Once you move to New York and the "oh my God, I'm living in Manhattan" phase dies out, you become...well, New York-ish. Naturally, you complain about the things that drive New Yorkers crazy: The crowds, crappy subway lines and the fact that one box of cereal costs six dollars. But, if you leave, after a few months, you begin to miss that aggravating, noisy city, like the subway for instance. Yes, it sucks on the weekends and smells terrible, but there's a degree of freedom that comes with riding the subway. At home, I have to drive everywhere. And then I have to take into account gas and traffic and how far away the place I want to get to is.

Sure, there are plenty other annoying things one has to worry about on the subway, but for someone who hates driving (yours truly), being able just to walk to a train station and go anywhere is something you start to miss, no matter how expensive a month's MetroPass is. Another thing I've missed are...dare I say it...bodegas. I know. They are overpriced and sketchy, but I miss them anyway. I miss the one in the Clark Street station with the flower shelves and kitchen staples in a pinch for when I didn't want to walk to Trader Joe's. Also, its bagels weren't awful. Additionally, I miss getting lost in some ways. I liked the challenge of having to figure out where I was going if I wanted to go out in the city and figuring out which subway line to take. Sure, I have some pretty awful stories, like about the time I got lost in the Jonas Blizzard while trying to find the location of King's day of service, but other times I got to take a walk through parts of New York I wouldn't have explored or seen had I not gotten lost. Memories can be made when you get lost with friends too. Call me a hopeless romantic, but I still miss it. Finally, even as an introvert, I miss the crowds and the bustle of the city. The atmosphere of New York requires a lot of energy out of a person, and a lot of times we just want people to shut up. But, the crowding, often rude, masses of the city are what make New York, New York what it is. And I find myself missing it.

I might be the only one that misses these things and call me crazy, but just like Hebrew Literature class, you hate a lot of things about this place, but you learn so much in it that you love it. There's a quote by John Steinbeck that explains this perfectly:

“New York is an ugly city, a dirty city. Its climate is a scandal, its politics are used to frighten children, its traffic is madness, its competition is murderous. But there is one thing about it - once you have lived in New York and it has become your home, no place else is good enough.”

I've only lived in New York for the better part of a year, but it's true, no place else is good enough.