The New Yorker

No, not the magazine, the people.

Living here, going to "school" and all, I have to say I expected things to be a little different. When you move to a new place, you have to find your space, find people to talk to, things to do, your bar, your diner, your corner in the subway car. And you do so.

When you move to a new job, you're the new kid on the block. [Yeah its cliche day, deal with it.] People have been there longer, they have their cliques and groups, people they lunch with and people they don't. You take you time, feel your ground, eat at your desk for a while, get too drunk at an office party and wake up the next morning with a few friends.

When you start a degree, there's usually a group of new kids on the block. At first you stick to yourself, but usually all the new kids eat lunch together. Then, as time goes by, you go get drinks with a few, you call someone for notes. Slowly you have your new kid cliques. Everyone takes it slow, but everyone lingers after class and smiles awkwardly at each other. Everyone comes 15 minutes early for some pre-class conversation. You get assigned to group projects and find people who make you laugh, and people who make you scream. By the second semester, there a few people you can call friends, more people you know you can count on to hang out with, and even more you don't feel awkward calling.

So, is it New York, or is it me?

Here I am, in my second semester, with one friend in class. Possibly another. One person I'd call without giving it thought, one person who will call me over the weekend. One person I know will come to any party I throw.

Maybe I'm an eager beaver. But really, I doubt it. Scoo, on the other hand, seems to have settled into her new place faster, in terms of the new people she has connected with.

But my life isn't some empty wasteland. There's the Scientist, and her innumerable friends who have adopted me long-distance. There's the guy I went to high school with. There's Salsa Girl, from dance class. There's the Flatmate, and the cousins. There's BSW. There's innumerable family friends. Obviously I have a social life. It just doesn't include classmates. Mainly from their lack of response [oh come on I had to whine!]

And it looks like New Yorkers also have social lives. It seems like people don't come here lost and alone like in the movies. Everyone comes here with connections, people they know. People have lived here a while, people know people who know people who have lived here a while. New Yorkers always have somewhere to go on saturday night, something to do on sunday afternoon.

Is it New York?