It’s Back to School!

Back in elementary school my mom would always buy me a new pair of jeans for the new school year, so I have come to associate the smell of new denim as an indicator of going back to school and the beginning of autumn.

Of course, in the Seattle area there is usually a pretty good chance that the first day of school is cool enough to wear jeans. It’s a different story here in New York City and the brand new pair of jeans sitting eagerly in the bottom of my drawer will have to wait, as I opt to wear a much cooler sun dress for the first day.

Kids cooling down in the Washington Square Park fountain.

It’s the hottest it’s been all summer (at least it is for me) and I feel like I’ve been complaining about the heat a little too much. It has been an adjustment, but the mugginess also brings a unique feeling to the city that is hard to find elsewhere. It’s amazing to be walking down the street when a door to a shop opens and cold air flows out as if it is a refrigerator and you are a bowl of hot soup. It’s also fun to sit in the park eating soft serve ice cream and watch kids and dogs roll around in the dirty fountain water.

Art in the Village.

It’s only been a week, but it feels like I’ve been in New York for much longer than that because we’ve been filling every day with as much fun things as possible. I’m not sure how I will be able to transition from going on picnics in Central Park and super-hot-and-sweaty-but-still-really-fun bus tours to sitting in two hour lectures, reading French literature, and writing essays.

The bus tour–when we were still in the shade.

In the past week I’ve also learned so much about the city that I never knew before, like that the best kind of pizza is the “one dollah pizza” and that a play is considered Off Broadway when it’s in a theater with less than 500 seats, and that fresh squeezed juice stands are incredibly popular right now.

Hanging out in the East Village on a hot afternoon.

So even though I still feel like I’m on summer vacation, I am really looking forward to focusing on my studies (no, seriously) while at the same time trying to cram in as much information about the city so that I can be a true New Yorker.

Hope everyone has a good first day of school!

XOLily