So I guess it’s becoming a routine to go to an Amazon bookstore after church lol. Last weekend went to the Amazon bookstore at Columbus Circle, and yesterday went to the Amazon bookstore closer to church near Penn Station. Usually I find myself in the self-improvement section, but yesterday I ended up also browsing through the travel section.
First I picked up a book called “111 Places In SF That You Must Not Miss”. I’m from Northern California, but it doesn’t mean I know everything about the places there. In the book were a bunch of places I’ve already heard of, but also a bunch of places that I never have. I don’t think it’s bad to want to learn more about places you’re familiar with, there’s always something new to learn.
So then I went over at the New York section which had its own shelf of books. I started reading through a few of them and then I just become fascinated. I’ve lived here for over 2 and a half years now, and I’ve definitely learned much more about NYC than I knew before, but there’s still so much to learn. In the first book I picked up, I read a page about the Empire State Building and how it came to be, and the reason why it was built. I see Empire State all the time now and also used to live on the same street, but I had never actually looked into that before. One of my self-improvement books had a section about John Rockefeller and his great success in the oil industry, and how his work ethic led him to become one of the most successful people in America. Obviously Rockefeller Center is named after him, but I loved learning about the history.
I didn’t buy any books, but I definitely want to start buying them next time. I told myself to first go back and look through the books that one of my former coworkers gave me. When I left the FOX LA office to transfer to the NY office, my co-worker Tammy, who used to live in NY, gave me a couple of NY books which also included maps. She had also printed out a bunch of train lines so I could get familiar with them. I remember when I first looked through the materials I thought, “OMG how am I supposed to learn all of this???” It seemed impossible back then lol but here I am now.
I’ve now made it one of my goals this year to learn more about the history of New York while I’m still here. Not sure how much longer I’m going to be here, but my plan is to go home very soon.
-Carolyn 💜
Carolyn Grace 