NYC Restaurant Week is here!
February 10, 2014A day to remember in NYC!
March 2, 2014When I moved to NYC my main goal was not only to obtain my Marketing & Communications bachelor’s degree. There´s also another reason why I moved to the big apple, and even though it may sound cheeesy and cliché, I came here looking for love. Ok, I´m not trying to sound like Carrie Bradshaw but it´s true.
I was 20 years old and I have never had a real relationship before. I mean, I did have one boyfriend for 2 months when I was 18 and another for 4 months when I was 19, but at that time I didn´t take things as serious as a rellationship should be taken. I was bubbly and always wanted to go out, have a good time with my friends, and for some reason I felt that serious relationship and I didn´t get along. However, the story changed when I came here. The day I decided to moved away from Peru was because I was fallen in love with a guy whom I thought was going to be my ethernal love, he was in fact my first real and serious boyfriend.
I came to NYC the winter of 2008 for vacations; since my mom is an advocate of being productive, she forced me to enroll into classes to improve my English. So I did. I met great people at school but no one that I was really interested in. Until one day on Valentine´s day I met this guy, who I didn´t know at that time that was going to change my life.
I didn´t have any plans for Valentine´s Day, my cousin invited me to the movies with one of her friends because none of us had an actual Valentine. I remember we went to pick him up and thought his Dominican accent was really funny. To be honest he was not much of my type but he was hilarious and he had such a great personality that make him incredibly attractive. We all had a good time at the movies and at dinner. I guess we made a good connection that days after he contacted me and the rest is history.
We went on dates, he took me to the movies, to little coffee shops in the Village, to try sushi for the very first time, to karaoke where I met his friends, to a night out in Manhattan, I even was the first girl his mom ever met. He knew I was going back to Peru at the end of March because of school, but we tried to maximize the little time we had before I leave. I honestly thought everything was going to be over after I was gone. Howevver, before I left to the airport he wrote me one of the most romantic letters I´ve ever read in my life. He was in tears when we said goodbye, he promised his love for me and that he was going to do everything to make things work between us.
As I mentioned before, I didn´t do well with long term relationships so I just sighed while I read his letter in the plane and thought I was going to treasure this winter love experience forever. However, to my surprise he called me as soon as I landed in Peru. Weeks after he took a plane to see me for a weekend.. He came back for two weeks the following month and then we met again in Miami for a week. We both traveled back and forth, he actually traveled a lot more than I did, but I was amused by the willingness we both had to make things work, even if there were thousands of miles between us.
I applied to school here, I had to move to the big apple because I felt in the need to pursuit my happiness, I mean what could go wrong? I was in love, he was in love, all I had to do was to make the big move and come to NYC. After months of waiting, I received an acceptance letter from FIT, I was going as a transfer student so I didn´t waste all those years I studied in college in Peru. We both cried because of happiness, we were finally going to be together.
My family felt torn, they were happy for me because I was going to finish my career here, but at the same time they were sad that I was leaving. Now that I look back I´m surpised by the determination I had at only 21 years old. I left everything behind not only for my career, Ever since I made the decision of leaving Peru, I became such a lovey dovey person, I was full of love to give, to show and to prove, to him and everyone in the world. I was like a walking Hallmark card all the time, well most of the time, ok ok, sometimes. On December 31st 2008, the day I moved to NYC, I became a hopeless romantic who moved to New York City in the name of love.
You might be wondering what happened after I moved. Well, we were together for three years, yes the longest relationship I ever had. We went throguh lows and highs. I realized that having a committed relationship was not easy. I understood that when two people with different backgrounds get together, sometimes they collide, and only with patience, understanding and compromise things work out. It´s amazing how many things I learned from this relationship that definitely marked my life forever. I learn about love, about growth, about independence, about loyalty, about maturity, about commitment, but furthermost I learned that every person that comes to your life, and has such an impact in it, comes with a reason.
I believe this guy was the perfect person I could ever had as a boyfriend when I moved here. He helped me so much during my first year in the concrete jungle, with school, to lose fear, to be resilient, to never give up, to become independent, he even taught me to become a subway expert. I can actually admit that if it was not for him I would not be here today and that´s something that I´m very grateful for. Obviously, when we broke up things weren´t pretty but I believe that after all the things we went through, we realized that what we once had was something to treasure forever. We forgave each other, we admitteed our mistakes and the best part, we both wished each other well, and we still do.
Today, we both are happy in all aspects of our lives, we both have developed our careers, we are stable, we are at peace and we both have found new people whom we happily share our lives with. As of me, I´m in a new relationship with an amazing man who I´m very much in love with, by the way this relationship has also a romantic story behind it but I will leave it for another post.
I wanted to share this story with you becauase, whether you are single or not, celebrate this day, the day of love and friendship to the fullest. Although you should always show love and appreciation to those people you love the most, make this day extra special. You never know, you could meet someone who change your life today like it happened to me 😉
With that said, Happy Valentines Day and hope today an always your life is full of love, from others and from yourself!
xo
