when one door closes, another opens

This past week marked the end of one chapter in my life, and the beginning of another. While it was weird and even a bit sad to leave my emptied Brooklyn apartment and all the memories, and roommates that went with it, I'm excited to see what Miami has in store for me. So below are some photos taken during my last week of running around having fun in the big apple, and a letter I wrote on the subway one day. It was a nice release and helped me say goodbye to NYC.New York,
I love you. It's more than the average girl's infatuation with the magical and seductive appeal of your bright lights, signature skyline, and bustling streets. It's a kind of tough love that can only be experienced by those who've lived and endured the trials of a relationship with you. Visitors and tourists have their own ideal of you in their mind, which is what keeps them coming back for more. But to truly live in this magical, spell-binding city, which I've found most anyone and everyone claims to want to do, is to see her in another light. I've seen the good, the bad, the ugly, and the fashionable. The glamor, sex, drugs, and hipster indie rock. You take one from a naive, unprepared adolescent, chew them up, and spit them back out as a cynical, mature adult. But by working three other menial jobs to barely make ends meet, it brings to light what one's priorities are and how much of your soul you're willing to give to get it. The city, and its youth-ridden Brooklyn counterpart, is full of dream chasers. It's an exhausting, larger-than-life machine that works you to the bone. How you come out on the other end is what you take with you from that relationship. Like other prior relationships, you still carry emotional baggage, invaluable memories, cynicism, wisdom, and lessons learned from mistakes made. For me, I realized that I'm not the kind of person who feels the end justifies the means. I endured the struggle, experienced the hustle, and don't see the need to continue to do so for the rest of my transition to adulthood. Until I can support myself, have a job I love, and live the dream New York life I want, I'll leave the hustling to the next batch of Williamsburg's hipster imports. We had a good run, New York, and my life is all the richer for it. Thanks for showing me all of your greatness, your beauty, and the flaws that come with it. Because there is no such thing as perfection, our time together was perfectly imperfect. For now, I'm going back to a former flame- Miami. But after I take care of some unfinished business there, who knows what the cards have in store for us. So this is goodbye. For now.

Love,
Chelsea