My trip out to New York had a bit of a sketchy start. The day before I took off marked a major east coast blizzard. Schools and flights were cancelled all along the east coast that day. Partly anticipation, partly procrastination, partly Saved by the Bell syndication, partly getting in some last minute San Diego marination, partly not knowing how to pack for the other side of the nation, I ended up not going to bed that night. Before I knew it, it was 6am and I was on my way. I knew I had a layover in San Francisco, so after departing SFO I had NYC locked in under my radar. I looked out the window to see a series of giant buildings gouging the sky. I thought I had already landed, but then I realized New York isn’t that close to Paris and Egypt, and that Manhattan doesn’t have a roller coaster zipping around it. Wow, two layovers? After losing an unnecessary amount of quarters to the Wheel of Fortune slots, followed by a few more hours of airtime, I finally landed at JFK 11pm that night. It was a long day and quite a change.

My friend Matt, who I lived with for five years at Cal Poly, really hooked up my whole New York situation. He worked with my current boss on a couple projects and recommended me for a job. By the end of an impromptu phone interview that transpired no more than two months ago, I finally dialed in a job in New York City. I was able to crash on a couch at his pad that he shared with another friend of ours. I feel really lucky because they’ve got a really cool close group of friends that were super nice, super helpful, and super welcoming. It’s really inspiring because they are all hardworking driven kids that want to achieve big things, but still like to get radical. There’s an architect, an investment banker, a few lawyers, a luxury real estate broker, a yelp.com NY office head, designers, artists, students, Frenchies, Aussies, Kiwis, and a bunch of other kids that are all just trying to make it in New York.

Within the first few weeks, I have taken notice to various New York metropolitan quirks. Car horn honks are as frequent as eyes blinking. Money disappears quicker than the public’s tolerance for Kanye West. Everything seems to be happening in fast forward. My easy cool California stride has quickly evolved into some sort of busy city competitive speedwalk. At first, I felt like I had this Bruce Willis-less sixth sense of being the only person who could see Walk/Don’t Walk signs or designated crosswalk areas, but now I’m fairly certain that jaywalking was never part of New York City’s vernacular. There is always somewhere to be, but this accelerated pace can also be attributed to the hurried avoidance of snow, rain, or irritable bowelled pigeons. When I hear someone say “subway” I don’t immediately associate the word with $5 foot longs, but with an incredibly efficient and wallet-preserving alternative to burdening gas prices. The metro stations also serve as gratuitous entertainment venues featuring all-star players like Dude that plays the accordion in a Boba Fett helmet, Dude that plays the trumpet too loud too close to your ear, and Dude that doesn’t know all the lyrics to the songs so he repeats the song title over and over. During the first week, transitioning between the stations and the streets was a little bit disorienting. Underground transfer stations felt like overpopulated labyrinths. When finally reaching my stops and returning to the streets I thought I would rely on the sun and time of day to determine which way was east or west, but the towering buildings and snowy skies would just completely shut down my approach. The combination of seasoned NYC friends, Google Street View, an NYC moleskine, and solo exploring missions has helped me find my way around the city.

New York really feels like the city that never sleeps. One of my flatmates, who works for Barclays, leaves for work seven in the morning then gets home after one at night. He'll also fly out to San Francisco, Denver, Boston, London or some other city once a week. Matt and I work all day then come home to work on outside design side projects until two or three in the morning--just working to pay that rent. All the hard work makes the weekends well worth it. Weekend nights go pretty late. Then we’ll wake up and just enjoy everything this dynamic and energetic city has to offer. Our weekends are spent not by hanging around the same local coffee shop on the same suspiciously consistently unoccupied sofa, but by cruising around the city and enjoying all the parks, museums, restaurants, concerts, sights, sounds, and tastes. I'm looking forward to next month because a couple friends and I will be coaching our own inner-city youth soccer teams in the Bronx. We'll be in a rough neighborhood but it'll be fun just getting the kids out to play soccer.

Finding an apartment has been another exciting and involved adventure. For the first month, I lived in FiDi (Financial District), on a couch in a nice building with a killer roof deck. It was close to all the tubes, but the area around Wall Street is pretty lifeless during nonwork hours. The majority of the area consists of high-rise residential and business buildings, but lacks eateries, markets, bars, and things to do. Downtown Manhattan nights are occupied only by minimal pedestrians, steaming sewers, and streets lit only by the occasional taxi passing by. It got expensive taking cabs back home on weekend nights.

So we looked at a number of places in Lower Manhattan, but it was difficult finding something within our price range that was nearby subways, closer to all of our friends, and had rooms that would actually fit beds. We looked at an apartment and by the end of our walkthrough we all looked at each other with repeated short head nods and gradually growing grins in a moment of cognitive accord--each of us thinking, “This place is the one.” After some heavy negotiation on Matt's part, we were able to shave off $1000 of monthly rent and score a really sweet spot in L.E.S. (the Lower East Side). I have my own room now and live with three other clowns in a six floor building entirely owned by a really cool Brit--first floor: a super divey bar, second floor: private party rental space, third/fourth floors: our duplex, fifth/sixth floors: owner’s duplex which is barely used because the owner travels the majority of the year, roof: our private rooftop deck--epic. We are the only tenants of the building besides the owner/landlord, so the day we met him, he gave us the keys and a little housewarming gift: a case of beers and toilet paper--aaah, the essentials. Now we live in an actual neighborhood, a really active and lively neighborhood where the streets flourish with restaurants, cafes, bars, art galleries, music venues, market clerks and bartenders we've befriended that hook us up with "welcome to the neighborhood" prices, and lots of noise and shenanigans.

Work has been a really unbelievable experience so far. This gig was originally meant to be a part-time job to pay for living expenses while I interviewed at architectural engineering firms, but my boss had other plans for me. I work for a super nice, super badass Italian lady who spent the last 16 years as a co-owner and vice president building up Poliform. She designed the interior spaces for many large residential and commercial projects like the AOL Time Warner Center, Barney’s New York, HL23, and other residences that housed such personalities as Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Simon Cowell. Less than a year ago, she left the company to start her own design consultancy firm.

I work in Tribeca (TRIangle BElow CAnal street) and walk by the Ghostbusters headquarters everyday, so workdays always start on a positive note. Tribeca is also one of America’s most expensive zip codes, so I have to bring my lunchbox and thermos to work or eat whatever my boss doesn’t finish. We share a studio with a really avant-garde architectural firm Archi-Tectonics, but it’s a really relaxed and open office. We have a resident mascot named Snoose, the coolest golden retriever that cruises up to everyone around the studio and leaves golden puddles around the studio every other hour. Once a week a dachshund named Bob comes in and they’ll just chase each other around the office. On my first day of work, I familiarize myself with the projects and companies I would be working with, pump out some drawings, and play with the dog all day. Second day, I’m meeting architects and owners, consulting design issues, cracking jokes, and giving my boss high fives. Third day, my boss brings me a huge tub of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, and a fat loaf of bread. Not a bad introduction to “entering the real world.” We work hard, but we have fun with it.

It was a really immediate immersion into the world of architectural/interior design. We are currently working on twelve different projects and there are an entire three of us that make up the company--a sort of Michael Scott Paper Company situation, so we have been pretty swamped. We have the president/owner/principal designer, the office manager, and myself being responsible for all the design/drafting/3d-modeling/technical knowledge. It's great being able to design, but my boss knows I can’t keep still for too long so she’ll make me run around the city to visit sites and meet with clients/owners/architects/installers--pretty much give my ADHD a productive outlet. If my boss doesn’t want to talk to somebody she’ll just make me take calls or spearhead meetings and let me deal with it. I’ve been speaking with a lot of thick-accented Italians so I have to put my game face on and focus extra hard to make sure I understand what I’m hearing. It’s been great preparation for the trip ahead.

Next on the agenda: Italy-I-E-I-O. I'll be spending a few days in Pesaro training with the kitchen company Ernestomeda, cruising to Rome for Easter weekend, then spending a few days in Como training with the door company Tre-Piu and hanging out with my buddy George Clooney.

Jay-Z and Alicia Keys never sounded better.