Twenty Memorable Milestones From my Summer in NYC

My stint as a multiplatform editor on the Flex Desk at The New York Times this summer was filled with firsts, from my first Broadway show, to my first front-page story edit, to my inaugural Times byline. Here are 20 of my favorite milestones.

1. Earning my first New York Times byline

‘Nuf said. The Arts section front page-ness was just bonus.

2. Working my first solo mass-shooting shift (for a few hours!)

I was working a quiet Saturday-morning Flex Desk shift by myself at the beginning of August when a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 people and injuring 24 others. Cue a barrage of story updates, video and photo captions, and social media posts streaming into the Flex Desk channel for an edit. Terrible circumstances; highly valuable experience.

3. Making my first national TV appearance

During a taping of "Live with Kelly and Ryan" that I attended at the show's Lincoln Square studio, the woman behind me in the balcony won the morning’s big audience giveaway (every attendee got a numbered ticket when they arrived, and then a viewer who called into the show picked the winning number). The lucky woman did a happy dance; I clapped and cheered with wild abandon as the camera roamed over my face. Bonus: This is my mom’s favorite show, so this episode might live in the DVR forever.

4. Reading the next day’s New York Times in advance

I worked a lot of evening shifts, which came with the perk of getting to peruse black-and-white booklets of the next day’s paper that were handed out in the newsroom each night. It was interesting to track how stories and headlines changed between first and final editions.

5. Seeing my first Broadway show

Of course, it had the unfortunate honor of being “Be More Chill,” the only musical I saw this summer that I wasn’t fan of, but we’ll just focus on the milestone part, OK? This was also the first of many Broadway ticket lottery wins!

6. Eating my first (quality) rainbow bagel

I’d had one in London, of course, but the Brick Lane Beigel Shop impostor was just a plain (if tasty) bagel pumped with food coloring. The Bagel Store in Williamsburg's decadent creation, by contrast, was flavor-filled and stuffed with birthday-cake cream cheese. It tasted like a pink-frosted, sprinkle-stacked sugar cookie in bagel form.

Unfortunately, the shop was seized by the state in July due to unpaid taxes, but recently announced they’re opening a new Brooklyn location ---- will clearly need to pop by when I’m back for a conference in March.

7. Taking my first swim on the Battery Park Seaglass Carousel

It only counts if you ride the glowing globe at night to get the full effect. Who says carousels are just for kids?!

8. Working my first shift until 1 a.m.

Of course, I regularly do that in school, freelance, and other out-of-office capacities. But this was the first time someone paid me to work so late! And a perk: NYC may never sleep, but the streets are pretty peaceful in the middle of the night.

9. Claiming my first Pulitzer Prize-winner as a colleague

Make that colleagueS. Nicholas Kristof, Clifford Levy, Jodi Kantor … take your pick.

10. Visiting a museum at least four times and still not seeing all of it

I spent three solid days scouring the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and am confident I saw most of it. Not so with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I spent countless afternoons in there (New York Times employees get in for free) and only saw a fraction of the work on display — all the more reason to return!

11. Seeing my first free Shakespeare in the Park show

This milestone was on my New York bucket list from the moment I found out I’d be living there this summer. And the Bard didn’t disappoint — the first of the two Central Park productions I saw, and my favorite, was “Much Ado About Nothing,” starring Orange is the New Black’s Danielle Brooks as Beatrice (the other was “Coriolanus” in August).

12. Eating my first bibimbap

At the beginning of May, I couldn’t have told you what this Korean delicacy was, much less how to pronounce it (bee-bum-bop).But after getting hooked on the beef, rice, kimchi, seaweed, fried egg, carrot, mushroom, cucumber, sprouts, sesame oil, and red-pepper paste version served by Temple University’s Korea House food truck during my pre-internship Dow Jones News Fund residency, I sought it out in New York as well (but the Temple version remained the unquestioned king). It may look like a plate of leftovers about to be scraped into the sink, but the sweet-and-spicy, beef-and-veggie balance is simply divine.

13. Taking my first subway ride

I’d conquered the Tube in London, as well as Boston’s MBTA subway and the Washington D.C. Metro. While the NYC subway tops the Tube for (mostly) air-conditioned cars — temps climbed higher on Tube trains than the legal threshold to transport cattle during my summer there — the Tube is a cleaner experience. But the New York subway is efficient, and what puts it over the top for me is that it runs at night — I was out of luck if I wanted to take London’s Tube past midnight (hours have since been extended on some lines). I became BFFs with the night bus (yes, like the one in Harry Potter).

14. Smashing my first sushi donut

Sushi is better in donut form. It just is. Well, OK, the real secret ingredient was the soy-and-sriracha-mayo sauce ideal for dipping fishy hunks, but, in any case, the 10-minute wait for Poketeria to fashion one of these was so worth it.

15. Playing with my first fancy dressing-room mirror

The Macy’s dressing-room mirrors at the flagship, 11-floor Herald Square store were giving me life. We’ll pretend I didn’t spend a solid 10 minutes playing with all the different light settings (you can check your outfit under sunrise, twilight, evening, etc. conditions) — even though this picture says otherwise.

16. Eating my first cannoli

I’d somehow overlooked this milestone in Indy, but what better place to rectify that sin than Little Italy? Red velvet cannoli for the win! (Don’t tell the cannoli, but I actually give the edge to the cheese cones that are equally abundant in the neighborhood).

17. Noshing on my first shark sandwich

When I saw that the Queens Night Market sold fried-shark sandwiches, I took the 7 line out to Corona to get my fix. It tasted like a cod gyro — “Everything on it, please!”

18. Nibbling on my first baby-octopus tentacle

At first I was perturbed by the prominent tentacles on the “baby octopus from Peru” I picked up from the supermarket down the street from my East Village apartment (how could I *not* buy it?! It was on sale!!), but after taking a cautious first bite, it became part of my weekly grocery rotation. Nothing like going back for ninths!

19. Stroking my first $30,000 fur coat

To be honest, I’d be scared to don something that expensive in public, so I was more than content to just surreptitiously stroke the stylish swag at Bloomingdale's.

20. Seeing my first Banksy in person

That would be “Hammer Boy” on the side of the downtown DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse. There’s no flashing signpost or anything, so I walked by it several times before noticing it!

Bonus (because I’ve already blown the Top 10 format out of the water anyway):

*Eating my first oyster

Don’t be fooled by the size — there isn’t much meat in these, so you’ll end up with a platter of oyster-shell carcasses. I was a fan, though!

*Making my first visit to Katz’s Deli

No, I have not seen “When Harry Met Sally,” but I didn’t need to in order to appreciate this kosher-style deli’s mile-high corned-beef and pastrami sandwiches. Plus you can score still-steaming, hunk-of-meat samples while you wait — and it was only an eight-minute walk from my apartment!

*Taking my first camel ride

Actual life highlight right here ---- HIGHLY recommend.