Summer Love : New York City

     Flashing back to last June where I was in New York City for a week to celebrate my birthday. It feels so unreal but extremely happy to explore the city and enjoy a little bit of my summer break.

    New York is so much to me, when I visited the city for the first time in 2014 I found the city is a constant source of inspirations, I can't help but loving the energy,  dreams, colors and thousand of opportunities New York could possibly offer. 

    When I'm visiting the big apple, I love to take my Canon G16 with me and exploring the streets. It never gets old to capture all the little details with one or two coffee breaks in between. Looking back those days when I went through some hard times and failed a lot - at the beginning I thought I wouldn't go anywhere but now I believe failures or rejections only lead you into a better thing, better place. We learn a lot, we fall and get up, to have such a positive attitude, love yourself first and put your happiness as your priority do help a lot to make all your dreams come true. Second visit in New York, I stayed with Broadway Hotel very closed from Central Park. I had so much fun did morning run around the park, took stroll along Soho, had a bite at Little Italy and Chinatown, walked around Broadway before the Lion King show started, stop for few seconds in front of the backstage doors just to admire and dream how it feels like to be a part of Broadway theater production, maybe dance and sing on the stage under the spotlights.  All I knew I booked my one way ticket to America, landed myself a job with Disney ... here's only the beginning of billion amazing things coming on my way

 

Central Park, New York

   On my birthday trip in New York last June, I was so happy to stay for few days at Broadway Hotel, which is only 10 minutes walking distance to Central Park - that one morning I decided to wake up early and run around the park. My mission was I wanted to have quality me-time, refresh my mind, maybe time travel or a little flash back to years ago, being grateful of what life has given to me, set some new goals, as in few more days I'd be turning 25...it's all about another year full of adventures. I got my coffee, chocolate croissant, and new songs in my Ipod, was really in a good mood - even the receptionist lady in the hotel noticed how happy I was. Oh wait, who doesn't feel happy when it comes to celebrating birthday or traveling to New York ? 

   As I stepped out the hotel, I checked my phone, scroll up and down the song lists and listened to "A Tout a L'heure" by Bibio, one song that my best friend gave me few months ago before I left to America, and we both agreed this song will be a perfect song to listen while taking stroll along Soho or Times Square. I smiled for a second, we both have worked really hard and through some ups and down the past year, who would have thought i'd make it here ? Well, she believes in me since the beginning.

    I started to run, enjoying how quiet the Central Park in the morning. Nice weather, saw bunch of New Yorkers playing some sports, ladies walking the dogs, a guy just sitting on the bench reading newspaper, little kids giggling and running around...reminded me of how naughty and active I was when I'm at their age. I was my mum's little girl ( and still is... ), already a good poser in front of camera, really active in singing and dancing classes, grew up watching MTV and fell in love with Times Square. Had this dream to be MTV VJs and work in Times Square, of course at that time I didn't know where exactly Times Square is - til my parents sent me to English classes and saw some brochures about summer school to America, then I came home and told my Mum I wanted to go to New York....Didn't know how to get there, but I knew I was on my way...

   Here I am now. It was a long and beautiful journey, through lots of failures that I realized every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being re-directed to something better. No regrets, never look back, stay positive... Today, being in New York at a very special day means like a big reward after all the hard work. A prove that nothing is impossible, dreams do come true, but I'm not finished yet, I won't stop. What I see now around me ;  those skyscrapers, people, theaters, blue sky, colors, trees - they all motivate and inspire me to work harder, dare to climb a bigger mountain and never give up. Life is always full of surprises, they offer thousands of opportunities you never know where you're gonna end up if you really search for it. I can't wait to explore this city, write new goals, dream big then begin again....

New York Express

Jakarta - Singapore - Narita - New York - Orlando... Long flight, I know.

FINALLY NEW YORK ! For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to visit New York in my life. I had this dream to move there since I was really young ( remember when MTV TRL was really big ? ) get a job in entertainment industry or media, work with inspiring and creative people, have an apartment close to Central Park, go to see Broadway shows at least once in a month, coffee or brunch on Saturday morning with good friends, still travel like crazy around the world but perhaps it's nice to be based in the Big Apple and call New York my new favorite home away from home. Born and raised in Jakarta, I grew up watching a lot of American movies, I remember coming home from my English classes with a brochure about summer school in New York and told my Mom I wanted to go there. 15 years later, here I am...

Somehow I knew I was on my way to New York City, I did not know how but I'd be there sooner than I thought. Few months ago I found life didn't go as I expected, I guess everyone been there done that when you feel stuck with your job, you wanted to quit but you need to find a new job first, obviously you can stay in the company for the sake of money so you can pay rent,etc, but on the other hand I needed changes. Big changes. I knew some people who left their comfort zones and made it BIG overseas, I read lots of articles about working abroad and how diversity and the whole experience just change the way people see life. I want to be just like them. While I seemed to have everything in Jakarta, I felt I just needed to go out and see the world, I simply couldn't wait to start over from zero by myself and see how far I can go. So for few months I was looking for a job, sent so many applications, did lots of interviews and casting but I still couldn't find a job I really like. I almost gave up and the same night I received an email  from The Walt Disney World. I was invited for Skype interview, I thought ok let's give it a try, who knows... then the rest is history. I got the job as International Culture Representative, that's funny I told myself I've been so fortunate to travel a lot and I wish there's a job out there who actually let me to promote Indonesian or Asian culture. Little did I know, the job exist and it was for me. 

After a month preparing all the paper work, packing, visa, etc, I resigned from my previous company, left home with a suitcase full of dreams through  24 hours flight to this unknown place I've never been before, to another big adventure where I had no idea at all what life would be, but somehow I knew this would be a great journey. I arrived in New York early morning just for a day, but even less than 24 hours to explore the city, somehow it's more than enough to show me any dreams can come true, as long as you have the courage to pursue it.

I took  the airtrain to Jamaica Station, then took E train to 42nd street to Times Square. The girl once again lost in urban jungle, between big yellow taxis, tourists, dreams, skyscrapers... For a second I thought wait...this is not real. The world is bigger than what you think and there's tons of possibilities out there. Broadway definitely blew my mind away. The streets, the theatres and those billboards of Lion King, Matilda, Les Miserables offer so many dreams. Then I met Alessio from Argentina, since it was our first time in New York and we absolutely love the city and the energy, we decided to stay awake the whole night, walking for hours just to find this Small Bar, such a great jazz bar with bunch of multitalented musicians that made my New York minutes even perfect. Came back to the airport at 7 am, I was more energized and ready to continue my flight to my new home The Walt Disney World, Orlando.