Yes, I’m officially a New Yorker. And I feel like an actress in a blockbuster feature.

It’s official: I’m a New Yorker. For the next 10 weeks, I’ll be a fixture in the East Village as I soak up knowledge at The New York Times.

I took an Amtrak train from Philadelphia to Penn Station Sunday morning, and I’ll never forget my first view of the city. I emerged into the daylight, and blinked. A lot. I was looking at a giant movie set!

Or, at least, it seemed like it. I’m still just waiting for the facade to collapse and reveal the real city underneath.

I took the subway to my apartment, which sounds easy until you have luggage and have to not just find the correct station and line, but the elevator to get to it, which isn’t always intuitive. But I made it, monthly MetroCard now in tow.

I emerged at Broadway & Lafayette and headed to my apartment on Second Street in the Bowery. I’m on the third floor, facing the street, which means – you guessed it – sirens at all hours of the night. But I got used to that in London, so I’m sure I’ll quickly adjust again. Perk: Prime vantage point for people-watching!

I dumped my stuff before grabbing my NYU ID card (I’m technically a “student” since I’m living in NYU housing – yay NYC student discounts!) and heading to Bed, Bath, & Beyond for a pillow, towels, dishes, etc.

I feel like I’m playing a giant game of Battleship while navigating NYC. Avenues run north-south and streets east-west, so I might go two avenues across and five streets down, for instance. I haven’t run into one of the city’s infamous trash tornadoes yet, but I definitely see why they’re an issue – there are piles of garbage everywhere!

The city’s unofficial mascot is the gyro, and there’s a halal cart – sometimes three – on every corner.

OK, but back to Bed, Bath, & Beyond. You haven’t had a true crisis until you realize you don’t know whether you’re a medium, firm, or extra-firm pillow person. I had no idea, so I just went with the middle one. I also grabbed a couple of festive Margaritaville glasses because, at 99 cents, they were the cheapest available. Party at the ABahrment!

After lugging my bulging rucksack with pillow and towels back to my apartment on the subway (through pouring rain, I might add), it was time to go grocery shopping. But first, bao. I spotted this place on 14th Street with the word bao in the name and figured I’d give it a shot. It doesn’t look like much.

But the inside is much cooler!

And it didn’t disappoint -- imagine the juiciest, softest, silkiest bite of pork you've ever had and amp it up by 100. This little "Chairman Bao" from Baohaus was absolutely perfect. I had a mini sidewalk ecstasy (I should've licked the box. I’ll definitely be back.

I walked through Union Square Park … and headed to my future office.

The Times building is so tall you have to crane your neck to see all of it. It sits between 40th and 41st streets, and the Times occupies the first 15 floors. Seeing it in person just made me more excited to get to work!

From there, it was a short walk to Times Square, because what else would I do on my first day in NYC?

It‘s just as enormous in person, like London’s Piccadilly Circus swallowed Miracle-Gro. People stroll the square in various states of dress (and undress), and halal and nut carts (plus black-and-white cookies) abound.

There’s also an enormous Disney store with an escalator that reminds me of the Egyptian one at Harrod’s in London.

I also walked around Broadway and spotted a few marquees of shows I hope to see while I’m here, from Phantom (for sure!), to Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune with Audra McDonald, to Hamilton at the Richard Rodgers Theatre (I hope!).

Then I finally made it to Target and picked up some delicious chicken tikka masala, garlic naan, and dal from Indikitch, which is basically NYC’s Indian chipotle.

Will also be back (if you weren’t aware, Indian is my favorite type of food. So look forward to lots of naan and curry posts!).

Then the sky opened up and I got dumped on again on my way back to my apartment, which was fantastic. Oh, well – next time I’ll remember my umbrella!

In the next post: Today was my first day at the New York Times, so Maggie Haberman and I are now officially colleagues. JUST SAYING. 😊