Steps to Saying Goodbye

Now, I’m aware that I haven’t really posted on this all semester. I’m trying to retrospectively remedy that. But here’s this:

 

1. Denial. Pretend you don’t have to leave. Talk like Ke$ha. Quote Ke$ha. Be Ke$ha for Halloween. Pretend that you haven’t already booked your one-way ticket back to California. Listen to “Die Young” and “C’mon”. Make plans upon plans upon plans. Live your life. Love your life. Watch the sunrise on your friends’ rooftop in Bushwick. Stay up all night and go to that one diner off of Lorimer stop. Get a coffee and a bagel. Pretend that you’ll actually be getting off at Lorimer stop again in the next several months. Make new friends two weeks before you leave and don’t notice how dumb this probably is.
2. Acceptance. Listen to “The Trapeze Swinger” by Iron & Wine. Do this on repeat. Take a trip to Providence, Rhode Island. On your way back, realize that you actually only have thirteen more days. That this is true and that there is no way to avoid it. Vow to love. To love your newly-acquired friends. To love, and I mean love, this damn city. To cherish every subway ride and every time that you realize how much it really does smell like piss. Love Times Square. Love all the touristy things. Love the tourists. Accept that you really don’t know when you’ll be back. Accept that you’ve probably been a tourist with a New York address. Finish strong. Make quality work and do your best in class. Go to the Guggenheim, go to Van Cortland Park. Go everywhere that you’ve been saying you’d go next week. Realize that you only have one more next week. Be truly unafraid and unashamed to say “I love New York.” Buy an I Love New York t-shirt. Don’t tell a soul.