Empire State of Mind

So I'm trying to be diligent and update this regularly to keep everyone informed of the goings-on in NY. Given that diligence isn't exactly my greatest strength, we'll have to see how it goes.

I've now been in New York for about 8 hours. The flight here was uniquely unpleasant, between crying babies, turbulence, a bizarrely invasive stop in Dakar, a frantic bit of running to catch the connecting flight from Washington Dulles and then some insane security personnel. Made it to Uzayr's apartment at 519 W 121st St safely though, with a quick detour via Uris Hall on campus. Once I dropped everything off, I trekked off to try to sort out housing stuff.

Other admin wins for today:
- Citibank bank account: check
- TMobile simcard: check
- Unlimited metro card: check
- Laptop en route: check
- Starbucks: check

Then decided to have a casual stroll that meandered through Riverside Park, down to 73rd Street, across to Broadway, then down Broadway to Columbus Circle (59th St), then down 7th Ave through Times Square, down to 29th St, across to 5th Ave, back up to 33rd (beneath the Empire State Building), stopped in for a beer on 33rd, then into Penn Station and subway back to 116th. My feet are as bruised as Rihanna's eye or Romney's ego.

A few thoughts on NY:
- The City is geographically larger than I expected, and is hillier too
- There are fewer people uptown than I expected, but things got busy around Times Square area
- It's warmer than I thought it would be
- The people are less homogenous than I thought they would be (I was expecting a universal coolness associated with Manhattan residents, but so far they look normal, if somewhat harried)
- While NY will be where I live for the next while, according to the universal law of home being where the heart is, home for me is apparently 393 Frank St, Die Wilgers

That's all for now. Some photos are below.

PS I really hate the song 'Empire State of Mind'

PPS Do I sound like a grumpy New Yorker yet?

Jono

Photos:

- First view of city
- Random building opposite Columbia
- Columbia library
- View across Hudson River towards Cliffside Park
- Riverside Park
- Columbus Circle
- Times Square
- The Johnston Building (now the NoMad Hotel, cnr 28th and Broadway)
- Trees on 116th going into Columbia campus