Farewell, New York City

After 7 years (and lots of really good stories), I’m finally leaving New York City.

I’m actually kind of sad about it… most of my friends are there, and I know how the city works, which I can’t really say about anyplace else. But I have two very good reasons to move on:

First of all, graduate school. I’m in the process of applying and will hopefully start in Fall 2010. If everything works out well, I’ll be heading to Austin, TX to study architecture.

Secondly, for the next year I will be teaching elementary schoolchildren in a small town in the south of Spain. You will be able to follow those adventures at a separate journal that I’ve set up here, if you so choose. [EDIT 1 March '10: Recent upgrades to the site have incorporated this journal into the main page. You can now find it here.]

As The National say in one of their songs, “No, there’s no leaving New York.” I interpret that kind of like I do the line in “Hotel California”: “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.” In other words, even though you’re not physically there, it’s always part of you. I may be back, actually – some of the schools I’m applying to are in NYC. Or I may come back after grad school. Or I may be back just for the hell of it. You never know.

In the meantime, I’m in Los Angeles with my family for a few weeks before I head out, and then I’ll be back next summer.

Of course, this doesn’t mean the end of the photos – far from it. I’m hoping to take a lot more since I’ll have more free time in a strange place. So this will still be up and running and posted on frequently, although there will probably be a lot less concert photography…

Speaking of New York, here are a few parting shots for the city.