I have been in New york for almost four weeks now and its been one of the biggest learning curves of my life.  Strong words I know, but this place has a penchant for fostering Big talk.  Big action.  Big Apple…

Arriving in NYC was as imagined, a dream come true.  I sat in a yellow cab, coming over the Brooklyn Bridge slowly watching the city approach.  As it grew on either side of the endless horizon Manhattan seemed to me to stand like I imagine ancient Rome did, the gleaming capital of the empire.  There is nothing on earth that is like it insofar as the scale and reach of this concrete jungle. 

Now while America is for Americans, New York City, belongs to the world.  8.5 million people live in and around New York and all go about their business-as-usual darting around like special little ants in one helluva special ant hill.  In a given year, there are 35 million visitors to New York from every corner of the planet.  It reminds me a lot of Johannesburg with regards to its diversity but this is on a far greater scale; with every shape, colour, size, ethnicity, mix, mould and proclivity.  If they live on earth, some of em live in New York.  And there is probably an area somewhere in all the madness that is New York and its boroughs that is their cultural hub.

The city is insanely efficient.  The non stop service, Subway transit system and the 24 metro bus system both work hand in hand to get you anywhere you want at anytime you need to get there.  Yes its true that at 3am while drunkenly waiting for your train you may have to wait longer than normal but trust me the train will come.  But if like me, you couldn't be arsed to stand out in the cold a second longer, you can easily take a fairly inexpensive yellow cab home.  Thats the thing, everything is monitored and getting scammed isn't de rigueur.  It is a rather nice change for me that the system is made to service the citizen.  And the citizen is protected within that system.  Which leads me to NY's safety.  While i havent ventured into too dodgy an area late at night, I feel completely and totally safe everywhere I go.  I have been told by locals that New York is probably safer than it has ever been at the moment what with armed cops in the subways and on trains and patrolling etc.  Mind you they are all trying to sniff out the next possible terrorist attack but the lucky off shoot is that petty crime etc is down to almost nothing.

The city accommodates almost any budget.  And though on the whole it is a very expensive place compared to my home Johannesburg, it is also at times alarmingly cheap in certain areas and with regards to certain things.  Take a subway to the Bronx and the same bottled water that costs a dollar in my area goes down to 25p.  It’s simply a matter of knowing where to go.  And the list of places to go is innumerable.  Chinatown, Little Italy, Jackson Heights the Indian area, Brighton beach the Russian quarter, Soho and midtown, where all the cool kids work and play.  The list of things to do is unending; the art scene with its incredible museums and galleries.  For example, my first visit to a gallery, MOMA, the museum of Modern art yielded a first hand up close view of Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Starry night’, a host of Picasso and Monet paintings, two of Frida Kahlo’s beautiful nightmares and even a Matisse.  The nightlife is so vast and that one could live here for years and years and perhaps only visit a small percentage of establishments.  Whatever you listen to, whatever your lean, you’ll find it.  The same can be said for almost anything else – food, cinema, music, sports, socialising, etc.

But options like these do have a downside,  I wonder how many people have a local, a place where most people know their names?  I guess as with everything,  it’s all a little give and take.  But I don't see too many people complaining about all the choice so...

  

I live in the Upper West Side which is a rather posh area with lots of wealthy families and lovely apartment buildings.  HOWEVER, the residence I live in, the Amsterdam residence, is something else entirely  :)

Since arriving, my friend Leila and i have renamed it, “The house of no fun”, what with its one million rules and surly unfriendly inhabitants.   I had hoped for a group of party fiends and friendly internationals but this place seems to foster a lack of conversation and an altogether unapproachable demeanour in its residents.  No matter though, I am lucky enough to have two of my fellow classmates from the New York Film Academy suffering along with me in this prison boat.  We have started trying to spread some cheer but as yet to no avail.  Perhaps we need to try harder.  But at least in our temporary at-home misery, we have company. 

My room, mind you, though rather 'first year' in dimension is still a little fortress of solitude and sanity, a place away from the hustle and bustle of this crazy incredible city.  I never experienced the university residence thing, having always studied and worked in the same city as my family.  This ripe old age is as good a time as any to embrace college life I guess.

In terms of studying, I have been so happy with my choice of course.  Though at times daunting and challenging, its a wonderful introduction to what true actor training is; to the craft.  And a craft it is, one that has to be honed and sharpened and made honest and real.

Lectures are almost completely practical and they tend to involve long days learning lines from scenes and monologues and practicing techniques aimed at understanding one’s inner life and accessing emotion in a very real and moment to moment manner.   I do however realise that this tiny introductory course is just that and to take this further would involve a much more intensive long program to truly delve into the depths of creating interesting characters and making them live again and again, night after night, take after take.  I am understandably intrigued by the possibilities the future holds insofar as my choices for the next few years go.

I am also very lucky to have an amazing group of fellow classmates, many of which I will carry with me far beyond this short 8 week stint.  Friends.  Though many of them are rather much younger than me, we have in a short period of time bonded closely which has definitely made the journey away from home and my roots far more bearable.  Most of us come from places far and wide so I think we understand how lonely this place of 9 million people can sometimes be.  And our shared aspirations definitely help with understanding one another.

Sadly the weather has gripped tightly onto Winter and Spring is yet to make its appearance.  But at least April showers have begun which will welcome some green back into the world here.   I arrived with a bag full of tshirts.  And were it not for my aunt Corrie loading me up with jackets when I first arrived, i may have been a popsicle by now.  I was also completely moved and so grateful for a huge box that arrived from one Leigh Farrell.  A very long time ago we were in grade school together.  She has been in the US for many years and upon hearing about my trip she contacted me and stayed in contact checking  in on me all the time and being so sweet and kind knowing the feeling of arriving in the United States alone.    My treat box was filled with wonderful things like Maritzburg masala, snacks, cutlery, candy, chips etc etc.  It really is amazing how childhood friends who lost contact so long ago, could reignite a friendship in a new land and just kinda pick up where we left of.


So here I sit at my halfway point, with so much inside me already changed by the beautiful monster that is New York.   At its best New York is energy and life and the speed of light, you can do anything, be anyone, make it as far and as high as you dream, all night fun, too much fun, a place you wanna absorb, the city that never sleeps!

At its worst its a pushy, unfriendly, unapproachable, too little time, get out the way, too many people, too many places, no real heart, lonely monstrosity.  But that is its beauty, the knife edge on which heaven and hell exist.  The high and the low.  The infinite high and the desolate low.  And thats why everyone keeps coming back.  Cos in the words of Old Blue Eyes, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere...