Before getting to the States I had imagined it as a totally different place than that I experienced. I thought it would feel like a different world, but it did not. When we came out of the airport I was thinking only one thing, “How come it still feels like the same world?”. I was expecting to feel a rush of excitement as soon as I arrived but it wasn’t happening (I guess the only way to feel out of this world is going to outer space). New York wasn’t exactly what I had imagined, the buildings weren’t that impressive and there were trees! However; that is not a surprise since I was in New Jersey. I hadn’t realized that yet.
Throughout the whole trip, I was amazed by how many immigrants there were. Everywhere, in shops, the streets, restaurants, New Jersey or New York, there were so many immigrants, so many that it doesn’t feel so much like the USA but a place that belonged to nowhere, no one. As opposed to Costa Rica where one would only see diversity in tourist areas, there you would see people from all over the world as you walk down the streets.
Oh, and by the way, it is not walk down the streets but rather run down the streets. As Costa Ricans, I think Mateo and I could really feel how New Yorkers are always in a rush. Costa Ricans move slow. It is a generalization, but myths always have a little bit of truth. We all know about ‘Tico time’, we don’t have the culture of always being punctual, whereas, Americans are very punctual, and in the streets of New York you have to rush if you want to get somewhere on time. Everything is so much faster, one would rush through the overwhelming amount of people who are also in a rush, stopping a moment to tie your shoes could be a terrible decision since it takes just a few seconds to lose sight of someone in the Big Apple.
In life we need new experiences, something to keep us going. We need new things to stay excited about what is coming next. However, if too many new experiences come over and over, non-stop, we lose our ability to be amazed. The latter is the case for lots of people in and around Manhattan. From a guy walking around with a lizard on his shoulder to a model filming an ad in the streets; the most crazy scenarios you could imagine didn’t even make locals look twice.
Manhattan has so many people from all over that one could stay there for months without being able to see all of its culture. Manhattan is full of things to see and you don’t have to go any further than the street to see them.