So I finally made it to New York. New York! I've been dreaming of this for so long, that I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly when it all started. But here I am, freshly landed, with my two bags––that are just about to explode––and a heart full of unimaginable dreams.
It hasn't been an easy process, and I don't think it will start becoming easier soon. As one of my friends recently told me: to make your dreams come true, you have to work very hard. But that's definitely a risk I'm willing to take. If I hadn't taken some risks and worked hard from the beginning, I probably wouldn't be here, in my temporary Upper West Side home, writing about finally living in New York.
And although it was my hard work on college––very relevant here because I'm a grad student now––and all the enthusiasm I put in my application to both school and my scholarship program that brought me here, there are also some small things that I'm pretty sure helped a lot.
I would say the most important one was having in mind what I wanted to do from the beginning. I realised today when I went shopping for an agenda for the semester how picky I am with such a small thing. I spent hours searching and visited more than one place to actually find one that screamed my name when I saw it.
And this whole process made me remember it was exactly the same last year. I was starting my last year in college, and the only agenda that seemed to satisfy my needs––which I guess go far beyond writing my homework and to-do lists––was one of New York. And I realised that seeing New York –and having it metaphorically in my hands– every day made me understand how important it was to me to make the move.
Then came the applications and all that stuff. But I'm absolutely certain that the most important part was to understand what I wanted and just go for it, no matter if people around me thought I was crazy or wrong. I had faith in making my dreams come true and moving to New York. And faith ––as I recently read––by nature, is persistent. Persistence, by nature, is single-minded. Single-mindedness, by nature, achieves the end it seeks.
Now that I achieved my first objective––getting to New York––I have to start following the next. It is now my responsibility to show myself what I'm capable of and start making all of my wildest dreams come true. The first one would be finding the perfect home. And then comes finding the perfect research position. I'll keep you updated on how that goes.
Love,
Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio
