Start-of-April/Spring thoughts

Cliche as it sounds, but time does fly, isn't it?

3 months have passed, 53 days before I leave New York City. Last Saturday, I took Engsiang to take a look at Stern from the outside, and I suddenly recalled this picture. I remember I was quite impressed with Stern's Tisch Hall and Kaufmann Management Centre when I first arrived... that picture was taken 3 days after I landed here, when the Stern building was still a novelty. Now, I'm so used to seeing it everyday, that I don't even look at it... in fact, I'm usually dashing towards it, trying to make it in time for classes. When I get back to NUS, I wonder whether I'll suddenly remember, and miss seeing such a nice building.

Today, I saw cherry blossoms while walking back from school... spring is here, or at least, it's coming really soon. I still remember the cold when I first got here, and the horrid cold in Febraury, when the temperatures dropped way below 0 degrees... freezing while waiting for the NYU bus, I hoped for spring each morning.

Now, it's never too cold to walk to school comfortably... and I walk so fast. I've always liked walking, and I used to think that I would walk a different route every day, to check out the different food and little shops in every street... but I've been walking the exact same route almost everyday. I'm so used to turning the corner at 23rd street, then walking down to Stern along 3rd Avenue, passing the same diners, same grocery shops... and more and more fruit stores have been popping up along the streets, and fruits have been cheaper... yet another sign, that spring is here.

I've since packed all my long sleeves tops and thermal wear into my luggage. The trench coats will go there too, as soon as possible.

I remember the first time I went to Times Square... I loved it so much that I said, 'I'm going to come here at least 5 times.' I think I've been there about 6-7 times... and I've stopped noticing the lights. Now, the shops seem boring too.

It's April, and it seems like I've gotten used to New York, learnt to live here... like I've come to know New York. Yet, there are so many things I thought I was so excited to do, but haven't. Visit Strand Bookstore, see the Metropolitan, spend hours walking around Central Park and looking at trees (I'll do this!), see Rockefeller, the statue of liberty, Brooklyn Bridge... I haven't even stepped out of Manhattan, except the brief encounter with Staten Island. (I thought I would shop all the streets of New York City... but really, I haven't been shopping that much. haha, spare me that skeptical grin.)

I'm so used to the 10-15 minute walk to the nearest subway station... navigating the subway map... frequently hopping onto the green line to grand central, then the shuttle to Times Square... but I've never taken the bus. Not that I intend to.

There was a time when I thought I've to visit somewhere new every single Friday, with the long weekends and all. Now, I can't seem to remember what I've done every single Friday.

When my friends came, it was such a novelty... We've had pizza at the restaurant below my apartment, desert at cafe mozart, random stuff from the Mc Donald's $1 menu, lunch at Kimmel (NYU's student life centre), bun and milk tea at Chinatown, shopped at Soho, stood outside the Met, tried to get tickets for a musical... the familiarity of all the old faces, smiles and comfort from our days in Hwa Chong... We could have been anywhere, in Singapore, eating, shopping at Orchard Road. The things we've always done... but how often are we here together in New York?

For me, not very often.