A List of Things I Don't Miss and Miss

Written May 2019, edited March 2020

- hour+ long commutes (my house is a five minute walk from school)

- sitting in front of a computer at a desk all day for work

- housing prices

- stark boundaries drawn between work and home/social life

- bringing work home with you

- dating apps

- shopping *all the time*

- spending money

- Lines

- $12 salads

- New York City's crumbling, antiquated transportation infrastructure

- New York winters

- New York summers

- not using the metric system (come on, America)

- wearing a lot of makeup everyday

- FOMO (The Fear Of Missing Out)

- Parking

- "Keeping up with the Jones'" mentality

- waking up really late (I like getting up at 6am now??)

- the subway station in the hot humid summer

- being afraid of active shooters

- holidays centered on getting drunk

- watching the news all the time

- tipping

- really rude strangers (oh wait, that's everywhere)

- people putting 120% into their job/work/career

- American xenophobia

- paying off student loans

- American drinking culture

- Traffic

- my family

- consistently good coffee, coffee shops, Dunkin' Donuts (it exists here, but it's not the same)

- driving my car

- driving my car *with a good playlist*

- cooking (yes, I know I can cook here, and I do. But it's definitely not the same)

- Long Island beaches

- restaurant service/hospitality

- the thing your dog does when you get home at the end of the day

- really good vegan food

- my grandma's cooking

- National parks, state parks, county park, city park (Don't take the US park system for granted, people)

- food shopping (yes, really. Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, farmers markets... I need)

- my friends

- wearing active sportswear when you're not working out

- Munday's

- Fordham

- bagels, burritos, hummus, falafel, pizza, tacos, craft beer

- not being hot *all the time*

- not being stared at *all the time*

- not being asked for photos

- people putting 120% into their job/work/career

- being understood or being able to articulate myself

- the coldness in the air when summer turns to fall

- leaves turning in the fall

- wearing a coat and scarf

- New York summers

- New York winters

- snow!!!

- Yoga studios

- Camping

- Museums

- having people over

- being on the water and close to the beach