Hello my dear coursemates! :) With this story I hope to shed some light on life in New York and US through my experience, maybe have a little influence on where you choose to travel for your vacation and in most fabulous cases perhaps even encourage you to live a period of your life abroad and thereby foster huge personal growth :)

Anyway, I'll write about how I got here, about vacationing, working in NY, everyday life in NY and US, and close in with some (hopefully a little) funny stories. As for the scope of this article - yea now you're speaking my language -some sections (work, everyday life) are only about New York and not about other cities. Additionally, I have tried to stay away from criticizing life in that pointless chunk of land between the East and the West coast :)

Me:

After graduating, those who wanted to go abroad applied either through some sort of scholarship or through AIESEC. I wanted to work, so I picked the latter one. My first choices were Peru or Hong Kong, but 5 months later I was lucky enough to get something at all, which got me to a bank in Wisconsin, in the United States.

Wisconsin is known as the state of cheese: not that they make good cheese, they just have a lot of it. After a month of working for the bank I got fired: although it was a nice student town, I could not figure out a way how to keep myself happy for 18 months there without making that job to be my life.

During a few AIESEC National conferences I had attended it had struck me that all cool people were somehow from either the east or the west coast - so I moved to New York at the end of April 2002. After 10 days I was quickly lead to a wonderful position in carpentry, which I held for the next 8 months (a note: I used to believe I'm awfully bad at handicrafts). During that period of time I met tons of nice people including my present girlfriend and I look back at that time with a big smile on my face :) No worries, working on the sunny roof-tops of Manhattan and outdoors in Brooklyn with people in high spirits and building useful wooden thingies :) - quite relaxing indeed after doing time in a sprung up office environment.

I was often wondering what I really want to be, and it seemed I could never quite escape from the thoughts of computer games. Just a few hours before leaving the US in December from Chicago, I decided to stay and get a quiet care-taking job where I could prepare myself and earn money for a degree in Game Design. So that's what I've been doing ever since. Before going to that school in Canada in a year I also plan to live half a year in Brazil (that's where my girlfriend is from). It would definitely make a much more appropriate SSE-graduate vacation destination, so I will update from there :)

I was often wondering what I really want to be, and it seemed I could never quite escape from the thoughts of computer games


Vacation:

I do not advise you to come to US for holidays unless you are a group of 4+ who all got lucky with getting their visas and you'll go for at least a month-long road-trip. Or if you are just filthy rich, it is very much worth coming also. Gas is twice cheaper than in the Baltics and all necessary food costs the same. But, alas, vacationing is meant to be relaxing. If you intend to spend money in a state of relaxation in the US then you are drawn to the specs of big cities which will end up costing a lot more :) I still do not understand why people want to go to London etc for trips when it would be much more eventful and certainly cheaper to visit wonderful countries in the former Soviet Union, Asia, South-America, and Africa :) The plain ticket price is not a good argument.

Working:

US, especially NY, is a good place to earn some money to take back home if you want to collect it for your small business or apartment etc. It's rather easy and rewarding to work here. You'd live in Brooklyn and take a 30-minute subway ride to the city every day, work from 9-5, wouldn't have to worry about a thing and collect your $500 or whatever it is cash every Friday :) of which you would save 2/3. This is the kind of life practiced by people who work here to send

US, especially NY, is a good place to earn some money to take back home if you want to collect it for your small business or apartment etc

money home, middle class people going to university, or people hanging around the NY area getting ready for their big break-through in some usually artistic field. Those who can and want to, which is easier for Americans, have an office job and a more stable income.

The office income depends pretty much on your level of experience and bullyness. As you may know, they pay the annual income in US half of which you don't even see paying your taxes to the government. Besides giving you money, your job is also trying to take care of you in terms of insurance and different kind of education. : They may send you to classes once in a while and make sure that you are happy at your working place.

Talking about New York, people work really long hours and are always "on the go". Grabbing coffee for breakfast and sandwich for lunch and having them at your desk is the most common thing. Having the office job also pays off by having socializing rituals like "Happy Hours" - hanging out with your colleagues and friends at the bar after the working hours. Bars on Thursday' nights are full of 'suits' and is the worst zoo after 6pm! It's a great way to lots of people! especially if you live in the city (Manhattan)… After 7pm Manhattan is full of yuppies - young professionals, who party till 2am.

In New York, people work really long hours and are always “on the go”.

However, if you came to US/NY to earn money for your apartment, car, travel, DO NOT live in Manhattan, Your rent is going to eat 2/3 of your salary and the social life will burn the rest of it. The city is full of temptations - bars with their happy hours, nightclubs with live music 7 days a week and restaurants with the yummy cuisine. You also don't want to forget about Broadway and off-Broadway shows!

NY - everyday life:

If you're a little bit different than other people… that's cool. In New York you will discover your freakiness has a cult of followers here, and that it's been taken way beyond levels of your imagination :) So if any kind of artistic activity, or finance and chicks is your passion, NY is the place. There is market for many independent cinemas, theatres, all sorts of interesting acts, which would not make it in most other places in the world. This is the reason why many people live here, if you are one of those kind, you will feel very welcome here.

In general, one can get anything in New York, only prices vary. In a district called Coney Island one can get Pelmeni and Zelta. I once found Karums in a random little shop by beach and was very happy indeed :) If already Latvian products can be found, you can imagine how much artifacts of different places in the world have been gathered here.

On every street-corner between 6 and 9 AM there are little booths where those rushing to work can buy coffee and croissants. That is a bliss in the early morning hours, very inexpensive and fast. My co-woodworker from Estonia, being back home, misses that badly now :)

In general, one can get anything in New York, only prices vary.

Food is the thing that strikes you: even if you do not want to pay much for food, cooking at home does not make much sense. Even for the cheapest meal, prices are very low in terms of salaries: Chinese food, pizzas, Mexican, falafels, sandwiches, etc. are mostly really good. But pay $10-$30 for your meal and you will have unforgettable culinary experiences similar to what I have heard is considered high-class in the Baltics: excellent sushi, Indian, Thai, Brazilian, Vietnamese etc, countries you would not know for their cuisine.

There are gazillions of cool clubs and bars and lofts here (old industrial buildings converted to living quarters), where parties and artsy events take place. It does not get much better than in Pulkvedis or Casablanca, but there is a much bigger variety ofplaces, music, people, and drugs :) Buy Timeout, that magazine has it all.

In most places in America, you must have a car. In NY it is good not to have one: subway and buses take you everywhere 24 hours a day, and taxicabs at nights are cheap (you can switch clubs for a price of one drink). Cars get in jams and cost money to park.

Contrary to legends, New York is pretty safe. I haven't had any problems for an entire year though I have lived in many areas considered unsafe.

Subway - is filled with people who come up with all kinds of truths and lies to make money. Most perform, some preach. Nobody is criticized, even if they are really annoying.

You can get almost anything on the streets of New York. Thrown away TVs, furniture is usual. My former boss once found two boxes of very expensive champagne, unopened. And a story has it that an art gallery worker found something, which looked a lot like Picasso's sketch. He was laughed hard at by his colleagues, not any more so when he sold it for millions and quit the job.

There are internet sites where you can get an apartment in a day, find urgent jobs - like "I need someone to help me move: 2 hours = 40 bucks + donuts", or "I have a video I need edited, reply with your CV". Or if you're into kinky sex or something you can find NICE people online if you go to the right sites.

Living in Baltics one might think that making friends is not easy, one would need to travel around to be convinced of the opposite.

Then there is absolutely another dimension of which I have no idea. It is for those who make SERIOUS money here, eat at expensive places, hang out with celebrities, go to awesome parties, have expensive hobbies. I have had few conversations with some of the participants and it is clear: this is the American Dream :)

US

Although money-orientedness of so many things bothers a non-US citizen a lot, there are flashes of brilliance in certain areas outside of the coastal area of US. Living the simple man's life in Wisconsin, I discovered that:

* Movie rentals, especially the non-corporate ones, are absolutely awesome. Whether you like Hollywood or not, there are 100s of American and non-American movies which you will totally enjoy. There were periods where I rented 20 movies every month, now with my girlfriend being an aspiring film-maker I get to see only the good ones. I once considered coming to US for 2 months just to watch movies.
* TV: TV can be very entertaining or an absolutely stupid marketing machine. Many TV shows are supper-well done and their costs can only be earned back in a big country like this (The Osbournes and other reality shows, comedy shows Who's Line Is It, Saturday night live, Daily Shows, numerous drama series, sports leagues, TechTV etc. Some of these I'm definitely going to miss when I'm gone. US news programs as well as Olympic games coverage suck: they show nothing, which does not directly relate to US. Most watched news programs are very money-driven: every news-story is either a sales pitch ("Here are the top 5 earning movies for this weekend, by the way, go see Spiderman it's such an awesome movie"), telling about some kind of murders-disasters, and some celebrity news ("Billy Joel crashed into a tree today but luckily did not injure himself. By the way, he has a new play opening on Broadway next week"). So people on TV are very professional and entertaining, but the values they impose to everyone taking them seriously is what makes so many Americans a brainless mass of human flesh :)

Contrary to legends, New York is pretty safe. I haven’t had any problems for an entire year though I have lived in many areas considered unsafe.

* The Internet is fast and all the amazing massive online multiplayer games you hear about can actually be played :) That is like another extra life if you are into it. You can order fantastic things online: fresh food on FreshDirect, or how about a basketball basket on a pole, delivered home? Digital cameras/DVD-s/laptops and other cool gadgets are 1/3-1/2 cheaper than in the Baltics, buying plane tickets online is cool too.
* Co-ops are people living together in one house, sharing the maintenance duties and paying rent together.
* They have temp agencies for the unemployed: you walk in early morning and a few hours later you'll be shoveling or doing something new in a random place nearby, transport arranged. A perfect scheme for job rotation :), if only the agency didn't take a third of that already pretty miserable pay.

Living in Baltics one might think that making friends is not easy, one would need to travel around to be convinced of the opposite.

Anecdotes

While living around here, you meet funny people. Once in summer in a Jewish neighborhood I passed a building on Sunday where some young kid invited me inside. I still wasn't sure what was going on when I entered the door and saw around 50 elderly scholars with big beards praying over their books loudly. Then I was pointed to press a button on the heater 4 times to make it a little chillier in there, and after I had done that, was thanked in a major way by everybody. It was hard for me to remain serious, but later I found out that Jews cannot work on holidays, and they even have special ambulances with special non-Jewish drivers.

I have been to court for having a bottle of whiskey in my bag in a park.

We lived in a black neighborhood in Brooklyn. Our neighbor, a father of three said that if someone's messing with you, you hide a Gillette blade in your mouth and when they hold you, pull over the guy's throat with your mouth with the blade stuck out. Yeoooooww!

Lastly, in one of the museums of Manhattan there was an infamous exhibit, which simulated the human digestion system. It was a huge pipe, in one end you put in food, and in the other end comes out … s**t! :)

That's it, I wish everybody pleasant wanderings!

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