New York... New York...! (Part 1)

Another destination in my holiday trip: New York! Yep. Siapa sih yang gak tau kota ini? But frankly speaking, I don’t really have any personal connection to this city, selain penasaran pengen tahu, gimana sih kota yang katanya adalah salah satu kota paling glamorous ini. Tapi toh, lagunya Frank Sinatra yang New York, New York, dan Jay-Z yang Empire State of Mind memang jadi salah satu lagu yang sering muncul di playlist saya. Selain itu, serial Friends, dan film Home Alone 2: Lost in New York itu, settingnya di New York kan ya?

So, yeah. New York pun menjadi salah satu kota yang masuk dalam daftar cities-to-go nya saya selama saya berada di USA.

the first picture I took in NYC, as Penn Station is so close to
this place: Madison Square Garden

Berangkat ke New York dari DC, naik Mega Bus. Kalo liat dari tiket bus sih, mestinya cuma 4,5 jam. Tapi begitu masuk New Jersey, mulai deh rada melambat. Dan begitu masuk New York…jeng jengggg… Langsung kena macet, sodara-sodara! Jadi yang harusnya cuma 4,5 jam molor jadi 6 jam. Saya berasa lagi naik Damri dari Soetta ke Sudirman. Oh well, it’s a big city anyway. Turun dari bus, saya ke Penn Station. Sempet agak-agak disorientasi, karena entah kenapa, saya merasa orang-orang disini, it looks like that everyone is in a rush.

negegembel di Penn Station

Sampai di Penn Station, menjelang jam 5 sore. Saya masih harus nunggu temen saya, yang flightnya di delay dari Kansas sana. Jadilah saya selama 6 jam lebih bengong aja di Penn Station, seeing people. Mulai dari jam sibuk dimana itu stasiun penuuuuh banget sama para komuter, sampe stasiun sepi karena udah menjelang tengah malem. Dan entah kenapa, saya kok merasa Penn Station ini tidak nyaman. Tidak ada bangku untuk duduk menunggu. Ada sih, tapi khusus cuma untuk penumpang kereta yang udah punya tiket. Mungkin maksudnya untuk meminimalisir para gelandangan kali ya. I saw a lot of homeless people wandering around the station. Pas lagi nunggu gitu, entah kenapa, tau-tau ada perempuan dateng ke saya, geret-geret koper, dan tau-tau dia udah ngajak saya ngomong. Mungkin maksudnya dia nanya sesuatu kali ya, entah arah, entah jam, apapun deh. Tapi masalahnyaaa… itu si Mbak ngajak ngomong saya pake bahasa Spanyol! Yep, she was talking to me in rapid Spanish. Selama beberapa detik, saya cuma bengong. Lalu ngomong ke dia, “I’m sorry, but I don’t speak Spanish.” Dia menatap saya dengan heran, “Really? You don’t speak Spanish?”. She looked so disappointed, I almost felt guilty.
Etapi demi apa deh ya kenapa kok bisa-bisanya saya disangka Spanish speaker???
Anyway, akhirnya temen saya dateng sekitar jam 11.45 malem. Luckily, masih ada kereta ke Newark, daerah tempat kami menginap.

Penn Station di jam 11 malem

Ngeeeniwei…

Selama beberapa hari di New York, yang saya rasakan dari New York? Kota ini sungguh Jakarta banget. The glitters and glamorous life, tapi di sisi lain juga sisi-sisi kumuhnya. Yep, those houses in Manhattan and Brookly are pretty. The skyline that I saw from Brooklyn Height is beautiful. And that famous Times Square (yang bagi saya adalah alun-alun kota New York), it gives you the feeling that you are so small, but at the very same time, you feel like, being at the center of the world, you are actually a part of something big. Something grand.

Fifth Avenue. Busy people in a busy street living a bust life in a busy city

All and all, I can’t help to feel…lonely in this city. Gak tau ya, mungkin jiwa orang desa-nya saya yang bikin bias. But somehow, being in New York membuat saya justru merindukan West Lafayette. Kota kecil dimana random people will randomly smile at you, nod and say, “How are you?”. The place where the waiter at the coffee shop where you usually buy your coffee will wave at you when he saw you in a place in the campus. A small place where you say “Thank you” to the bus driver and he would reply, “Have a great holiday!”.

In New York, what you will see is people walking in a rush as if they are chasing invisible shadow, or staring at you blankly. And you feel stupid to smile at people because they don’t smile back at you and just stare at you with blank expression.

Saya tidak menikmati Jakarta, and maybe that’s why I don’t really enjoy New York.

I mean, it’s a nice city with marvelous buildings. Still, it’s a big city. Too big for someone like me. Kalo kata Mirrah sih, “No wonder why they say that ‘if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere’.”. Because it’s not just a city. It’s a challenge to live in this city. To survive. To be a part of all the glitters in this ciy, but also bear the dark side of it.

Demi deh, kenapa saya jadi sentimentil gini??? Nyahahahahaha…

Oh well,baiklah. Daripada saya melantur kemana-mana, let’s just try to focus on some of the highlights about New York

1. American Museum of Natural History
Name places that people want to go in New York. Liberty Statue? Central Park? Empire State Building? Dan saya dengan polosnya malah pengen ke museum di hari pertama kami di NYC. Hey, I love museums!

the front entrance of the museum

the biodiversity hall

outside the museum, from this side, Manhattan is pretty

Anyway, this museum is great! It’s huuuge with so much things to see. Yang suka natural sciences, ada planetarium, dan display mereka tentang biodiversity oh sungguh keren sekali! Those who have interest about anthropology can spend hours enjoying display about culture from all around the world. One thing that I found annoying: in the display about Asia, they don’t have a specific display about Indonesia. Nevertheless, I love this museum!

Ancient South American culture

African culture is just fascinating

2. Empire State Building
I bet that most of you have heard about this building. And I always love to see a city from a height. Oh, dan tentu saja, being a devoted fan of Percy Jackson,the image of Empire State Building as the gate to Olympus sticks in my mind. Saya sampe setengah berharap, siapa tau ada Zeus atau Poseidon lewat. So yeah, apalagi Empire State Building ini kan salah satu iconnya New York pada khususnya dan USA pada umumnya (ini postingan blog atau catetan kuliah sih?). Rombongan kami (saya, Ifa, Eka dan Yustika) sampe di Empire State sekitar jam 3 kurang dikit. Sempet agak mikir, karena antriannya kok keliatannya panjang ya? Tapi ya udahlah kepalang tanggung. Ngantri aja. Toh kami liat antriannya lumayan lancar dan cukup ‘bergerak’. Toh, sembari ngantri, kami agak heran dengan sejumlah orang berjaket oranye cerah yang menawarkan ‘instant access’ untuk masuk. Iseng nanya, mereka bilang tarifnya $68. Kami liat-liatan, dan secara tarif resmi adalah $27 plus ngantri, kita sama-sama menggeleng.

Ternyata. Ngantri untuk masuk itu baru satu babak perjuangan. Begitu masuk, ngantri lagi untuk beli tiket. Habis beli tiket, ngantri lagi untuk naik lift. All and all, kalo diitung, total kami ngantri cuma untuk naik ke lantai 86 adalaaaahhh… 2 jam. A little advise, buy the ticket online. You can skip like, one third of the line by doing so. Dan mending gak usah beli tiket sama orang-orang di luar gedungnya deh. I saw a man who had bough the ticket from them actually couldn’t use it because it was a false ticket or something.

Beda dengan Chicago Sky Deck, disini observatory decknya selain indoor ada outdoornya juga. Dan karena kami dateng pas udah menjelang sore dan ngantrinya dua jaaaam ya bo’, jadi pas nyampe atas udah malem. So the view that we had was New York City at night, which was awesome!

NYC at night...

because the city never sleeps

Such a pretty view from way up here

Ifa dan Eka, temen seperjalanan dan sepengantrian

and you can't help to feel that you're seeing the city of lights

So yeah, as long as you can keep a positive mind while you are on the line, I guess it’s quite worth it. Sebenernya ada dua pilihan, we can go up to the 86th floor (like what we did) or to the 102nd floor. Kalo mau naik sampe lantai 102 sih memang lebih mahal. And for me personally, it would just be the same anyway. Sayangnya gak ada Zeus ataupun Athena apalagi Poseidon iseng lewat disini.

One of the thing about our visit here, waktu saya lagi foto di depan maket Empire State, a little girl suddenly came to me and greeted me. She said, “Hola!”. Okay, that's sweet. So I smiled at her, and greeted her, “Hello, little girl…”
And guess what she said to me? “Feliz navidad!”
Saya hampir keselek. Spanish? Again? Anyway, saya nyaut aja, “And Feliz navidad to you too!”. Dan habis itu, tau-tau dia nyanyi “Feliz navidad… feliz navidaaad…”. Dan saya ngakak.

Not that she couldn’t speak in English, karena tiba-tiba dia udah nyerocos pake bahasa Inggris about her warm sweater and her warm gloves. Anyway, we took pictures together. And she’s just so adorable! After the picture, she hugged me and said “Feliz navidad” again.

isn't she just adorable?

she actually hugged me, and people around us went, "oooohhh..." :")

Ini  kenapa ya saya disangka Spanish speaker lagi baidewei???

Anyway, there are still some highlights about New York that I would like to write about. But for now, Ami, over and out!