A week and counting...

...until I move into the new apartment that I'll be sharing with Katie-Kate. I really can't wait. I CAN'T WAIT! It will feel absolutely amazing to have a home to call our own. I finally feel like I will have a part of this huge city to claim as Tara territory. No more of this "bouncing around from here to there" stuff! There are so many things I am looking forward to doing once I move in, like begin cooking and preparing more fresh foods for myself, decorating, exploring the neighborhood, the short trainride to work...whoohoo!

It's ironic that I'm a little disappointed in leaving this house considering how isolated I've felt living here since September. Now that we have all of these friendly subletters who have taken the places of my original roommates, I come home and everyone actually takes the time to talk with one another. I think it's because we are all transients from other cities trying to find our place in New York. One of the girls in particular is very nice and so intelligent. We've had some great conversations and she's always excited to peek through my closet to gawk at my Betsey wardrobe, haha. We're going to try to organize a roommate dinner before we all move out this month. It's strange knowing that the probability that we will all stay in contact is very slim. I've realized that this city advocates such short-term relationships. You meet people for short periods of time and then you go your own way, unless they make some kind of huge impact in your life and you feel a friendship is worth dedicating time to. And then maybe three years down the line you'll be walking in Union Square and run into a familiar face..."Hey, I think I used to live with that girl three years ago!" but you still choose not to wave or say hello. It's strange that in a city where you crave the company of a friend so badly, it's difficult to maintain relationships with people. I feel like the lifestyle and culture in New York makes it really trying to form bonds with people for a few reasons. For me anyway, I'm not fortunate to have an extremely lucritive career where I work very little while making mass amounts of money. I think that many New Yorkers are in the same boat....we spend so much time working to make enough money to live here. The money that we have left over is used to go out and enjoy how marvelous NYC is, grab some food here and there, and maybe if you're lucky you'll meet some people while you're out. But I find that the little time you have left over to spend for yourself after a hectic work week is precious. It's invaluable. And while you want to invest that time in making friends and meeting people, you selfishly want to save it for yourself. It's the only time you have to recuperate from living in such an all-consuming place. And the vicious cycle continues... you're exhausted from work and excited about your days off. Once those days come around you just want to get out and DO something. At that point, you're a little lonely but you'd almost rather do something on your own so you can just have time for yourself to do a little self-reflection, but after spending TOO much time alone, you crave the company of others. By that point, it's Monday again and you've got to wake up early to catch the train so you can make it to your job on time. It's a vicious, vicious cycle. Like a good friend of mine visiting from out of town this week said...it takes about a year to get used to the city, it takes about two years to make friends and by year #3 you're ready to move on from New York to find a life of normalcy elsewhere. At this very moment, I'm enjoying the city immensely, even after all of the long work weeks, loneliness and solitude. We'll see where I'm at in three years.