Final Blog Reflection

I think back to writing my Senior reflection for the Yearbook and Newspaper editorial staff and I remember my teacher’s explicit instructions to never use the word bittersweet in our reflections. She said it was overused and no one really knew what it meant anymore because they were so used to seeing it. I have to agree but each time I have ended a stage in my life, the word bittersweet comes to mind.

I think the ending of this class is "bittersweet" for me because as much as I want to move forward and get closer to reaching the end of my college career, I truly did enjoy writing this blog and going to this class. At times, it did get tiresome to do two posts a week. Many times I was writing them very late on Wednesday night, but very rarely did I feel that I was actually doing homework (now the analysis paper was a different story!).

I really enjoyed going through the process of writing my posts. It was always a challenge to come up with what to write about that week and a lot of the research I came across was very interesting. For instance, I wrote about how expensive Manhattan is and I came across a set of statistics that said that Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn are 3 of the top 5 most expensive places to live in the US. 

If I could do anything differently I would not procrastinate on my blog posts, not only so I could put more time into them but also so that I could let them sit for a day or two and come back to editing them. I think I learned a lot throughout the semester. I never had any experience with blog writing. Before this semester, I had no idea blogging communities even existed! I learned new skills and had fun while I did it! I don’t know if I’ll continue my blog. I had a lot of fun writing about New York and NOVA but I don’t know if I’m disciplined enough to keep up with weekly posts. Maybe I’ll shoot for monthly....

The End?

As I'm nearing the end of my posts I feel like I should have some kind of conclusion, but how can you conclude something that isn't quite over? Even though I'm still in the process of transitioning, I figured a good conclusion would be to tell you why I left New York. 

There were many little moments when I sat there and thought, “This is so not the place for me.” For instance, when two guys from my school were walking down the hall carrying what I can only assume were dictionaries because the books were so large, discussing their Professor’s lecture on the credibility of Plato vs. Aristotle like it was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to them. This was a very common occurrence. Or when a mom I nanny’d for explained that there was no need to load the car because they purchased two of everything (one for their Manhattan apartment and one for their house in the Hampton's) to avoid the hassle of packing. These are some of the best examples I can use to illustrate one simple thing, the people were weird. Almost all of them, it was like there was something wrong with every single one.

There is not one specific reason I decided to leave, or some defining moment, or even a good reason. When people ask me why I left, nine times out of ten I'll respond with "That place sucks your soul out." This is the closest I can come to a reasoning behind leaving New York. I did not want to end up like that, and it seemed that the longer you stayed the worse it got. Many people there told me, “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.” It seemed like sage advice. In short, New York just wasn’t really for me. I didn’t fit in there. I don’t like the cold, or the subway. Everything’s ridiculously expensive, and please don’t get me started again on the people. I can highly recommend it as a place to visit, but to live? Good luck. 

Potential Sources

I struggled this week coming up with potential sources for my analysis paper. I thought to myself, "Who is blogging about going to college in the city and coming back to Suburbia, let alone writing something that would be considered a credible source?" Thinking about it in a broader sense, I realized that I had a plethora of sources to choose from. After evaluating bloggers in a variety of communities I think I have a solid foundation. 

One of the main things my blog focuses on is the transition students and young adults go through when they graduate from high school. Whether it be leaving home, getting a job, or going off to college, everyone enters a new phase of life when they graduate. There is a large community of bloggers that write about this transition. One I liked in particular was called Year One: a College Blog about a girl named Kate and her experiences at a private southern university. Although our experiences are different it gives me great material for comparisons.

Another community I could focus on is bloggers that discuss moving from the city to the country. I have numerous posts comparing (or complaining) about the differences between Manhattan and Woodbridge. One man wrote about the top things he's learned since moving from the City to the Country. There was a great article in the New York Times about moving away from the city and Not fearing the Suburbs.

If I wanted to dive even deeper into the specifics of my blog there are many things to choose from because there are online communities for practically everything. I could find information about the price differences in different regions, nanny jobs, and students with internships. After doing some research on all these topics I feel a big sense of relief starting to write my analysis paper. My initial fear of not having any research to put into my paper turned out to be completely wrong. There are plenty of sources that support my blog in many different ways and will help to expand my analysis paper.

Cinderella goes to the Ball

The day of the party I had to work at Flavorpill until 5:30. I sat there nervously all day (not getting any work done) trying to listen to the conversations of my coworkers discussing their evening plans. So far, no one had mentioned going to the Yankees’ party. It’s not that interns are banned from these parties, but typically if you are attending them its to work the event. My boss left early for the day, so I took that as a sign that I was allowed to leave early as well. A girl needs time to get ready for the party! I texted my “plus one” (AKA my partner in crime Myra) telling her to meet me at my apartment so we could commence with the shenanigans. 

The feeling in my stomach was exactly the same one I always had when I was getting ready for prom. The butterflies and anticipation of how great the night could turn out and the nervousness of how bad it could end up build slowly. My annoying roommate was gone for the night so I also took this as a sign that I should take a dress out of her closet. After Myra and I decided we looked the part of successful marketing executives, or at least as good as it was going to get, we hopped into a cab and headed off to the meatpacking district where the party was being held. 

As we got out of the cab it didn’t even matter that I had just spent my entire food allowance for the week, I was more excited than a kid on Christmas morning. I confidently strode up to the girl at the front holding the guest list and told her that Amanda Haney (and guest) from Flavorpill were there. As soon as the words came out of my mouth I started to have a silent panic attack. What if they had figured it out? I was only an intern; what if they asked someone at my office who I was?   If they didn’t let me in, what was I going to do? At that moment all I could think about was the extreme embarrassment I would feel getting kicked out of there. Those few nerve-wracking seconds the guest list girl spent locating my name seemed to endlessly drag on with both fear and anticipation. 

Finally, she looked up at me and smiled. She pointed to the elevator and said “This way, the attendant will direct you. Enjoy yourselves ladies!” As the elevator doors closed in front of me and Myra, we couldn’t stop glancing at each other and smiling. We had made it!

The party was located on a beautiful glass enclosed rooftop with twinkly lights, plushy seating arrangements, an open bar, and waiters in coat and tie walking around with trays of appetizers and champagne. It was everything I imagined, but somehow so much better once I was actually there. This truly was the perfect example of how the other half lived. Beautiful people were milling about, along with a few very good looking baseball players that even someone as clueless about sports as I am recognized. 

Not only was the food fantastic and the champagne very expensive but the networking opportunities were fantastic. It seemed like a representative from every major publication was there! Everything about that night surpassed my wildest expectations. I happen to be a big fan of free stuff and the gift bags were fantastic! I may never go to another party like this for the rest of my life but that’ll be okay with me. I feel like I took full advantage of this opportunity and will have memories that I’ll never forget. My boss never found out either! And I may or may not have asked the model for the fragrance campaign for his number after one too many glasses of champagne that night... but there’s some things I’ll just never tell!

Centerpieces

My partner in crime and I

Fragrance Campaign

The model and I

Work Swag

I had mentioned in an earlier post that I had an internship while in New York. I was a marketing and social media intern for Flavorpill, a PR firm that promotes cultural events in major cities all over the US. I had a friend who was an intern for MTV that had heard of an internship opportunity while she had partnered with Flavorpill for an event with MTV. I applied, and a few nerve wracking interviews later I was hired! 

There were a lot of really repetitive, mind numbing tasks they would ask me to do. You know all the ads on the right hand column on Facebook? Yeah, companies make their interns make those. I also had no idea that every single piece of information your company ever comes across needs to be put into a spreadsheet that takes hours to make and I am assuming is looked over (maybe) once and then never used for anything ever again.

There was also a lot of perks to working at Flavorpill. I’m not talking about the letter of recommendation I would get at the end, or even the fully stocked kitchen that fed this poor college student a few too many times. My favorite perks, were the ones that didn’t come with the job description, the ones that I probably weren’t supposed to have at all... You see, I received a Flavorpill e-mail account as soon as I started working there. Their mail system, by default, sends all non-personal messages to all Flavorpill staff, including the interns. What is one of the primary things a PR firm does? They throw lots of parties.

When I first started receiving these emails I simply deleted them. They obviously weren’t meant for me so I just disregarded them. One day, fate intervened and gave me an invitation I simply couldn’t pass up. As I was deleting my emails (when all non-personal messages get sent to everyone you get a ton!) I came across a few words that caught my eye: New York Yankees and cocktail party. 

I quickly weighed the pros and cons in my head: going to a fancy party with rich good-looking men versus possibly losing my internship if my boss happened to be there. I could always get another internship, I might never have a chance to hang out with the Yankees again. 

I texted my best friend Myra, who is a master celebrity stalker and my go-to person for getting into places I’m not technically supposed to be. After much deliberation we decided my boss would most likely not be there because she was pregnant and typically pregnant women do not go to cocktail parties (but that was just a hunch). 

Our next dilemma was RSVPing. I already had a Flavorpill email address  so I didn’t have to respond from my sketchy gmail account, but I didn’t know how marketing executives (which is what I had decided to pretend to be because intern was obviously going to get me nowhere) respond to RSVP’s. Myra and I decided to keep it short and sweet, something along the lines of “Myself and guest will be attending the New York Yankees fragrance release party. Thank you.” Genius right? Then I might have possibly copied and pasted my boss’s signature that has her job title and work phone number to the bottom of my email just to look legit (don't judge, I kept my own name) but I didn’t even feel bad, because it worked! 

I received a response acknowledging my RSVP within the hour and the hard part was over. I was on the list! I’m attaching pictures of the invitation PDF and response email because everyone knows if there’s no pictures, it didn’t actually happen. Want to know how the actual party was? Guess you’ll have to read my blog next week!

Sometimes You Just Need Your Momma

I’ve mentioned before that when going off to college I couldn’t wait to be off on my own. I couldn’t wait for the freedom to go where I wanted, whenever I wanted and not have to explain myself to anyone. That part was great. But as Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben said, “With great freedom, comes great responsibility.” Taking care of yourself is not an easy task. Being at college I learned that my mom is a saint, and there are so many things she did for me that I simply never realized. Here are some of the biggest things I struggled with. 

Buying toilet paper

Such a simple task, by far my biggest struggle. At home, my mom buys the huge Costco variety packs of toilet paper that lasts for 6 years (or so it seemed). At my apartment, my roommates and I were broke and always fighting over whose turn it was to buy the next pack of TP. Naturally we were always out; you don’t know struggle until your taking napkins from Chipotle cause no one wants to buy the next pack of toilet paper. 

Natural disasters

Within my first week of college there was an earthquake and a hurricane. I lived on the 21st floor and I felt like I could literally feel my building sway with each gust of wind. There was no electricity or running water and we had to fill up the bathtub with water so we were able to flush the toilet. As soon as CBS news said that people who live in high rises should stay away from windows and lower Manhattan was covered in two feet of water, I was on the next bus home that weekend. Momma would know what to do. 

Homework help

I probably should have stopped this practice around third grade, but up until my senior year of high school, if I asked, my parents helped me with my homework. My mom is a nurse and always helped me study for my science tests and my dad always helped me edit my papers. This process became exponentially more difficult when they weren’t sitting across from me at the dining room table every night. 

Chores

I had to do chores when I lived at home but for the most part my mom kept the house clean and cooked the meals. When I got to college, I had two of the messiest roommates I had ever met, they were simply incapable of rinsing off a plate, and putting it in the dishwasher. The dishes would pile up in the sink until I finally got so grossed out that I did them. My mom also had dinner ready for me when I got home from work. No such luck in college;

 my roommates idea of cooking was cereal and soup. Yummm. 

Someone to take care of you when you’re sick

I’m not sure if it was my horrible sleep schedule, unhealthy diet, or suddenly living in the same apartment with two strangers with new germs but I was sick all the time freshman year. It took me a longer time to get better because I am incapable of buying cold medicine, let alone taking it when I’m supposed to. I also don’t like to get out of bed when I’m sick so there was no one to make me soup or tea. I just needed my mom! 

The Grass is Always Greener...

There are benefits to living in both New York and in Northern Virginia. Some are fairly obvious, and some you wouldn’t initially think of. Here are some of the things that I miss. There’s so many weird things you don’t appreciate until you don’t have them anymore.

Things open late:

In New York I lived right cross the street from a Duane Reade (Manhattan’s version of Walgreens) which came in handy when I ran out of toilet paper at 3am. Duane Reade is always open. In Virginia your hard pressed to find a restaurant that’s open until 10. Not in New York; pretty much everything you can think of is open late, if not 24 hours. It’s called the city that never sleeps for a reason. 

Transportation:

This particular aspect works both ways. When I was in New York I missed never being able to drive my car wherever I wanted to go and roll the windows down while the radio was blasting. As soon as I was back in Virginia I hated having to pay $3.80 a gallon for gas and always having to find a designated driver whenever I went out with my friends. I just can’t win with this one. 

Homeless People:

This may seem like a strange thing to miss but homeless people were a surprisingly comforting sight on my walk to school everyday. They’re much more interesting and friendlier than the weirdos that stand at the light at Dale Boulevard everyday, and I grew quite used to the usuals outside of McDonald's on 35th every morning. My favorite is the homeless guy that stands outside the stock exchange everyday and at 5pm he promptly walks across the street and gets in his brand new BMW and drives away to what I can only assume is his Upper East Side penthouse apartment. 

Food delivery: 

There is this wonderful iPhone app called Seamless. It pinpoints your location and lists all the places that are still open that will deliver to your apartment. Now you can use seamless in Virginia, but unfortunately things close pretty early around here (See above post). In New York, the possibilities are endless because of the sheer volume of restaurants. Studying for exams and have an intense craving for Vietnamese food at 3am? No problem! I can guarantee you will have a vast amount of places to choose from. 

Blog 8

In New York, there are three basic kinds of nanny’s. The weekday nanny, the night nanny, and the weekend nanny. Some families have one, and some have all three. Its fairly easy to guess when each nanny works. You start as the weekday nanny and work your way up. The reason the weekend nanny is so desired is because on weekends, parents who are rich and bored and have nothing better to do than spend their money on three nanny’s for their children start to feel guilty about neglecting their children all week they schedule “family time”. So they pack up the Range Rover (never without the weekend nanny) and head for their house in the Hampton's. 

Now, as the weekend nanny, the car ride down is one of the more demanding times for me. I have to put the DVD’s into the entertainment system and give the kids their snacks and juice when they get hungry. Who knew Barbie’s Fairytopia DVD had so much foreshadowing and juxtaposition? Once we get to the 10,000 square foot beach front monstrosity its time to get settled in and explore the house. Oh wait, theres no unpacking to do because you buy doubles of all your items so you have one for your apartment in Manhattan and one for your house in the Hampton’s? Great thinking ahead guys, thats economical. Guess that takes care of the unpacking... 

Now is typically when guilt trip induced family bonding outing number one occurs. I is not required to tag along for these because they want to spend time with their children and “there’s really nothing for me to do”. Some of you may be asking why you bring the weekend nanny along if your going to spend time together as a family. I asked this question, and my response “Well you just never know.” Okay, so whatever am I to do all afternoon while I’m in a strange house and this very strange family is “bonding”. As luck would have it, the family keeps a second Range Rover at the house just in case situations like these arise and the help has nothing to do. They can take the $80,000 car into town to shop!

When I got home that night though, that’s when the really difficult work begins. First, the parents put their children to bed (The parents must do it because they’re not comfortable with anyone but the night nanny. Seriously.) Then it is my job to sit with the baby monitor (which is equipped with an HD camera) and make sure no one dies while the parents are out... While I watch Netflix and eat junk food. 

Writing this has really made me question why I’m in college. That was quite possibly my dream job. 

Blog 7

       As I noticed my bank account dwindling and no foreseeable income in the near future, I decided to take on an after-school job. The trip on the subway was costing more than the two dollar dumplings on the Lower East Side and there is only so many ways to eat Ramen. (Milligan) I figured with so many restaurants and stores all around my apartment it would be a breeze to get hired somewhere that payed decently. Think again. Everyone in New York is looking for a job and they all have more education, experience, connections, availability, and work ethic than you do. Did you know that to apply as a hostess in a restaurant in Manhattan you need a modeling headshot submitted with your application? Because that can’t be discrimination or anything.... 

After applying at every place within a 30 block radius of my apartment and getting several very creepy responses from Craigslist job postings I was beginning to give up hope. Then I discovered the secret way all college girls in Manhattan come up with massive amounts of money in a very short time by doing little to nothing. I became a nanny!

I am a firm believer that some things are too good to be true. Becoming a nanny shook this belief to its core. How many jobs do you get paid $15-$20 an hour to play with small children until they fall asleep and then watch TV and eat their parents food while you continue to get paid this obscene hourly rate to do virtually nothing?! This job requires no education, a few solid references, and basic people skills. Anyone could do it. Some have even turned it into a six-figure career. (Covert)

Naturally I hopped right on this free money train and began my adventures in nannying. I got to hangout in nice apartments, eat food I wasn’t able to afford, and play with all sorts of really expensive toys, all the time! Not only did I actually like this job, but the pay was definitely improving my quality of life. I could actually afford to go out with my friends, and take a cab home! Then, as if my job wasn’t great enough. I got a promotion (Nanny style)! I became, the coveted weekend nanny. To be continued...

Milligan, Laura. "100 AWESOME RAMEN RECIPES FOR STARVING COLLEGE STUDENTS." Online Colleges, 12 01 2009. Web. Web. 26 Sep. 2012.

Covert, Bryce. "Nannies Making Six-figures? What Childcare Workers Really Take Home." Forbes. 02 04 2012: n. page. Web. 26 Sep. 2012. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/brycecovert/2012/04/02/nannies-making-six-figures-what-childcare-workers-really-take-home/>.

Blog 6

      This blog is about one thing, and one thing only. My absolute favorite thing in 

New York. The Met is a world-renowned museum of art. It is located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side on the edge of Central Park. It is one of the worlds largest art galleries, with over two million works. But the Met is not my favorite thing, Cake and Shake is. It is a little blue food truck parked right in front of the Met. It is possibly the greatest thing ever invented, it’s like God smiled upon this specific place and put one purely perfect thing in this world. They sell all-organic cupcakes and have eight different flavors of shakes. Most people set off to the Met in anticipation of the culture and history they are about to immerse themselves in. I, on the other hand, immerse myself in a delicious yellow cupcake with Tahitian vanilla pastry cream and Valhrona chocolate butter creme. Otherwise known as a Moon Pie. 

Let me tell you about my very first time experiencing this life changing cupcake. One crisp fall day last fall I got into a taxi, on a mission with several classmates to get extra credit for Western Civ by going to this stupid exhibit at the Met. All I could think of (other than the fact that 8:30a.m. is an ungodly time for a museum to open) was that I should have hit up the McDonald’s next to my apartment building for an Egg McMuffin... or four. My friends, who have experienced tired and hungry Amanda, promised to feed me as soon as we got out of the cab, before my wrath was fully unleashed. 

As we reached the Met, I bolted from the cab in search of food, and a flash of blue caught my eye. I distinctly remember noticing the cart because it was the exact shade of blue as a Tiffany’s box, which all girls so greatly adore. This cart looked much cuter than the typical halal truck I saw on the street everyday. I got in line and peered over shoulders to view the menu. What I saw on that menu almost made me pass out from sheer ecstasy.  A truck devoted solely to cupcakes and milkshakes! God was obviously smiling upon me when he placed this mecca right in my path on my way to Met. 

After literally a half hour of playing eenie-meenie-minie-moe on the menu (because all the cupcake descriptions looked so delicious I couldn’t possibly choose), I had made a decision. I gave my order to the lady in the truck and waited impatiently.  She reached into the glass and gently picked up a magnificent work of art, with its creamy chocolate frosting swirled on top and biodegradable wrapper, and handed it to me. 

Artists spend their lives making something beautiful that can be shared with the world. The great artisans of Cake and Shake did the same thing for me that day. Most people come to the Met to be enlightened by what is inside, but I was deeply  touched by what sits outside. It wasn’t The Birth of Venus by Botticelli, or Starry Night by Van Gogh, or The Love Letter by Vermeer, but it was the Moon Pie by Cake and Shake.

Blog 5

I’ve gotten a lot of comments asking how I afforded to live in Manhattan. Things are really expensive there. The price of living in New York is well above the rest of the country. Last year the great people of New York spent 7 billion dollars just on entertainment expenditures. (Discover America.) Here are some of my contributions, let’s go go through some of the ridiculously overpriced items I decided I couldn’t live without. Take the dollar menu at McDonald’s.... oh wait, there isn’t one. Everything at McDonald’s is literally double the price which really defeats the point of going there because, lets be honest, they aren’t exactly known for their gourmet quality. (And don’t even get me started on the seven dollar foot long, I’m still not over that one). 

 

So I set my fast food efforts on a new endeavor, Chipotle. But wait, guacamole is $3.75? I can’t even get a burrito bowl for less than eleven dollars now! So I went to a place I knew I could never go hungry, Olive Garden. Even if everything was two dollars more on the menu, I still got unlimited soup and salad! (Plus all of my friends thought it was really entertaining to go to the Times Square Olive Garden and talk in British accents and pretend we were tourists) 

....I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you right. YOU CHARGE FOR EACH EXTRA SALAD AND BREADSTICKS?! That is un-American. 

After that unfortunate experience I decided to go on a strict diet of Marlboro lights and Coke Zero because I obviously could not afford food. I’m really not sure why so many people in New York smoke. Sure, its a stressful place and nicotine does help to take the edge off, but cigarettes are roughly thirteen dollars a pack. That’s almost three times as much as what they cost in Virginia. I was ready to stock up while I was home and set up a cigarette and lemonade stand outside of NYU as my after-school job. That could easily become a six figure salary if what I was learning in Economics about price competition was correct. Since my luck was going oh so well, Mayor Bloomberg also decided to ban extra large sodas around this time in an effort to curb obesity.  

“NEW YORKERS, YOU HAVE TO WALK EVERYWHERE YOU GO AND FOOD IS UNGODLY EXPENSIVE, WHY ARE YOU OBESE?!”

So at this point I had no food, cigarettes, or large caffeinated beverages. And you all wonder why I came home.




"NYC Go." Discover America. NYC & Company, Inc., 2012. Web. 19 Sep 2012. http://www.nycgo.com/articles/nyc-statistics-page

Blog 4

New York was surprisingly easy to get used too. Things that seemed so weird at first, like being able to walk everywhere you wanted to go, the dollar pizza on every corner becoming a primary food group, and celebrity stalking after classes quickly became part of the regular routine. Many things were really just variations of the things I went through everyday living in Northern Virginia, like riding in a car versus riding on the subway.

Traffic is at its worst in the morning when people are going to work, and in the evening when people are coming home from work. The subways are also jammed with people at these times, and the trains run every four minutes instead of every 7 during peak times. You would think that it would be much easier to ride the subway during rush hour than sit on 95 for two hours every morning. Think again. You will never appreciate sitting in a nice air conditioned cars staring into the abyss of headlights in front of you until you ride the subway at 5pm every day and are crammed in the cars like sardines with your nose pressed into someone’s back. Not to mention, when you are in your car, the worst thing you have to smell is some leftover McDonald’s breakfast wraps or possibly a skunk. On the subway you get up close and personal with everyone whose deodorant wore off at some point during the day. I actually came home and was thankful to sit in traffic. It’s funny the things you come to appreciate.

Another similarity between riding in a car and riding on the subway is the creepers. You know, sometimes when you’re riding in your car and you stop at a light, you look over and a creepy guy is leering at you looking for an excuse to talk to you. When these things happen you just turn your music up, roll up the window, and keep your eyes straight ahead until the light changes and you can peel out. However, you do not have this luxury on the subway. When a creepy guy comes and sits next to you and tells you he came to America looking for a wife, you do not have the luxury of rolling up your window. This is where pepper spray comes in handy. So the next time you’re stuck in traffic and the guy in the car next to you is bordering on sexual harassment. Be thankful.

Blog 3

When applying for college I sort of felt like I was applying for two separate people. One person wanted to go to a huge university so that she could join a sorority and go to football games and participate in “the ultimate college experience.” The other person wanted to fulfill her childhood dream of going to New York City and living that shiny plastic life she had seen in magazines. When it all came down to it, the decision was incredibly clear. Now I’d like to tell you all that it was divine inspiration that sent me to New York, and that I was so sure that this was the place I was supposed to be. It was nothing like that, I faced the reality that all kids face when going to college, money.

Obviously, the living costs were much higher in Manhattan. But, because I was paying my school for housing and I received a half tuition scholarship based on my SAT scores, that $40,000 a year tuition quickly turned in $20,000. Because I am a genius and always think things through, going to New York ended up being significantly cheaper than all the private and out of state universities I had chosen because of the scholarship money even with the astronomical price of living. My apartment alone without the schools help would have been $3,300 a month so the way I saw it, I was essentially going to school for free! I’m not sure that’s exactly how my parents saw it though. They saw $20,000 a year spent funding my 9 month vacation to New York because the typical college student today spends less than 30 hours a week on academics. (“Economic Collapse”) LOLOLOL IF THAT!

So this is why I chose The King’s College. Not because of its outstanding academic credentials, or impressive list of academia, or because it was located in the greatest city in the world. But because it was cheap… and not even that cheap. Sure, New York has amazing internship opportunities, I interned at a PR firm for 6 months (but we’ll get to that). My school also had a fantastic media program and John Stossel even came in all the time to do guest lectures, but that wasn’t exactly my primary reason for going. Statistics show that 2/3 of all students graduate with student loans (“Economic Collapse”) and I was going to try my hardest to be in that 33.3% without student loans. So you see, I wasn’t this small town girl who left everything she knew to make it in the big city. I was just a broke college kid.

"Student Loan Debt Hell: 21 Statistics That Will Make You Think Twice About Going To College." The Economic Collapse. WordPress, 28 04 2011. Web. Web. 12 Sep. 2012. <http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/student-loan-debt-hell-21-statistics-that-will-make-you-think-twice-about-going-to-college>.

Blog 2

         I’m not sure how normal college freshman feel their first night away from home. No part of my college experience was shaping up to be anything typical, but I imagine the things going through my head were similar to others leaving home for the first time. I was euphoric to be out on my own, after the age of 12 I saw very little need for parental supervision. Six years later, it was looking like my parents thinking had finally caught up. Nevertheless, it was still weird to be sleeping in my own apartment (plus two new roommates I went to school with) after being the room down the hall from my parents the past 18 years. Besides, it was a very nice apartment. Granted, it cost more per month than my parent’s house in Virginia but for Manhattan real estate prices (and a subsidy from student housing) I wasn’t doing too bad.

I was attending The King’s College, located on multiple floors of the Empire State Building. Yeah, as in King Kong, Sleepless in Seattle, that Empire State Building. As all my friends were getting their picture taken for there JMU student ID’s, I was getting my ESB access pass. I had chosen New York because I was tired of having the same boring routine day in and day out.

Going to New York was like trading up for an entirely different life. Nothing was the same. I took the subway everywhere instead of hopping in my car and battling the traffic on 95. I had my groceries delivered because it was exhausting to walk 10 blocks with a gallon of milk and frozen peas. It’s a good thing my mom gave me a cookbook for graduation because my school had absolutely no meal plan. I was much more fortunate than most of my classmates who didn’t know how to make anything but EZ-mac and ramen. My roommates actually started calling me mini-Martha after awhile because I got in the habit of cooking when I was stressed. Let me tell you, living on your own in the middle of New York City is very stressful. All the practice made me quite the chef by the end of the semester. 

Blog 1

       After getting accepted into college, I thought the hard part was over. I couldn’t have been more wrong. One of the most trying experiences a college freshman will face (especially a female freshman) is fitting everything needed for your apartment into the car. 13 boxes, 3 plastic tubs, and 4 suitcases later the mini van was stuffed to the brim. Driving up 95, I was so ready to spend Saturdays at the Met, go running in Central Park, and eat at an eclectic restaurant near my apartment in midtown. Behind me were the days of paying $3.50 a gallon for gas, buying things I probably didn’t need at Potomac Mills, and hanging out in someone’s basement every weekend. I had an idealized notion that everything there was just... better.

        After arriving in New York, everything seemed bigger and better. Walking down the street, my eyes were bright and sparkling and I had a smile that threatened to take over my entire face. I remember thinking to myself, I love it here. This is what I always wanted. The click of my heels walking down the pavement on 6th avenue was barely audible over the roar of taxis and food vendors trying to make a sale. Everywhere I looked I saw a famous landmark or a place featured in one of the movies I had devoured when day dreaming about my future. The feeling simply knowing that this was mine, I lived here now, was intoxicating. 

I loved the fact that there were as many people on the sidewalk at midnight as there was in the middle of the afternoon. There was always something to do, things didn’t close at 10! There was 24-hour takeout, movies, diners, and if it got really boring, Times Square was only 5 blocks from my apartment. Everything was perfect, I could wear ridiculous outfits that I could never get away with in Virginia because so many people in New York look like they just fell out of the latest issue of Vogue. 

New York lived up to all my expectations. I had permanent butterflies in my stomach from the constant excitement. I had only been there a week and I had seen a taping of Good Morning America, gotten my picture taken with Daniel Radcliffe, and had Taylor Swift compliment my outfit. Was this real life?

Introduction

Hello everyone!

My name is Amanda H. and I am in my first semester at Northern Virginia Community College. However, this is not my first semester in college. Last year I attended a small private school in Manhattan. As I graduated from high school, I was sure I was ready to get out of Woodbridge and live on my own. I couldn’t wait to live the life I saw in movies and TV shows depicting the glamourous and exciting times awaiting me in New York. Carrie Bradshaw made being a single girl in New York look so exciting, how hard could it be? I thought I was getting to live the fantasy I always wanted, I was ready for a change. I was sick of traffic, of seeing the same people at chipotle week after week, and living in suburban hell where every house on the street looked exactly the same. I was ready to live that life everyone could only dream of in the greatest city in the world. This blog will talk about my experiences in the concrete jungle and compare it to my previous (and once again current) humble suburban upbringing. I will also discuss the differences between a small conservative Christian school and a large, diverse community college. I hope to show you all through first hand experience that sometimes, you had what you wanted all along.