A Slice of Bliss in The Big Apple

by Muhammad Netado Sanrego (Indonesia)

I didn't expect to find USA

I want you to imagine these words, New York City. What just crossed in your mind? A magnificent sight of the Statue of Liberty? An afternoon walk in downtown Manhattan? Shinning billboards light in Times Square? Well, if you asked me what's so special about New York City is actually that specific feeling that I could not get in any other place. New York City has always been on my top list for the place I always want to go. I still remember that scene from the all-time classic The Devil Wears Prada when Andy struggling to bring four cups of coffee from Starbucks and calling through her phone simultaneously on her way to the office in midtown Manhattan. At that point, I made a promise to myself to visit New York City one day. Time passed by and about two years ago, I had a chance to visit New York City. Excited? of course. Happy? absolutely. Scared? A little bit. As I hop on the plane from St. Louis, I was thinking, will New York City be the same as what I saw from that scene? or could it even better or worst? Whatever New York City will be when I arrive, at least I could give a green checklist on my places-to-go bucket list. It was around 3 PM when I arrive at Newark. New Jersey's sunshine hit my face through the window of the bus on my way to the hotel. I could say it was a pretty decent hotel and looks like a typical hotel that I usually see while passing the Interstate 44. As I woke up from my sleep the next day, all I saw were raindrops hitting the window of my room. Never crossed in my mind that on my first day to the city I have dreamt for so long, it would be gloomy rainy. I went inside the bus without any exciting feeling because of the sudden rain. I was hoping to see New York Skyline on my way to the city but all I see was fogs. It went dark as the bus went through a tunnel that connects New York and New Jersey. Out of nowhere, the bus driver then started to play the New York-esque anthem from Jay-Z and Alicia Keys after the bus passed the tunnel. After years of dreaming, this island guy could finally arrive at the capital of the world. When Taylor Swift said the lights are so bright but they never blind her, I could feel that. New York's streetlights just totally look different. It started to get brighter when the bus was heading to Times Square. The billboards lighten up the whole bus and it surely felt magical. The rain then stopped as I arrived at Washington Square. The bus driver gave me and the rest of the passengers some free time to get some food around the park. It was confusing to choose what food should I get with tons of options to pick. I was thinking to go to a Thai restaurant after I spotted a pizza parlor by the end of the street. It was a small shop with just few seats in it. When I went inside the shop, there were only two people at the table with the owner behind the cashier. The owner then asked me what kind of pizza that I want to get. I let him get whatever slice of pizza that I probably like. He then gave me a plate with a slice of cheese pizza on it that I usually get from the school cafeteria and a coke. He's not wrong though. I like cheese pizza but I expected to get something special. When I took a first bite form that pizza, it just blew my mind. It sounds exaggerating but that pizza was the highlight of my entire trip. Who would thought, the best thing that I still remember from my trip to New York City is not when I went to the top of Empire State Building or when I watched Phantom of The Opera at Broadway, but rather a slice of cheese pizza at midtown Manhattan.