There's very little you're not exposed to in New York City, in terms of ideas and physical things - sights, sounds, smells, different kinds of people. But one good thing about growing up fast is you get over it fast, too.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
When you grow up in the city, New York is so big that you can kind of stay in your own little corner of the city and think that that's it because you don't need anything. You don't have to venture out; you don't have to touch the boroughs. You can kind of stay in your neighborhood, and there's everything there.
I really believe that you grow up a certain way in New York. There's a New York morality, a sense of loyalty. You know how to win and lose. There's a thousand kids outside, you know who to push and who not to push. There's a sixth sense you develop just because it's New York.
What I'll remember about New York is growing up really fast.
The culture of New York is just impossible to replicate. It's such an incredible feeling to be walking on the streets of New York. You can literally find everything you need in a five block radius oftentimes.
One good and bad thing about New York is there's so much exciting stuff and so many people doing something interesting. I actually find in New York that you become more careerist and more focused on what's the newest, hippest thing.
I've never lived in New York. I've never done a play off or on Broadway, so I think that's in my future. Have that experience - get a little apartment in the city and grow a beard and walk around with earbuds in my ears, and a stocking cap and a big giant scarf.
When you move to New York, especially, you feel like you need to be something.
New York is a much more bourgeois city, more of a tourist attraction than a muscular metropolis. It's lost moxie and a rough energy, while gaining grace and friendliness. I love both versions of the city, but I wish the prosperous Manhattan would become a little easier for young people to afford.
New York is an ugly city, a dirty city... 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.
The beautiful thing about New York is, you have to expose yourself to other people the minute you step outside the door. There is no choice. And I love that.