I'm flying to New York tonight. For four glorious days, I'll be reuniting with old friends, and exploring as many neighborhoods as possible. I am incredibly excited, but this morning as I was packing, I couldn't ignore a small gnaw of fear. The prospect of moving to New York is thrilling, but also terrifying. I decided to take a second to get to the bottom of what I was actually afraid of.
1) Getting mugged. For some reason, the streets of NY have always seemed (in my head) more dangerous than the sidewalks of LA. Something about the idea of more crowds in less space and colder weather (more on that later) makes me clutch my bag a little tighter. (Mini aside - A quick search yielded Forbes' list of America's Most Dangerous Cities based on 2008 FBI crime statistics. Detroit, Michigan ranked number 1, with NY and LA not evening making top 15.)
2) Roaches. I think this stems from the horror stories my mom would tell me about her stint in NY. She said that on more than one occasion, she turned on the light in her kitchen only to see several buggers skittering for cover. Shudder. Eric has some equally appealing stories about roaches in Atlanta.
3) The cold. Having been born and raised in CA, it's safe to say that my blood is very thin. And after 6 years as an Angeleno, my tolerance for weather under 60 degrees is pitifully low.
Looking back at all three, they are really just unfamiliar components of an unfamiliar city. While unpleasant, they are things that I have no direct experience with. When I examine my apprehension deeply, it is simply a fear borne of the unknown. Maybe if I was thinking of moving to LA, I'd fear earthquakes, gridlock and unclean ocean water.
My plan is to talk to as many New Yorkers as I can about these three (maybe completely unwarranted) fears. Hopefully their experiences can help allay them. Even better, they'll gush about everything they love about NY, making me love it in turn.
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