Radnomness

The one thing I love and hate about the City is its randomness. There are so many people in a limited space, and I guess, everything is considered "normal".

So for example, today I went running to the Central Park with my friend. At some point we turned onto the Fifth Avenue. Needless to say, it was really challenging to run among hundreds of people walking up and down the street. But everyone seemed to consider running in the busiest street in NYC as normal and acceptable. Then I imagined if I ran in the middle of the busiest street back home, in Zagreb for example (Cvjetni Trg on a Saturday morning), I'm sure people would be at least a bit surprised or consider us to be a little bit crazy.

Yesterday I sat down in a subway and the girl who sat next to me started talking (better said, rambling) about how her pants are low cut so she needs to sit down, otherwise everyone will see her ass. And she wouldn't stop chatting for 3 stations about it until I got out of the train. Funny enough, people were looking at me to see my reaction and I was pretending as if I didn't hear anything. It would have been great to have my earplugs on in that situation.

Last night I randomly ran into a friend who did the same exchange program in Switzerland. We haven't seen each other for 6 years, and then we end up having drinks at the same rooftop.

There are endless random and funny encounters, and I'm sure there are more to come.

The Small Things in Life

Hello from NYC!

Today I officially moved to the most exciting city in the world - for me, that is, and for now :-).

I flew back to Boston to see some friends at HBS, which was lovely. It reminded me how fast life goes by, and how the circle of life is never ending: there are always new kids getting in, and the old ones graduating. The only constant is change. I guess it has to be this way. Otherwise, we would forget to appreciate the moments and situations that are given to us, we would stop learning and growing and take things and people for granted, become bored and boring at the same time.

Leaving home was hard in so many ways. I was there for 4 full months and had an incredible time with my friends and family. I was surrounded with the people who have been there with me through all of my big and small decisions, life changes, transformations, travels, career plans, education, good and bad times. It's an especially comforting feeling to be surrounded with them. It helped me reconnect to my true self and remember the important things in life.

In the very beginning of the summer (in June right after the graduation), when I had some travel plans for 2-3 weeks, I was seriously worried that I will be bored. At the end of the day, I had nothing to do, no projects, no deadlines, no work of any sort for that matter.

But as the summer progresses, I started to appreciate a slower, and certainly more balanced lifestyle. The days looked very similar but were extremely soothing for the soul and body. Eating my dad's delicious meals, running with my friends, going to the beach, playing with my nephew, going for dinners and drinks, playing cards, chatting with my mom and sister about our life plans, skyping with the friends all over the world. There were so many small things to do in a day, but things that matter. Seeing the first time my nephew clapped, or being there for my dear friends' wedding ceremony and preparation, or enjoying the sunset on the beach in October (the summer was particularly long this year). All these things don't add substantial value to the world, or could not be qualified as doing something efficient or productive. But for some reason, it made a lot of sense to just be there. There was a lot of emotional value added to both myself and, hopefully, people around me.

The decision to be at home for the whole summer will definitely pass the "deathbed" test. It's a test that I use to make big decisions. It goes as follows; any time I need to make a big decision, I ask myself a question: How will I feel about this decision when I'm on my deathbed, and where nothing matters any more. Will I regret doing or not doing something? The decision to spend the summer with my loved ones absolutely passes that test.

Now I feel reinvigorated and ready to start a new chapter in NYC. I can already tell it will be exciting and draining at the same time. Stay tuned for more on my adventures here.