While furiously trying to think of something to write for my first From the Desk, waiting for an idea to hit me like a tidal wave, I started writing a list of things. Some smaller than others, but listing things that I had been given due to being where I am. The fabric of who we each are as people is greatly developed from where we find ourselves spending time.
It is almost unimaginable to me that I could have been born anywhere in the world because of how big an impact New York has had on my life. I was born and raised in Manhattan and have lived in the same apartment my entire life, in the middle of everything the city has to offer. A major part of the reason I came to Fordham University was to stay in New York while also experiencing true campus life a short distance from my home. It’s crazy to think of how different my life might have looked if my parents decided to settle down and build a life somewhere else.
There are some things on this list, which I sample from here, that aren’t entirely specific to New York. Still, I’d like to include them anyway because they are important to me and they are part of the journey to where I am in my life these days. There’s sitting on the floor of my Finlay Hall dorm room (which might be haunted) and waiting for my roommates to grab their snacks before a debrief. For the baseball-obsessed folks like myself, there are those slightly chilly autumn days in October when you know there’s a game to yell at that night (looking at you, October 2024). There’s being home on Thanksgiving, going on a morning coffee run down the street with my dad before going home to watch the parade and set up the feast. There’s Christmastime in New York City, going to the Union Square Holiday Market not too far from my family’s apartment on a Sunday morning before planting myself on the couch to watch football the rest of the day. There’s walking down Arthur Avenue to meet my friends for dinner on the first warm day of the spring, when the sun sets just right, school doesn’t feel quite real and finals are a foreign concept.
I think you get my point. It is a true cliche, but it really is all about the little things. No other place in the world can show you the little things like a big city, such as the one I’ve always called home and always will. It might seem like the opposite, like New York is only about the grandeur and glitz of a city that never sleeps, but I don’t believe that to be true. I think New York teaches you to find the smaller joys amidst the chaos. When things become overwhelming, you are reminded of how much bigger the world outside is than whatever is overwhelming you. I have been able to find peace in the noise, and I hope that first-years and future students at Fordham University can feel the same way when they begin here.
New York isn’t for everyone, but it’s the kind of place that I think everyone should experience at least once. Of course I am quite biased, but I can’t imagine where I would be without my little moments in New York. Every sidewalk you walk down, in whatever neighborhood you find yourself in, contains its own little things. We build our own little things wherever we put down roots, as things that once seemed foreign become routine. The walk home to your dorm on the first night of college, where you might not even know where you’re going (I know I didn’t) becomes your everyday, as you notice new things about your surroundings. I am beyond happy and grateful that I get to establish my own little things in a place like New York, and I hope to continue to do so for a long, long time.
Grace McCarron, FCRH ‘27, is a journalism major and American studies minor from Manhattan, New York.
