What Is With My Obsession With New York City?

When people in Ohio ask where I'm from, I say New York and it's automatically assumed that I'm from New York City, as if the entire rest of the state doesn't exist. If I say Niagara Falls, they assume I'm Canadian. And if I say Buffalo, then I'm just plain lying. Kind of. It's close, but not close enough.

I grew up across the state from New York City, a good six or so hour car ride away from the most populated city in the country. Like many, my obsession with New York started at a young age. I was fascinated by all of the touristy bits as a child. We have family there and would try to visit when we could. The idea of a massive city was really interesting to me. The buildings seemed too huge (I mean, they are huge) and everything seemed perfect.


I'm older now and I know everything about New York isn't perfect. I know the smell of hot trash blowing through the even hotter air on a warm summer day. I know that that puddle on the ground might not be water but in fact human urine. I know that that rodent in the subway that's the size of a small dog might just be a radioactive rat that lives in the sewer and hangs out with karate fighting turtles. I know what it's like to be sandwiched between loads of strangers in a crowded subway car during rush hour. Maybe I don't know all of the unglamorous parts of New York, but I know it's not all sunshine and rainbows. And yet here I am, at the age of twenty-one, dying to be a part of whatever New York is about.

The question I get the most after I say where I want to move, especially from customers at work, "don't you know how expensive it is?" Of course I know how expensive it is! Why do you think you see me at the store four days a week, if not more? I'm trying to save, people! I know it's expensive, I know it's crowded, I know space is limited. I know, to a degree, what I'm getting myself into. And everything else I will have to learn through trial and error and making mistakes for myself. Such is life, right?

I don't know if it's the fashion, the carefree attitude, the buildings, the fast-paced nature, the culture, or the hundreds of square miles to explore. There's just something about New York that's made me dream about being a part of it for years upon years. It's about darn time that I make that happen! #GetFrancescaToNYC2017