I have been working in New York City for a month and a half and living here for a month. I was just thinking about how well I've been doing with the metro system. I haven't gone the wrong way in like... at least a week!
And then, just now, I was reminded of how large this city is, and that I will probably never conquer it. I am headed to Brooklyn Heights to have drinks with a friend. I have never been to this area of the city (this is true of about 95% of NYC).
My app tells me that I need to take the two line or three line. So I stick my headphones in, see number three planted on a train and get in and sit down with my magazine. After being in my own world for at least ten minutes, I look up and OOPS. I've just gone 60 streets in the wrong direction.
Not only is this city ginormous, but I am an over-confident, oblivious individual who will always get lost. It's as simple as that. I have had some friends visit me and, being the resident of this great city, I am expected to take the lead (which of course I do without hesitation). What I'm really trying to do the whole time is cover up directional mistakes that I make along the way.
I'm reminded of my third visit to Amsterdam. When I got my map of the city, I felt as if I was gazing at an old friend, and I was right -- in part. I know my way from Amsterdam Centraal to Museumplein and back like the back of my hand. I even know most of the side streets on the way! But, as I was forced to learn from wondering lost for hours in the middle of the night, there is so, so much more to the city than that.
I need to apply the lesson I learned in a city of 850K to this city that I have moved to with 8.5 million inhabitants.
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