Feeling Lonely in NYC

After a couple of weeks of living in New York City, I started to feel as if I didn’t really belong here. I had nobody to talk to. Although I lived with my parents and my sister, I missed all my relatives and my old friends. Of course I was in contact with them through the internet but that wasn’t enough for me. I needed them to be with me physically. For the first time in my life I felt this emptiness inside me, and I wished so deeply to go back to Mexico.

I thought it was ironic to live in a big city with thousands of people, and still feel like you are alone. Seriously, it was just weird getting on crowded trains or walking on congested streets and being around people without saying a word. That gave me the impression that Americans were kind of “cold,” unlike the “friendly” people I used to see in my hometown.

However, it took me a while to realize that “it’s New York!” People live in their own worlds. They have their own worries. They don’t have time for outsiders, and it’s not because they don’t care about them, it’s because that’s the way Americans see life (remember “time is money”).

What’s good to know is that outsiders get used to that ideology. We just need time to familiarize ourselves with “American culture.”