How to really be part of New York

Darkness. Complete darkness. The clock shows in blue numbers 5:55 am. Suddenly, the alarm bell rings. No it doesn’t ring – it tears up the peaceful silence. The horrible sound of an iPhone alarm bell. Drowsy, you jump into your clothes. No light, as your eyes are still in sleeping-mode. Carefully, you descend the stairs. Outside. Fresh air, maybe even a little bit chilly. You can hear the silence of a megacity. You can feel the calmness of a city at sleep.

6:00 am. Slowly you start to move, step by step, and eventually begins to run. A proud smile glances over your face. You are doing this. You are really doing this! Everybody else is still in their cozy beds, while you are conquering the world. Alone. No problem. While the megacity is sleeping, you are running. Running in the dark. Running to Central Park.

On your way, empty streets. Only sporadically some cabs pass by. Some dog walkers are already in the streets, trying to motivate a crowd of sleepy dogs to move. And of course, garbagemen, collecting mountains of garbage. When New York is at sleep, they save the city from drowning in garbage. Suddenly, you are wondering if this is really a good idea: isn’t it dangerous to go to Central Park? In the middle of the night? At least almost in the middle of the night? Is it even allowed? Whatever. Now, you are already awake. You will try. You continue running. Still darkness. Still silence. Still calmness.

6:10 am. You reach Central Park. You break hard and come to an abrupt stop. Puzzled. Surprised. You blink. You blink again. Are you dreaming? You don’t believe your eyes. It is like entering a new world. “New York, the city that never sleeps!” comes to your mind. It must be this what people mean when they say this. It is not about partying anywhere at anytime. It is about this here. Central Park is bright as daylight. Times-square-like floodlight. Nobody sleeps. Central Park is more crowed than on a sunny and warm Sunday afternoon. Why you stopped? Well, in order not to crash. A group of crazy bikers is speeding down the main road. And people are running everywhere. In any direction. They are not only running, they are sprinting! In no way comparable to the Sunday afternoon runners you see when strolling through the Park during the weekend. This here is serious. Running, running, running. Faster, faster, faster. Maybe, if at all, a quick glance on the watch: still on time? And continue running.

Your proud smile vanishes; no conquering of the world for you today. Everybody else is running already. During the first meters, you are concentrated on trying to survive this race here. But at some point, you start feeling the spirit. Almost unnoticed, you increase the pace. You start passing people. People pass you. Busy, concentrated, everyone for themselves. After a while, you are able to process more of all these impressions. You start realizing that New York’s entire diversity is on these Park paths. Thin people, corpulent people. Fast runners, slow runners. This is not a race. This are just people running in Central Park. Normal morning heroes. Like you. And that’s why you are now part of it. Part of New York. Part of the New Yorker morning heroes. You are (or at least feel like) a real New Yorker.

6:30 am. Maybe 6:40 am, depending where you started. You reach the reservoir. First, you run up north. Don’t look around yet. Keep the tension. Only now, now that you make a left turn, you realize why you wanted to come to New York. Not to visit New York, but to live in New York. You see New York’s skyline. You see the sunrise. And you see the combination of both. Real real New Yorkers just keep running. But if you do this for the first (but only the first) time, you will stop. I bet. To see, to enjoy, to be astonished.

You continue running, now southwards. You see the sun rising, flooding the skyline in warm redish light. You start hearing traffic – ambulances, police cars and their lovely sirens. You start sensing the city’s bustling activity. All of this is still far away, but yet still there. You are running, watching a megacity waking up; watching from the “island” Central Park.

7:00 am. You return home. Your flatmates are still sleeping. Pushups. Sit-ups. Pushups. Sit-ups. Taking a refreshing shower. And then breakfast. Fresh fruits. Fresh orange juice. And of course, a bagel. The day may start. With a smile, the knowledge of being a real New Yorker, and the resolution to do this again. Maybe... No definitely!

(P.S. No pictures this time - an incentive to try out yourself!)

Broadway Lottery

Hamilton. The Musical everybody strives to go once. Tickets are sold until August. Tickets are terribly expensive. But there is only one realistic chance. Unless you are a Sheik sitting on oil and money. The Broadway lottery. Compete with more than 10000 fans. For a few tickets a day.

So, if you and your girlfriend play the lottery during the Christmas break when even more fans (New Yorker and tourists alike) are playing, if you and your girlfriend play for the first time ever, and if your girlfriend signs up for the lottery not only for the Hamilton show in New York, but accidentally also in Chicago, would you believe what you read when you receive these two emails?

Honestly, we neither believed it. I was sure that these emails must be spam. Only, when we passed the entire queue of waiting Hamilton fans (to stand in a special (and way shorter) line for lottery winners), when the guy at the ticket counter congratulated us and handed us our (ten-dollar!)-tickets, when we were seated in the first (!!) row, and when we heard the first tones. We really won two tickets of the most popular show in the entire United States. And not only in New York, but also in Chicago (where we obviously could not attendJ).

To keep things short and in order not to reveal too much – the show is as amazing, thrilling and enriching as everybody says.

So: play the lottery! Every! Day! And then: fingers crossed that you will be as lucky as we were!

By the way: you can play the lottery not only for Hamilton, but for many different Broadway shows. So play!

Christmas

Dem dede dem dem de de deeem.

Everybody knows this most famous melody. And it was this very melody, which heralded the Christmas season for me. A group of LLMs went out to Lincoln Center, more precisely the David Koch Theater, to realize the dream of so many – once to “be transported to amagical place filled with adorable children, marching toy soldiers, a glowingone-ton Christmas tree that seemingly grows forever, mischievous mice,crystalline waltzing snowflakes, the Land of Sweets and some of the mostbreathtaking costumes, sets and dancing on earth.” In short once to experience a New York live-performance of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet.

The advertisement on the play’s website was no exaggeration. The magical performance filled the air with festive and Christmassy mood. It warmed our heart and spent much needed energy for the final weeks of the semester. Let alone the festively decorated way back home, all the lights in the streets, all the wonderful smelling Christmas trees being sold on the sidewalks tempted to dance, twist, and twirl the way home like the dancers in the ballet. Home, where my flat mate had put up a Christmas tree of extraordinary beauty with an extraordinary handmade (!) Christmas star.

Unfortunately, as I have already reported, after this amazing experience, Christmas season was dedicated more to studying law of the W.T.O. and American Constitutional Law than to enjoying Christmas season downtown. Only the lightened trees on Columbia Cross Walk reminded us that Christmas was waiting out there. However, what may be better than to finish a 24 hour exam and then go off to marvel at the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, to watch people ice-skating in front of this gigantic Christmas tree, to witness a proposal on skates, to hang out in Bryant Park, to wander through the city and its shopping malls and stores and to be enchanted by the excess of shiny and blinking Christmas decoration presented in the shop-windows? And what can be better than sharing all these American Christmassy experiences with millions of other people?

Well, this Christmas’ highlight was to celebrate real American Christmas in a real American family: Waking up in the morning of the 25^th, sharing the children’s hope that Santa Clause has stopped by and left some presents. And to be sure: yes, Santa did leave some (!) presents.

The best present for me was the chance to experience the children’s excitement, the family’s joy in presenting the presents – and to experience America from this very intimate perspective.

In the evening we went to a performance of the Christmas Carol. And somehow – I realize this just now, this very unique Christmas experience ended as it started: with music.

Merry Christmas.

This blog is featured on LLM GUIDE, a global, online community for prospective LL.M. students, and a directory of programs offered worldwide.

Finals

Christmas time in New York is famous. Unfortunately though, this is also the time, when finals take place – at least if you are not a seminar-loving student, who needs to write papers over papers, and has done so already throughout the semester. Hence, this means that you will spend most of your time in the library – where you will definitely not be alone – even until late in the night (or early in the morning).

Finals come in various different forms: there are multiple choice or essay question exams, there are two, three, four, eight hour exams, there are open book and closed book exams, and there are exams for seventy-two hours or twenty-four hour exams. The 24 hour exam in American Constitutional Law for LLMs remains a highlight in the LLM career of many LLMs – at least for me, trying to solve almost all constitutional issues of the coming Trump-administration in 24 hours was a special “joy”… This exam also inspired LLM’s creativity for creating hash tags linked to photos of very tired-looking people, who felt the need to share with the world that they are still alive and are looking forward to a long Christmas-break.

However, even during the period of preparing and studying and preparing and studying, the Law School community had organized some events which were a welcome distraction from being a bookworm: midnight breakfast, LLM lunch (we should have this more often!), preparation sessions for multiple choice exams, meditation hours, free chocolate, cookies and coffee, or even a musical recital. Unfortunately, there was no playing with puppies at the Law School this semester – but all of us are hoping for the spring semester! The LLM-community has also provided for some distraction with nice christmas parties. Sometimes, even the library itself intensifies your day-dreams:

And of course, your day-dreams come true - there has been a proper finals-are-over-party organized by one of the many student organizations.

And now, that finals are over, you can enjoy Christmas feelings in New York not only on your way to the library crossing the festively lighted College walk, but also DOWNTOWN (in an unbearable crowd of tourists).

This blog is featured on LLM GUIDE, a global, online community for prospective LL.M. students, and a directory of programs offered worldwide.