Alas, I am back in the real world but I think the break was really, really good for me and very much needed. Before I went away I was eating terribly, not exercising and not really enjoying my time here or even trying to. Since I've unwound, cleaned my room and prepped myself for the rest of the semester I have already been cooking more (meaning the food is quite a bit healthier), started attending yoga regularly, and have forced myself to get out of the house and attempt to be social on a few occasions. Plus my schoolwork is finally starting to go somewhere and I've just realized today that I am, in fact, graduating from law school in a matter of weeks!
St. Patrick's Day is supposed to be really fun in NYC. There's a parade, tons of Irish ex-pats and "Irish" (meaning they think they're Irish but they're actually Americans) people alike to celebrate. Being a fan of the color green, foreign accents and good parties, I was pretty excited about the holiday. I missed the parade due to having a class at that time, but did a mini pub crawl on my own starting around 3:30pm. I went to two Irish bars in Murray Hill, both of which were disappointing, then hit a standard bar near NYU that was a little better but still not worth staying long.
One bar in Murray Hill, Failte, is supposed to be the best Irish/Whiskey bar in Manhattan. If that's the best then I can't imagine the worst bar! I've been to Failte twice now and feel that I can safely say that the beer is mediocre and over-priced, the patrons and bar tenders lack personality or a real sense of a good time, and the bar itself rests far too heavily on being an "Irish bar" to have personality- thus it has no personality! The place doesn't even have proper seating to hang out with friends or meet new people, so everyone just sort of stands around not talking to one another looking uncomfortable. In the end a room with whiskey on the shelves playing Flogging Molly over the sound system does not an Irish bar make. Needless to say I won't be returning to that bar but my classmates have told me that a nice chill place to check out for a good beer selection is a place called Perfect Pint.
Once I got to Bleecker St Bar near NYU I was at least able to get a $4 beer and watch some soccer. That was at least entertaining. I was headed home by 6:30pm, a little tipsy and generally disappointed. I've decided that St. P's in Roanoke, VA is more fun than here and that's REALLY saying something. I'm learning that, as my classmate put it, NYC is a very co-dependent city. You really can't just head out for an evening on your own and expect to meet friends or even have a good time. This is a city where you make plans with a group and entertain one another throughout the night and generally fail to mingle with others or meet new people.
This begs the question, how to New Yorkers get laid? If the social scene discourages co-mingling of groups of friends or just being outgoing to others at bars then I guess those New Yorkers who do manage to date are meeting their dates through friends or online services??? This realization is giving a whole new meaning to the saying "the loneliest place on Earth." It goes without saying at this point that I'm finding that NYC is just not for me. I need a city where people are comfortable talking to strangers and becoming friends, where random acts of socialization are encouraged, where newcomers are helped to feel like part of the community rather to find their niche if they dare.
So I guess I'll be moving to Alaska.....
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