New York First Couple Days

Staying in Brooklyn until Sunday May 1oth, the last couple of days have been the perfect beginning to my trip. New Yorkers are the different America that any foreigner must experience before ever passing the "I don't like the US " judgment that I too had done once upon a time. That is, until I met some real New Yorkers. On average, with all the different breeds, from the Manhattan elite to the Brooklyn Hipsters, they are the chatty, friendly mixture of cultures that anyone would expect to find. The first night my good friend Maria, from Staten Island living in a Brooklyn Loft - a particularly artsy and individualistic area, took me to listen to some Drum & Base while meeting more locals. Of course, I would find the only other group of non-New Yorkers from California on a business trip, the night was filled with drinks, good music and good people. The next day, walking down Mulberry street to see the Little Italy everyone talks about and making our way back to Union Square, I was pleasantly surprised by the street side cafes, parks, and concrete jungle with all its pockets of personality. hhmmmm, Grad school in New York maybe? Toronto is great, but there's nothing like NYC.