Big City Dreamin': New York, New York!

"I want to wake up in the city that never sleeps
To find I'm king of the hill, top of the heap ...
If I can make it there
I'll make it anywhere"

I miss New York, land of the minions of kosher restaurants and 24-hour supermarkets. Filthy city that makes no apologies for itself. City that truly never sleeps, filled with people who seemingly never sleep. Dirty looks given to awestruck tourists who dilly-dally instead of moving briskly down the street. Land of awful driving, insane honking, and a public transportation system that's everywhere you want to be (for a flat fare that doesn't require swiping when you get out).

I miss the huge city that I'm only beginning to learn my way around and that I have not even come close to taking advantage of. That place where I have almost learned to feel confident in myself.

I miss that small college campus on the brink of Harlem where I have learned to love so many things I never thought I would and where I have done so many things I never thought I'd have the guts to do. I miss 5 a.m. Shabbat grocery shopping, 3 a.m. Trivial Pursuit, and sleeping to noon before 2 p.m. class. The sacred selfishness of knowing you have no responsibilities to anyone but yourself.

I miss seeing black hats and shtreimels rushing to minyan amid the suited lawyers rushing to work and the jeans- and flip-flops-clad students with nowhere to rush to. The diversity of a place where anything truly goes and where people don't have to be afraid to be themselves. A place where you sometimes wonder if fear even exists.

I miss the only truly big city. One of the only places where I can feel at home. The place where I am most proud of and confident in myself. The place that has taught me to have delusions of grandeur.