What's Cool in...New York

Hi, I'm Zorba,

New York City, to many (and that might be you), is a city of life, the city that never sleeps, the centre of the world, but to me New York City is home. Here's what life is like for me, a teenager in New York City,

Every morning, I get up at 7:20 AM and have breakfast. At 7:50, I depart for school. It's a private school located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Because I live only ten blocks away, I walk to school. Others come from all corners of the city, places like the Bronx and Brooklyn. School runs until around 4:00 PM depending on the day, and then I walk back home.

In school, the main courses I take are Latin, French, Math, English, Science, and History. The sports we play are few, because of limited space in the city. We play soccer (or football, as you say), American football, basketball, lacrosse, and baseball.

When I get home, I usually do my homework, eat dinner, and go to bed. I'm sure, up to now, my life doesn't seem much different from yours. But on weekends advantage is taken of living in the city.

I have heard that in the New York area there are more Jews than in the entire country of Israel. This makes Bar and Bat Mitzvahs a big weekend attraction for New Yorkers from 13 to 14.

After there are no more Bar Mitzvahs to go to, teenagers enjoy going to parties at clubs and "open houses", where someone hosts a party and whoever would wants to, can show up.

During the day, I play sports such as tennis, golf, and squash, and the maybe see a movie with one of my friends. Because my school is a single sex school and so are most of the schools on the Upper East Side, a sort of "social circle" has been created.

There are many rumours about New York City, but one thing I've found that's true is the abundance of celebrities. So far, I have seen Tom Cruise, Al Pacino, Sylvester Stallone, Kevin Kline, Harvey Keitel, and George Clooney in restaurants, Bruce Springsteen in a coffee shop, and Britney Spears in a cosmetics store. One characteristic of New York is that has it's pro's and con's. New Yorkers tend to be very aggressive people. This aggressiveness can often shift to rudeness, but on the flip side, as the old song goes, "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere."