English 
Deutsch TL;DR: This post is about my experiences in the city. You want to know how bartender school went? Voilà. New York City is crazy!
The flight is calm and completely cloudy until almost the end. After 5,600 km and 905 kg of CO2 (myclimate.ch) I am approaching New York City. Coming closer, I can see the skyline towering above a giant floor of houses. It looks like a distant promise, glittering on the horizon but never fully reachable.
There is an automatic elevated train from the airport to the subway station, clean and convenient. I think, “wow, Americans can do public transport indeed if only they want to”. However, I am quickly discovering the capitalist truth: the five-minute journey costs 7.50 CHF, which I only find out about when I leave .
It's the 4th of July, the American national holiday, and of course they celebrate it decently. I'm watching the fireworks in the East River (between Manhattan and Brooklyn/Queens). The fireworks display is five ships wide. Shortly afterwards the whole crowd moves to the surrounding subway stations, with honking cars, police and fire trucks in between. Sirens and flashing lights are used all the time, as is evident again and again. In general it is a very noisy city; it also smells less clean, there’s more trash on the streets than in London (but still okay) and it's hot and humid - I'm definitely not in Europe anymore!
The next day I go to Manhattan. And suddenly it's there, this feeling that I'll have many more times in New York: I'm overwhelmed. Just overwhelmed because this city is beyond anything I've ever seen. Everything is loud here: the traffic, the outfits, the advertising, the high-rise buildings, the flow of people, the sheer number of bars and cafes. And the people themselves? Extremely colorful. People from all corners of the world do their thing here. It's electrifying!
Up to now, my experience with cities was something like: West of the river there is a collection of bars and clubs, north of the main train station a second one, a few streets further is the shopping mile, etc. etc. There are large, lively districts, but there are also residential areas in between. In Manhattan, however, you can walk for miles and miles without ever reaching a quiet area. There are - no shit - bars EVERYWHERE. Live music of consistently high quality in the bars. And you steadily meet the most exciting characters: people rapping in the street, people who look like they came from Paris Fashion Week, people on the subway in scanty leather clothing, on the way to a sex-positive party, a super-loud block party around the corner; and wherever you go, you are certainly not alone. New York takes all of its madness and just slaps it in your face. There’s no way to avoid it. Sarah Anne on Quora’s take on this:
Outside of Manhattan, you find plenty of hotspots too, but also the quieter neighborhoods. This is reflected in the numbers: an average of 11,313 residents live per square kilometer in the city proper. I'm staying in Bedford-Stuyvesant (Brooklyn) with 22,000 people/km2, while Manhattan has 28,000 people/km2 (in the Upper West Side it's even a whopping 44,000 people/km2). For comparison: Paris is also dense at 20,000 people/km2, Zurich is at 4,800 people/km2 (all figures from Wikipedia).
I can imagine that it can get too much when you live here. During my month-long visit, however, the admiration never wanes. Of course, the architecture is also striking:
More than once I wander through the urban canyons and soak up the atmosphere. I pass Times Square. A surreal place. The buildings covered in advertising are admired by crowds of tourists (yes, I'm part of them), street artists pose for photos, two dollars please, while "monks" put a "luck bracelet" in your hand, which they then don't want to take back, twenty dollars please. Fashion chains all around. This place is commercial through and through, everything is fake, I'm only of interest here as a potential source of money. I was told later that New Yorkers tend to avoid the square. Despite it all, I find it very exciting to watch how people fall for the tricks again and again. This has happened to me in the past, this time I’m prepared.
Another day I want to see the behemoth from above. There are five large observation decks; The Rockefeller Center is in the middle of the cake (haha, automatic translation) and also promoting its price, “from $34”. I decide to watch the sunset there. Big mistake. It costs $40 for adults, and a $15 surcharge between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. In addition, there is a “processing fee” of $5 without any explanation, regardless of which payment method is chosen. Nothing more than a hidden price increase. On top of that, the usual tax. So “from $34” turns into $65.25 in no time, cheeky. I won't be here any time soon, and I pay grudgingly.
Upstairs, it’s crowded. People stand in three rows along the edge of the platform. That in itself wouldn't be a problem. The problem is that the front row doesn’t show the slightest inclination move even a single millimeter. Rows 2 and 3 try to squeeze in somehow. Nothing flows, it's extremely rigid. Instagram bimbos and himbos take the same picture for minutes before looking at their cell phones again - but of course, they don't let anyone in front of them. No one comes up with the idea that everyone would be better off with a little rotation. In order to be able to take pictures at all, I have to ask and push quite aggressively, whereupon I am given space very briefly. For a moment, I wonder: If we are so selfish on a viewing platform, how are we supposed to get bigger problems under control? I quickly push the thought away.
I try to handle the whole situation with humor, but since you really don't get much out of the view, I still get a bit annoyed after a while. Luckily, soon after sunset people start leaving and I can start to enjoy the fantastic view over New York City. In total I spend about 2.5 hours there. What I learned from this: From now on I will visit viewing platforms or other major attractions solely at off-peak times!
When not in bartending school, I'm usually just walking around the different neighborhoods, going to cafes, exploring the parks, and checking out the streetscape. I go to all five boroughs. Here are 20 more photos:
And finally a few videos (they're loading a bit slow at the moment, sorry! I'm working on it).
It's a breathtaking city and I feel well here right from the start. If New York City was within train distance of Switzerland, I would move here immediately. Unfortunately that is not the case, and so the decision is much more difficult for me. Do I really want to be so far away from family and friends? Or maybe I can convince everyone to move with me 🤔
The answer will have to wait for now. On August 4th I continue by Greyhound bus to Denver.
P.S.: On June 15, 2024, long after the trip ended, I receive an email from the US. It appears to be something official. And indeed: The sender is a court. There was a class action lawsuit against Rockefeller Center's $5 processing fee and now everyone is getting their money back AND the fee is no longer charged. A small but necessary win against shady business practices.
