"The only way out is in."
-Junot Diaz, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
I truly believe that this may be the only way to lead your life. Confront it. Perhaps the only way to expand ourselves is to look within ourselves.
Let's start at the beginning. I consider myself a bona fide New Yorker. Usually it is at this point where my friend Bari will interrupt to remind me that I grew up in Scarsdale and lived down the street from the Girl Scout House. Sigh. Technically, she is right. But like all good posers, I avoid this technicality with a battery of excuses I keep at my disposal: My father's side of the family lives in Manhattan; I've been going there every weekend since grade school; I've even been out to Randall's Island, and most real New Yorkers don't even go there.
Though I'm ashamed to admit, I have and do use these excuses when someone challenges my New York-iness, but mostly because I don't feel like explaining why I categorize myself as a city girl. I call myself a New Yorker because New York is the only place where I actually feel like myself. It's the only place that doesn't judge me for my inconsistent experimentation in a particular department of my life. New York won't call me out for being one day like everyone and the next like no one. It will condone me for following the trajectory that leads me to myself, even if that path is jagged and backward. I still have a lot to learn about life, but this city, along with its public transportation, has thus far been the vehicle. Until this point.
Last June I graduated college. And while most of my friends spent their Senior Spring hunting jobs, apartments, or LSAT tutors, I knew that hunting of any kind just wasn't for me. I considered starting a website and becoming an internet mogul, but then I remembered that I'm a computer-phobe. There seemed to be no other option than to travel. I've always loved Europe. I spent a summer in Barcelona and my semester abroad in Berlin... but where to go now? Thinking aloud about my indecision one day, a friend offered London.
Hey. Why not?
So here is the scenario: in a valiant (desperate?) attempt to sate lingering curiosity, I am moving to London to nourish my travel bug... the only kind of bug that is pleasant to catch. The plan is spend 6-9 months navigating Europe without any guidelines or routine. Just me, my intuition, and my Louboutins (and in this case I hope that my intuition will serve me best).
It's through this blog I plan to document my adventure, cataloging each event big or small, comparing my old world to my new world, and consequently, marking down the changes I will inevitably undergo.
Katie takes on London. Who knows if either will survive.
