Simply

So it has been just over a month since my departure from NY. If I could describe, in one word, what I have felt since my plane left that hot July morning is.....aticipation. Aticipation for the future. You see, I finally found a place where everything made sense, where the puzzle pieces FINALLY stuck together and where life had meaning. I was not confused about what to do next, about WHY everything happened, or where my life was going....I simply knew. Ever since that day my life has been replaced with a void...NOT a question mark (like usual) a void. At least now I know the answer to the many questions I use to ask myself...the answer is simply 'New York'. I use to spend endless nights sitting in my bed wide awake and dreaming, dreaming of where my life could go. But when I returned from the Big Apple, instead of spending long nights dreaming of what I could be, I close my eyes and dream of what I will be. I get to dream about the adventures in NY and what the future now holds for me. This summer has turned into the start of my life, I have truly decided what I want to do with my life and who I want to be. I have started a design portfolio, met a famous designer (who I truly respect as an artist), gained confidence in my own art, and started a job at an international clothing store. It is september 1 and even though I am not in school, or living in dorms, or even living somewhere half way acorss the world....I am still anticipating the future and ready to work my little tush off to get to where I want to be. I am so ready to succeed....I have lived my life in a shawdow...but not anymore. Simply I am ready to climb and struggle, push and shove and thrive on success and hardwork to the get myself to the top. 

Simply

I<3NY

Tonight was my final night in the big apple...the city that I love. My stay in Manhattan has had its goods, its greats, its bads, and its uglies...but it all has taught me to be a strong minded, and strong hearted young girl. I definitely have become a strong individual since my first day in NYC. The grit and roughness of the city gave me a strong backbone, the fast-pace and hectic atmosphere has given me quick wit, the fact that I am living alone has forced me to gain patience, and the thirst for stardom by every student caused me to gain perseverance.  I have discovered a new me, I have discovered what seems to be....myself. A stronger, wiser, more mature, and driven self. I become apart of something here, something I will never forget and will always cherish. I met some incredible individuals, many talented artists, and people from almost every continent in the world. There is a Korean from Vietnam, a French from Turkey, two young girls from Sweden, another from Brazil, one from Venice, three from Columbia, many from the states, and a few (personally my favorites) from Canada. I lived in a city that is home to every ethnicity. I lived with every culture. I discovered a world inside a 12km by 3km city. Who gets to say that? well... I do. So now I get to TRAVEL the world (due to the numerous free-housing deals, thanks to my new-found-friends across the globe.) The To-Do-Before-I-Die list involves sipping tea in London, shopping in Milan, saying "bonjour" to everyone in Paris, tanning in Brazil, eating in Italy, jumping off an ocean cliff  in Greece, surfing in Australia, going on a safari in Africa, and just living. I can however already check off one of the To-Do-Before-I-Dies', "Live in New York City." I can check it off....but I will never remove it from my list, for it it doesn't say Live in New York City ONCE! I will be back, I will be back and I can not wait. I am going to miss the hustle and bustle of everyday New York life, I am going to miss my E-train Subway, my Grande soy Cinnamon Dolce latte, Peter at Parsons Security, my worldly friends, and my 20th street dorm....I am going to miss my second life. I was scared of this trip, but I endured the journey and I fined myself loving the final destination. I look outside and I can barely see the concrete with the blanketing of yellow cabs, buildings that have 24 hour restaurants beside 24 hour flower shops, red lights that seem to mean "go" and men dressed in spandex and XXS white t-shirts while holding a chiwawa in one hand a fellow man's hand in the other. This city is a concrete jungle. I will miss it and I will miss the life I have made. It is time for a new chapter in my life. New York wrote the beginning, but now it is time for the climax. It has been a pleasure writing these blogs, so I say for a final time....New York....I really do love you. 

Mixing it Up

It is going to be a little different today, instead of my usual entries about my New York endeavors, it is going to be of things I want to experience. Basically I am going to make a list of things I wish to do and see before I depart this fair city.4

1)Take a picture with the naked guitar-playing-honkytonk in the heart or Times Square

2)Take a walk in the park, the central one

3) Make a deal with a small Chinese women for a "couture" purse

4) Be a tourist for approximately five minutes and purchase the ever-so-popular "I <3>

5) Walk on the marble floors of the MET

6) Get a 10 dollar manicure in quiet downtown Chelsea

7) Walk the steps that Carrie Bradshaw walked everyday for ten years

8) Eat the Starbucks of ice cream, "Pinkberry?" ice cream, apparently according to EVERYONE, I am missing out.

9) Take a late-night stroll down Times Square

10) and lastly... say a proper farewell to my first real love...New York.

I wish to check off these New York Must-DO's before I leave.

I will check off my top ten New York Must-DO's before I go....you know something? I don't think I want to go. I do...but I don't..well?...you know what! let us just say I will be back...ahemm...in the near ahh? future? yes very NEAR future!

Tomorrow will be a bigger better blog night, tonight was just..ahh? To the point! You see

the cold-and-sinus medications I took prior to this blog kicked in about five minutes ago, needless to say, I am about to pass out.

So my sign off tonight is a big long and tired yawn.

Countdown Begins

It was a splendid weekend, filled with fine dinning, drinking, shopping couture, and meeting fabulously important people. So ummm...aah...so...when I say "fine dinning" I mean to say Campus Cafeteria Food, and by "drinking" I mean Starbucks Caffeine. Also...by "shopping couture" what I mean is actually just plain old shopping and by "fabulously important people" I mean Starbucks employees. I just thought I would make my not-so-eventful weekend sound a little more intriguing. Not to say I didn't have a busy weekend... in fact! I had a VERY busy weekend. It was after all my very last weekend in the Big Apple, so it only stood to reason that I should jam-pack my Saturday Sunday. Basically it was a long weekend squeezed into a normal every-week weekend...? Make sense...kinda? sorta? maybe? Well if you do not understand then you obviously haven't had the great privilege of reading my blogs ahemm...before, anyways! You know something? I think it is this city! I feel like I have to do everything flipping twice as fast, or twice as much, or twice as early. For example, I get up twice as early as I normally would during Summer, it takes me twice as long to finish my homework, twice as long to get to school, I have to work twice as hard in class, and I walk and speak twice as fast as I normally do! I can barely keep up, I have no idea how you do it reading these blogs! Good on ya....OK so I'm apparently Australian now? So anyways, in short, this weekend was one thing after the other, and the other after another..and yes that is exactly what I mean. The best part of today's excursion was that I had the great pleasure of seeing how enchanting this city can look during the day. I am rarely outside during school hours...so the peak of the day is always hidden from my sight. Not today though, no surrey-bob! I had a clear view of the hidden treasure inside New York. The secret treasure buried in the heart of NY...Central Park. And yes! I actually had time to subway myself all the way uptown to Central Park! It was short and sweet, but long overdue and well worth the visit. I soaked up a couple rays, checked out a few lads, and had just enough time to slip a quickie Starbucks before heading back downtown. I am now in my dorms, in isolation, brainstorming for my final project. This weeks theme is "Women Icons." So I have chosen...wait for it....get ready....ahemm....BARBIE! Alright, I am going to give you a minute or two to comprehend and take it in.....................................Ooook so no joke folks, Barbie is my inspiration. Yes, barbie, pink, big hair, big head and all! This collection of designs is going to be fun, flirty, sophisticated, and very well composed. The final product shall blow my fellow peers out of their artsy farsty water. So I will keep you posted on my final days, and final endeavors in NYC over the course of these five days. I say goodnight.  

Life is to Live

So...I am in this city for nine more days, nine more days and I will have lived in New York for one month. Four whole weeks and three days. I have officially travelled away from home, gone to school, and lived on my own...and all before my nineteenth birthday. I am eighteen years of age and I have experienced more then most people my age and even some people twice my age! I am the ripe age of eighteen and I feel as though I have lived...what kind of teen gets to just say that? Just be able to say it, and it be true? Not very many in my world, I don't know about yours. This place has opened my eyes to see every angle of what life could teach me if I let myself discover. I just know now that there is so much more out there then what I grew up around. There is a world waiting to be unlocked, and I hold the key. Kids who know nothing but the square root of pi, every chemical compound, and how to write a proper thesis statement, don't really get the explore past concrete walls of a school...I mean why be taught it when you can live it? And let me enlighten you, "living it"....without a doubt the better option. I believe in living life to its full potential, look past all the obstacles and let yourself take on an adventure. Lfe is scary, thrilling, exciting, hectic, stressful, accomplishing, funny, and above all...yours. So make it good, make it worth living. This journey has made me want to live not just learn, so in nine days I say goodbye to New York and hello to the world. 

I'd Like to Make A Toast

I am going to dedicate this blog to the people of New York City, for teaching me what it really means to be a "New Yorker." Ever notice how "New Yorker" is always described in the sense that they are their own race. You can be African, American, Asian, German, or Canadian...BUT if you live in the Big Apple you are considered a "New Yorker"....just a thought. Anyways, the citizens of New York have taught many of things, such as when the appropriate time to say you are sorry and when to not. For example, say you hit someone on the subway, always say 'sorry', but DO NOT expect a response. However, if you were to hit someone on the street NEVER say you are sorry, because no one expects you to. New Yorkers have also educated me on avoiding annoying 'City Tour Guide' pamphlets during the morning work rush....and don't even get me started on the tourist rush hours. I have also gained immense knowledge in the proper technique to hailing a cab when in dire need, that has been a saviour in this city. I would also like to thank them for teaching me about cocky confidence, I believe this should be the most fitting motto for all New Yorkers ahem...alright here it is,"walk around like your shit don't stink, and you'll fit right in" simple, to the point, and boy does it work wonders. Let me tell you, in New York City, those are words to live by. 

Moving on to the main event...today! It was an early start, a fine five fifty five am start (alliteration makes everything sound better). I was literally up at the crack of dawn, I think...I think, I could actually hear my own thoughts, but then a 65 year old man unlocked and wrangled the door to his store wide open...and my thoughts were lost in the New York bustle. I had a minor yet major project due today, so I decided an early start was extremely necessary, and no surprise I was extremely correct.  I am always early for Terrance class though...it makes me start my day off on a positive note, a note that would be classified as B sharp! haha oh I am just too darn witty for my own good. 

Tomorrow I will be contacting a Micheal Kaye (a very well known Canadian designer) on my telephone. When I dial I will hopefully recover fast enough from my starstruck behaviour to talk to him about the ups and downs of fashion designing, and to hear all about his hectic and successful life in NYC. He recently moved to New York and has a studio in Chelsea I believe, which conveniently is near my dorms...coincidence? So wish me luck in my endeavours.

 

This blog is to New York...the city where dreams become a reality. 

Two Down, Two To Go

It is said that "absence makes the heart grow fonder"....I have to come to find, that it is very true. Very true indeed. I miss the quiet, yet gossip filled streets of ADA Blvd., my front porch that holds unforgettable memories,  my bed that is always there to comfort me when times are at their worst...but most of all I miss (which I have the privilege of calling) my family. My voice box has not reached an octave passed "content" in weeks. I have not yelled!...my patience is wearing thin. Let me tell you, it is not the "thin" that most endure. Therefore; I have found my inner zen...yes that is a quote for the books "Carly has found her inner zen." Now let me explain this so-called "zen". If I were to look to my right this very instance I would see the city streets, and every  minute on the minute a subway drives by, rumbling the floor beneath me. As well as the lovely transit system creating a harmonious noise, there would be five truck drivers shouting outside the window. They parked their large gas-guzzling machines on the sidewalk below and unpacked their equipment to film...you may be thinking cool...well I'm thinking "there goes my sleep." And to my left!  There would be the wondrous world of nineteen year old chaos, they scream and shout ladies and gentlemen and best of all they screech. My personal favorite is the Screech, because when you least expect it to happen OH! POOF! your heartbeat triples in beats per minute and your eardrum is shot.I personally really love it. As this occurs, I simply close my eyes and envision the streets of ADA Blvd, the solitude of my porch, the comfort of my bed, and my family...it helps...it definitely helps. I found my own personal antibiotic to this new NY "swine" virus. As a side note..the usual anecdote would be the soulful sounds of Apples glorious invention the ipod BUT due to a severe washing machine incident this past Sunday, I am sad to say that... "ipod" is no more. 

In lighter news, school is sailing smoother then ever and the horizon looks calm and clear, there will be a bit of waves and slight winds but nothing severe. I have set sail and it looks like it is going to be a beautiful rest of the journey. It is the start of a fresh week....I can already smell the coffee that is brewing for me to drink tomorrow morning. It is going to be strong, it is going to be dark, and it is going to be Starbucks. Goodnight NY...I love you?