre. Who was the star of the show? Alan Rickman. Oh yes, Professor Snape. His character was kind of a jackass of a fiction writer and teacher who eventually helps his students in his own twisted way. He was a perfect character for Rickman to play. There was one moment when he chuckled in his "Alan-Rickman-voice-y" kind of way and the audience just exploded. The man only needs to make some kind of noise and the audience immediately swoons. I enjoyed the play a lot more than I thought I would. It was about writing and how that humanizes (or dehumanizes) a writer. A good choice by our program leaders.

...I guess... theatre is okay... sometimes.  

New York City First Timer

I've never been to New York City before. Usually when I tell people in my AJ program this, I get shocked expressions and faces full of disbelief.

I think it's a Chicago thing. NYC is kind of our rival. We love beating down New York. Chicagoans are very fond of comparing and saying how gross and dirty NYC is due to their lack of alley ways. I'm the first person in my entire family to ever go there. My Mom told me how proud she was that I was going to the place with a hint of disgust in her voice. My Aunt and Uncle work for United Airlines and US Air and have been all over the world... never NYC. I've been a self-proclaimed hater of the place even though I've never been there. There's a flatlanded pride about Chi-Town that my Midwest has, so I've always been apprehensive about the Big Apple.

I expected the place to be like the Chi (pronounced shy, not like chai) but on a grander scale. I know skyscrapers and Lake Michigan is comparable to an ocean to me. I know crazy cabbies and wet cement sidewalks. I know business men in their suits who are always walking around in a hurry.

What Chicago lacks, and this pains me to say, is the fashion factor. NYC is the fashion capital of the country. Duh. People scour the streets devoted to taking shots of street fashion for their blogs and websites (see a previous post about BILL from the NYT). Chi is usually full of day trippers donning their City Clothes or regulars in sweatpants running out to Dunkin' Donuts for their daily cuppa. I feel like neither of these would be acceptable in NYC. You have to dress the part always or else you don't really belong.

The articles of clothing that I noticed the most on the street were fur hats. Fabulously swank fur hats on ladies with long coats. Unfortunately most of them walked past me before I had the chance to get my camera ready.

So far, I've only seen the Chelsea hood and areas that didn't seem too terribly “inner city” to me. I guess I expected the city to be taller... but I haven't been to the huge skyscraper zones yet. Other highlights of the day included:

-lovely train ride next to the Hudson River

-walking on the High Line

-terrifying cab rides

-finding a Starbucks hidden inside a swank BMW and Volo dealership

-VIP front row seats at The Daily Show, seeing their office area, and talking the Emmy award winning head writer Steve Bodow

NYC Outfit I

 The highlight of my first day in New York City was talking a walk on the High Line, which is an elevated railway that was converted into a walking trail, showcasing some of the city's architecture. (And thus starts the first of my outfit posts)

top: F21

skirt: F21

tights: ?

boots: Macy's

NYC... here's what's up

As most of you know, I am currently a masters student in the Goldring Arts Journalism program at Syracuse University. It's first of it's kind and only a few other programs like it exist. The opportunities that we get in this program are absolutely unparalleled. For example... NEW YORK CITY.

As a part of our spring semester, we get to go to NYC for 5 days before the semester starts to go to all kinds of artsy places and network with important people in our field. This is called the Immersion and is technically a class. Blogging about our experiences and reactions is a part of our grade, so you can expect double daily posts starting tomorrow. I'm planning on doing an outfit post (because I'm having too much fun planning outfits as it is...) separate from a regular blog post for the next 5 days.

What are some of our highlight events? Going to a taping of The Daily Show, visiting the New York Times, the Apollo Theater, MOMA, attending a workshop with critics, and eating at lots of fancy restaurants. On top of that, I'm going to the FIT museum, seeing an opera at the MET, and going to a play in Brooklyn. And there's a lot more on top of this. Nuts, right?

Though I've lived in New York State since July, I still haven't been to the city (but more on that later). This is my crash course before I start my internship at Bridal Guide in less than 2 weeks. Eep.

(pics from newporthomie)