(Originally Published April 14th, 2013 a few days after first arriving to the city)

New York. It's dirty, expensive, loud and busy. Full of pretense and yet so raw. A city with layers of history and yet, it is modernity on which it operates; out with the old and in with the new. Fitting, I suppose, given it's name and provenance. New York - a new start, in a new place, as true 300 years ago as it is today.

They say that New York is the place that dreams are made of (or so say Frank, Jay-z and Alicia, anyway). And despite myself - despite my ultimate love for London and stubborn conviction that that the West Coast is the 'Best' Coast - I believe it.

Although the subway doesn't run efficiently (by comparison the London Underground is a Swiss dream) and the streets smell funny (if you aren't careful a mis-placed step might mean you will smell funny as well), I must admit that there is something about this place.

The potential of this city is as thick as it's humid air. Just walking down the street you sense that at any moment your life could change on a chance - for better or worse. And it is that potential - that chance for greatness - which seems to drive people on. Everyone here seems ambitious in one way or another. Be it to climb the corporate ladder or get a place on Broadway, in New York whatever you dream, big or small, it feels possible (initially, at least). And it is all these different people, with different dreams, these 8 million+ people who crowd this City's streets that make New York an unbearable place to be while simultaneously the most exciting place on earth to find yourself. If there ever was a melting pot, this is it. There is not one way to describe the culture or the people, for they are many. Too many. Whatever you want to find or be, you will find it in NYC.

Even though I have only been here one week, New York feels like a drug. And I can already see myself being pulled in by it's gravity. But willingly so. The restaurants and cafes; the galleries, parks and inner city squares; the people and the streets - each has its charm. I feel like Alice and the rabbit hole. Not quite sure what I am getting into and not yet sure if it is a good or bad thing. But I am clinging to the adrenaline of the city and the hope of happenstance, for that chance meeting, side step, conversation or city walk which might forever change the course I am taking.

This is just the intro - first impressions, if you will. There already are and will be so many stories to tell. Some are familiar - such as that first Broadway Show (mine was Jersey Boys, last Friday, if you must know) or the view from the Top of the Rock or Empire State building. Other stories, less so. Meeting an artist in a cafe and having a spontaneous chat about Morocco and world travels (he asked if I was from Morocco! A definite first for me), for example. Or catching up with old friends in a bar, only to realize - as if all of a sudden - its 2am, the bar is still open and the night is no where near finished.

But here I am in New York - a New Yorker still to be.

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