a ny minute
For those of you who have been following along on Instagram, you noticed that I took the quickest jaunt to the East Coast. What was I doing back on the East Coast, you ask? Well, I returned to Penn to recruit the next generation of Googlers. And boy, did it feel oh so magical to be back on campus, partnering with the same organizations of which I was a member when I was on campus, to recruit current students to the exact internship program of which I am an alum. [How meta, right?]
But as the photos may have suggested to you, this isn’t about Philly. Right before I headed to Penn, I decided to pop up to New York [yes, under the radar] to spend some much needed and seemingly overdue bonding time with the fam bam [grandmas, grandpa, and aunts included.]
Being back in New York was both familiar and unfamiliar, nostalgic and new. Returning to a place that was home for so long, after I’ve made a home somewhere else, is like walking a tight rope of time. Memories would pop up unannounced and erratically all throughout the city-whether it was a subway line [the R train took me to high school] or a specific subway stop [Broadway-Lafayette, where a friend of mine lives], or a specific restaurant [Shake Shack- we spent so many afternoons in the line that wrapped around itself in Madison Square Park.] Now, I call San Francisco home, and I can name you a Muni line [T], a specific stop [Embarcadero- right near the office] and a specific restaurant [Umami Burger] that all bring back great memories.
San Francisco is definitely not New York. For one, at 8AM on a Saturday morning, while I was refilling my metro card, 3 people started arguing [read: yelling and cursing] about which lines people need to stand in to buy their card. [Really? At 8AM on this beautiful day? Can’t we all just get along?] And then later, as I wandered the streets of Soho, I realized that what I thought was the late morning was actually early by New York standards. People hadn’t even stumbled out of bed for their Saturday morning coffee. I got so used to the SF routine where people wake up at 7AM on the weekends to go for a hike or go to a yoga class [I know, it all sounds so California, but it’s so accurate.]
For one weekend, I went from pastel colored victorian houses in Hayes Valley to cobblestones, industrial finishings, and brick buildings in Soho. And it was so lovely, but I think, I’ll settle for the laid back Cali lifestyle, at least for now.
Dress: Banana Republic// Shoes: Betsey Johnson// Sunglasses: Dolce & Gabbana
Photos by: Amjed Osman
