New York

Santiago Arroba
Zeta Psi

Ever since I was eight, I’ve traveled to New York once or twice a year to visit my dad, and it seems that each trip is better than the last. I’m going to go ahead and reassure everyone that I love the South and always will, but New York City is the best place in the world.  Call me a Yankee all you want, but I guarantee one good trip to the Big Apple (and when I say good trip I don’t mean that touristy crap) and you too will be converted.

More so than any other place I’ve visited (and I’ve been to big cities up and down the East Coast, South America and Europe), NYC is packed full of activities.  From eating international cuisines, to seeing creative shows on Broadway and shopping like nowhere else on earth, New York City—with its 722 miles of subway track (thanks Snapple Facts)— has it all.

Let’s start with the food.  Where else can you get off the subway and see a genuine Chinese-fusion restaurant next to a gluten-free bakery and across from an authentic mom-and-pop style Italian joint? In my travels to this wonderful city I have found that prices can be deceiving. A $10 meal can often beat a $100 meal.

For example, near 8th street and Astor Place in Manhattan, there is a Thai restaurant called Klong, where you can eat the best green curry or pad Thai in the world for $7.  Just as easily, you could go to Ruby Foo’s between 49th and 50th Street on Broadway and drop $40 for the same dish. Then again, I’m guessing the rent on a restaurant on Broadway may be a little higher than the rent for one on 8th Street.

Besides offering delicious food at random prices, New York also has some of the greatest shows you could see.  This past trip I saw Memphis, the Tony Award winning musical about racism in Rock and Roll music during the '50s.  The show-stopping tunes and “hockadoo!” story line kept even the oldest of us (my father) on the edge of our seats. 

Just as easily, you could be waiting for the subway, and a hip-hop dance troupe breaks out into a routine, spinning on their heads and doing all sorts of crazy things with their bodies.  These shows are amazing and can often be underappreciated. I once read about an award winning orchestra violinist who played a free show at a station, and nobody knew who he was.

Finally, the shopping is fantastic.  I generally hate shopping in a mall and being dragged around by whatever woman tricked me into going to Southpoint or Crab Tree with her. But shopping in New York is different.  You can go to China Town and buy imitation Ray Bans for $5 and then walk a few blocks over to 5th Avenue and compare them to the real thing.  And sometimes you can’t tell the difference at all.

There’s one store in particular that I always try to go to.  Paragon Sports, on 14th Street near Union Square has the frattiest clothing of any store I’ve gone to.  It’s like they said "Yeah you can buy snowboards and hiking gear, but there’s also Vineyard Vines, Polo, and any other pastel polo with whatever little logo you want on the chest."  This trip I found Patagonia T-Snaps for $50, when they generally sell for twice that. 

All in all, these trips are what you decide to make them. They can be cheap or expensive, delicious, harmonious and entertaining. Coming to the city and seeing just a fraction of what it has to offer reminds me that there’s more to life than drooling on a textbook in Davis library. I highly recommend a visit to the city for anyone who wants to see culture and have a good time. Yet because of their lack of sweet tea, I couldn’t live there.