Empire State of Mind

I'm in New York! The big apple! The place where anything and everything goes. I love this city.
After my long bus ride, I finally arrived in one of my favorite cities. Reese met up with me on 30th and Park only to find me almost falling over with the amount of luggage I had. Her new place is....nice...for Urbana-Champaign standards. I miss her old apartment across from Penn Station, on the 26th floor, with an incredible view of the city. But this place has quite the view too. She lives out on Murray Hill, also known as Curry Hill because of all the Indians, and if I can tell you one thing about my feelings on NY it's: I could easily live here.
The noise, the smells, the traffic, the lights, the buildings...I've never seen a city that rivals NY as a true American city. Everyone walks around like THEY own the sidewalk but surprisingly New Yorkers are so nice. Just don't get in their way.
I spent most of my time lazing around watching the Top Chef Marathon on Bravo! (side note: Top Chef is in DC this season! Out of all times...just my luck!), but it was nice to relax. The past few weeks have been super stressful, so it was great to kick back and just do nothing. We ate at some delicious places: Five Points and Chelsea Market (in the meat packing district, who knew they served vegetarians!). You just can't beat city food. Side stalls, street vendors, hole in the wall places, hidden markets that make real Italian Bruschetta...loved it. Then we walked around the highline and watched the sunset. It would have been very romantic if I hadn't been there with my sister.
Reese also took me out to some really cool bars, very 1920s as though we were immeresed in the Prohibition Act. You actually had to ring a doorbell to get into one of them! Oh NY, what will you think of next? But this city does come at a price, I don't even want to tell you how much money I've spent in 1.5 days...

Ah New York...we'll see each other again soon. So after 1.5 days of living here I'm proud to say...'I'm a New Yorker!' Now get out of my way!