Our time in NYC was amazing! We saw several shows, attended several Hustle events, hungout with friends, ate great food, and generally enjoyed seeing the city at a more leisurely pace.
J In our first week, I saw 4 Broadway shows: Kimberly Akimbo, Shucked, Some Like It Hot and Book of Mormon. All of them were fantastic, and reignited the love of musicals that was more present before university. I went to these shows alone, since Wei-Wei doesn’t share the same extent of passion for musicals – but I enjoyed them all nonetheless! Kimberly Akimbo was my favourite, Shucked was the funniest, Some Like It Hot had by far the best choreography and music, and Book of Mormon is basically a classic at this point so I was very glad to see it for the first time.
We also spent some time getting ready for Halloween – I decided to embrace mustache-oriented costumes and go as Ted Lasso. I had some guys in the Stonewall Inn refer to me as “coach” and ask for a photo, so I think it went well.
W I’m so lucky to be reunited with my best friend in the whole wide world!!! The first week, we hung out with Rachel and Parker, explored the city, and I also had a wonderful day thrifting in Williamsburg.
I’ve been loving all the cool personal style I’ve been seeing people wear on the streets of NYC! It’s so inspiring! I definitely find myself putting together fun outfits and spending more time trying out fun makeup looks. Rachel and I also went to a Q&A with Padma Lakshmi and C Pam Zhang for a book we’d read together, Land of Milk and Honey.
We also went Halloween shopping and I dressed up as a Blue Man. The bald cap and makeup application (and removal) was… extensive but totally worth it. I had a lot of fun weirding everyone out all night.
We loved hanging out with Rachel and Parker!
Ted Lasso and Deranged Blue Man.
We had the pleasure of dancing with so many fantastic people during our trip, and attended several great Hustle events.
We are grateful to the organizers of these events like Lori and Sara, and the organizers of Starlight (in NJ, not sure who is in charge of that). We also feel lucky to have had so many dances with some legendary folks like Louie, Boots, Beth, Sal, and Smitty (among others!!). Both Louie and Boots were very generous with their time and offered us countless lessons that we are going to continue working on in the future. We stayed over at Louie’s place in Freehold on the night of Starlight (a hustle event in NJ), and he cut Jonny’s hair in his converted basement hair salon! The hustle community in NYC really welcomed us in with open arms and made us feel at home – they were definitely the hardest thing to part with when we left!
J The NYC hustle community has a lot more good leads than I am used to, and I was very thrilled to get to spend most of my time at the socials following instead of leading. Leading is cool, but lately I’ve found myself gravitating towards following because it just feels more fun. I find it easier to escape and get out of your head compared to leading.
I also attended some Locking sessions organized by Jason “Lockhorn” – they were small, but great! I was relieved that I got to continue Locking with other people in NYC, as I was almost certain that there were no regular Locking sessions I could go to (the Locking scene in NYC is surprisingly small).
W I have loved dancing with all the great leads in NYC. I’ve also honestly just enjoyed getting to know so many awesome people in the community and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to hang out for longer and actually hanging out and getting to know people! I feel like we’ve definitely made new friends and deepened friendships.
We enjoyed the Brooklyn Museum!
Look at us, out and about!
During our days, we managed to cover soooo many neighborhoods and food spots – Midtown, Hell’s Kitchen, LES, Chinatown, Harlem, DUMBO, Bushwick, Brooklyn Heights, Greenpoint, and even FiDi after crossing the East River on a ferry!
We did more thrifting, museums, park walks, dancing, lots and lots of eating, drinking, goofing around, taking dance classes, knitting by bodies of water, and sitting on trains.
We saw two more Broadway shows (together this time): Little Shop of Horrors (thanks Parker!!) and Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, which was awesome! We capped off our trip by seeing Vulfpeck for one of their Schvitz Experience Brooklyn Residency shows.
It was hard to leave NYC.
Not just because we (mostly WW though) had just started to understand the subway and how to get around, but because we left wonderful people behind. We had a tearful goodbye with Rachel, and many well wishes from our Hustle friends/mentors.
We know that it’s unlikely we’ll be back soon, and that definitely made it harder. It’s the other side of the coin to living a “travelling” life – investing into new relationships and growing comfortable, then cutting it off and not knowing when you can return.
For more photos, check out this post.
Looks like a ton of fun! Missing you guys and looking forward to seeing more of your adventures 🙂
love you!!! miss you bunches!!! it was indeed lots of fun :’)