Hello Harlem

It comes as no surprise that I was a sheltered as a child. As a matter of fact, I first heard of Harlem through the infamous 'Harlem Shake' in high school. Any mention of this neighborhood since then always came with negative connotations. Poverty. High crime rate. Much did I know one day I would call this place home.

However, when walking through Harlem, the poverty and crime weren't the first things I noticed. I saw a tightly-knit community with exceptional pride in their heritage and the accomplishments of their people. This was evident in signs everywhere: Sojourner Truth School, Malcolm X Avenue, Marcus Garvey Park. Sitting out on the steps weren't gun-bearing drug-dealers, but family elders sharing stories of the past with passersby and carefree, playing children. Not once, but three times I was offered help in opening a door or carrying luggage by such strangers. Not to glaze over the persistent smell of urine and inordinate amount of (hopefully) animal feces on the sidewalks, Harlem definitely reeks renovation, but there is culture to compensate.

My first real Harlem experience was the Mafrika Music Festival in Marcus Gravey Park. It was amazing. I am not really a fan of reggae, but hearing it live, in this cozy, multi-level park in the middle of the city was unlike anything I imagined. My favorite group was Brown Rice Family, whose songs 'Take Me Away', 'I Feel Like Dancing' were the best.

After that, I went to check out Columbia, nothing exciting there, except that I'm pretty sure my lab has no windows, definitely a step down from UCSF.

Finally I decided to brave the subway and head downtown. I stopped at Times Square for a grand ten minutes, long enough to see the huge flashy signs, the hordes of people (now this is how I imagined NY to be), then hopped back on subway to (further) downtown to meet up with Ravi. Got off at W 4th st and 6th Avenue, GREAT places for food here! Walked around, ate at this delicious hole-in-the-wall falafel place in Greenwich Village. Our appetites satisfied, we decided to go in pursuit of this tall building with blue lighting at the top where we kept seeing flashes, so we assumed people were up there, taking pictures. Turns out the building was much further than we imagined, about 30 or so blocks, but when we got there, we discovered it was the Empire State Building, aka tallest building in NYC post-911. So we paid the $19 and went up! AWESOME views!
Now its 1am and I have my first day of work tomorrow, good night!