new york city

It’s funny. My first visit to New York City, at age seven, left me swearing I’d never come back. It was my first time in the U.S. The chaos that would later feel essential was, at the time, dizzying. My mom gave up on the idea of walking through the packed streets pretty quickly, so the yellow and brown hop-on-hop-off bus became our refuge, and we became constants in the on and off of overly excited tourists. It wasn’t just the crowds, noise, or skyscrapers that intimidated me, but an unfamiliar variety. I was already small. The city made me feel microscopic.

That was my introduction to the Big Apple. It wasn’t until my passion for musical theatre began to flourish that the memory of this first encounter started to fade. The musical theatre fever took hold of me. When I was applying to colleges in the U.S., I told my parents I wanted to go to Columbia because of its amazing education, opportunities, and city life. In actuality, I just wanted to be close to Broadway. Being in New York City did not turn me into a Broadway star (which occasionally hurts my feelings), but it did pull me out of my little bubble in Istanbul. I needed the energy. I needed the independence. And yes, the variety, too, which I eventually became addicted to.

‹ › ❚❚

Here’s a running list of things that made my time in New York City so worth it, and still mean something to me: