overseas she'll be, in the land of opportunity

Times Square at night

I miss New York. Constantly. I don't think there was a day that I didn't have a single thought about this place. There is something about this city that just makes you wanna come back. That makes you miss it the very second you leave it. I know it sounds cliché, but it's just how it is. It's that kind of place that  will haunt you forever. In the best possible way.

The best burgers in NYC/nothing matters when you're wearing fur (not even your tangled hair)/recreating the cover of one of the best albums ever/Beach Fossils live @ Baby's All Right/Manhattan Bridge

It isn't the easiest of cities to fall in love with though. It is, indeed, enormously big, majestic and full of life, but it also needs time to enchant you. I used to hate it with my whole heart after my first visit. I guess it just wasn't the right time for me to be there. I was a little girl back then, I spent the whole trip with my Clifton-NJ-based aunts and a cousin (who are all a very questionable choice of city guides, if I may add), I haven't even seen the Central Park and to make things worse, I sprained my ankle after several days of endlessly walking around the city. When I came back home, I told my parents I'd rather stay in Poland till the end of my life than come back there. Luckily enough, I've grown up and decided to give it a second shot, even if it took me another 10 years. And when I finally came back, I never wanted to leave this place ever again.  That's just how New York is - it beats you up the first time you go to it, but after awhile it doesn't.

Bleecker St/Splashh @ Baby's All Right/the view from East River State Park/the stage at Kasabian @ Terminal 5 a few minutes before the gig/Garment District and Hudson River seen from the ESB

Right now, I can't think of any possible reason to hate this city. True, I might be annoyed with the lack of "countdown clocks", message boards or at least decent timetables at the subway stations that are so common in the UK and would prevent making me wait for ages for another train (the perks of living in Brooklyn), but at the end of the day I'm still gonna think it's worth to be there. It's worth bursting through the countless amount of tourist (that are always, regardless of time and weather, annoyingly standing still) just to see the Times Square at night or paying more than 30$ to see the sights from the Empire State Building. It's worth all the pain to just be there. After you realise that, you'll see that New York truly is the greatest city of them all, just like my NYC friend told me one night in San Francisco. It just has so much to offer.

Catfish & The Bottlemen @ Baby's All Right/Rough Trade NYC/photobooth addict/6th Ave & W 51 St/Chinatown

I won't lie if I tell you that I took from New York much more than it (financially or mentally) took from me. Except of letting me see all the marvelous visual aspects it has to offer, New York made me experience the best things about living in a big city. Strolling around the streets, spending hours in the greatest record stores looking through the endless amounts of CDs and vinyls of bands that not many people in Europe have heard about, sitting in the little cafes listening to people talking about the enormous rents they have to pay for their flats, searching for the nicest clothes and best eats, meeting inspiring people and going out to see the coolest bands playing at the coolest venues and having the longest and nicest chats with them afterwards. NYC taught me about what I really want to do with my life. It gave me a sense of living the actual dream.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, Central Park/SKATERS from NYC winning the night at Underground Arts, Philly/insanely good piece of lemon square and coffee at Bakeri/26-28 Carmine St, Greenwich Village/Halloween lampshades spotted on my way back from laundromat, Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn 

After all, the thing I love the most about New York is that it feels like home while being so far away from your actual one. That's why my new goal is to make it my home - no matter if it's only for a few months, few years or a lifetime. I just have to be there, no matter what, no matter how.

the view at Turtle Bay from the ESB

I also made a little playlist that contains the bands that somehow kept me company during my stay in NYC. Not all of them are actually from New York, but listening to these tunes never fails to bring me back to the happy times I spent there.



Loads of love,
Kate