My first experiences in New York were some of the scariest I have ever had. The cars did not stop for people who were walking. The people looked like they never cared about the traffic lights. They crossed the road when the traffic light was red. I saw a lot of homeless people and someone told me the city never sleeps. I was a girl from Beijing. Beijing is a big and busy city but it is not crazy like New York.
I came here to visit the school before I applied for university. At first, I lived in a hotel that was close to Koreatown. The hotel made me feel scared. It was just a little room with a bathroom. The bed was opposite the mirror and it looked very old. I only stayed in this hotel for a few days before moving to the Grand Hyatt. I did not get back the money I had spent on booking. My friend David who studies at Cornell University told me that hotels in New York are expensive and it was normal to pay a lot of money for a bad room. He said that people hate that New York is expensive but they still come here every year.
It felt like I was in a movie when I visited Manhattan for the first time. The area around me had so many lights and people of all colors. My visit to the Parsons was not good because people were less nice. I tried to ask one girl a question and she told me she did not have time. I told myself I would never go back. Union Square was nice. It had a lot of cute squirrels. People ignored the squirrels and the girl who was crying because her heart was broken. It was all very creepy. When I walked around the city, people looked straight like there was a golden hill ahead. I felt invisible. I had always felt taken into account until I went to the Parsons.
It was strange walking down the streets of New York because everyone seemed serious. Beijing had a lot of people but they were not as caring as the people I saw on my first days in New York. Everyone was at a corner doing something serious. People did not see each other. They looked like they were programmed robots with human disguises. It was only later that I discovered that in New York you have to mind your business. People have serious things to do. Even people at the Museum looked very busy and did not want to be disturbed. When people know you, they are different, but here, everybody is alone.
Nevertheless, I am not the only one that believes New York City is a scary place. The artist Cindy Sherman also had this perception of the city when she first came. She expressed this through fright at different notorious events that had occurred there. For example, she fantasized that the “Son of Sam was going around murdering couples” (Sherman 2). She felt unprotected there and was not very fond of it. Nevertheless, she talks particularly joyfully about her experiences in Macy’s, and I too would find the city’s more delightful aspects.
The people at the Grand Hyatt were nicer after I stayed for a couple of days. They helped me a lot when I had questions about New York and places I had to go. They told me that I should visit Fifth Avenue and I would like it. Indeed, I did. It is heaven for girls. It has nice old buildings. I liked walking around and seeing the buildings. The Empire State Building is beautiful at night. I would go back there because it was not scary at all. I saw a lot of nice art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was told that it was the largest Museum and America and thousands of people visited it every year. It was different from the Parsons and Manhattan. They had a lot of old art which looked nice. I got to take pictures that I sent to my friends and family. They all loved the pictures and wanted to come and see the place for themselves. New York has good and bad places. I liked Fifth Avenue and did not like Manhattan.
Even though New York City was very frightening at first, after a few days in New York, I discovered that it had good places and bad places to visit. For me not to be afraid, I had to find places that I liked and spend my time there. When I got into school, it became easier to find friends to visit landmarks with. I visited a lot of department stores and shopped a little. Most of the things were expensive but it was nice visiting the stores. At least only the prices were scary, not the whole city itself.
Works Cited
Sherman, Cindy. “Waking Up to New York”. New York Magazine 2009. 2-3. Word doc.
