"not a city of realities, but of dreams"

“Sing to me one song for joy, and one for redemption
And whatever’s in between that I call mine
With the street lamp light to illuminate the gray
And the bells of New York City calling me to stay”

Throughout my stay in the city, I have often wondered about these “bells” that Josh Groban sings of. The only sounds I hear are screeching trains, wailing sirens, honking cabdrivers and hurried, angry pedestrians. I was going to close out my summer chronicles with (yet another) list of the things I’ve learned over the course of a few months here, but these past few days can no longer be repressed in my memory and I believe that my lessons will manifest themselves in the adventures here detailed.

From the day I decided to accept this internship in the city, my goal was to meet one of the city’s most valuable (in my opinion) residents: Josh Groban. Though he’s currently on tour, he often spends spare days at home in NYC and tweets about the things that he does. It always happened that he was in the same place that I had been just a day or hours earlier. I had pretty much given up hope of seeing him until yesterday when he was asked to co-host Regis and Kelly as well as David Letterman. Well you can bet that I was up hours before the sun to wait in line for R&K! I got to the studio at 4AM, how’s that for dedication! Ineffective dedication, I’m afraid. At 9AM, it became abundantly obvious that they would be taking no more of the standby line. I was pretty bummed, but girls in front of me were literally sobbing. We watched the show on a nine inch screen outside of the studio until, to our great exhilaration, Josh made his exit and came to speak to us! I got his autograph and talked to him for a brief minute and captured a couple of creepy photographs when he got back into his car.

By that time, I had made friends with the other Grobanites who were waiting for his appearance. We had spent six hours waiting together. The more I talked to them, the more I put together the pieces that led me to the understanding that there is an entire Grobanite subculture that exists—a family of people who know each other only by their FOJG (Friends of Josh Groban) usernames and who are identifiable by the tattoos of Josh’s autograph on their wrists. The six women I met that day were so eager to welcome me into their fan club—literally. Though they had never met each other (or me, for that matter) we were soon bonded over shared experiences and an adoration for the same musical genius. We got tickets to see David Letterman where Josh would be singing the “Top 10,” and we went to have lunch in Times Square while we waited until the show would be taped later that afternoon. This is where Lesson #1: Talk to People comes in. I have learned that everyone has a story to tell, and in my (somewhat limited) experience, I have not yet met an exception to the rule that everyone wants to be heard. On this day, I learned so many things about some incredible women. They all had crazy stories about following Josh and hanging out with him—they know his dog, his mom, where he lives, you name it—and though it sounds moderately creepy now that I’m writing it out, I had a truly fascinating day wandering around with my new pals.

That night, I had dinner at my apartment with the small and close knit group of friends with whom I have spent most of my time here in the city. They offered to help me pack, but when they tried to come into my room we realized (again) that it is much too small for more than one person to be moving about. So instead we had a good Lesson #2: Laugh and poured ourselves some glasses of wine while we watched the Bachelor downstairs. Laughing is an absolute necessity no matter where you are, but in the city you must maintain a sense of humor at the risk of becoming completely cold and hardened by your surroundings. There are so many things that can be distracting, annoying, even downright painful (ahem, carrying 40lbs of books for 30 blocks), that you must make a conscious effort to find humor in all situations. It is always there.

After a sweet farewell to my boss and the rest of the company today, I skipped home to pack, have one last dinner with friends, and head to the Groban concert in Newark. Although I originally planned on Lesson #3: Being Independent, I ended up meeting a few of my new Groban-subculture friends to sit with at the show. The concert was an experience unlike any other. It was simple in nature, lacking (for the better) pyrotechnics and fancy backdrops. Josh was engaged with the audience and the music was—for lack of a more appropriate word—perfect. For a solid 3 hours my moderately neurotic, 2-steps-ahead-brain wasn’t worried about the un-packed bags in my room or a 7AM checkout. The music was captivating, the entertainment unparalleled, and I was completely content to live fully in my last few moments of big city summer.

The final lesson and the most difficult for me—even now to write—is Lesson #4: Feel things deeply. These past few months have held some of the highest and lowest moments in my life—from being alone and sorely out of place to pure elation, adoration of the city—and they have witnessed an unusual reaction on my behalf. Looking up at the illuminated Empire State Building and the NYC skyline as I walked down darkened 34th street for the last time, I realized that I too can hear “the bells of New York City singing all around.” It truly is a magical place, a place for dreams. This city and this summer, the people I’ve met and the characters I’ve merely seen will forever hold a place in my heart and my memory. I can’t say what I’ll be doing this time tomorrow, much less in a year, 10 years—but I know that a part of me will always belong in a tiny corner at the end of West 34th Street, New York, New York.