I’m Rudrani Sarma, and this is a virtual documentation of my summer as an intern at One Story. One Story and One Teen Story are sister publications based in Park Slope, in the Old American Can Factory.
On May 29th, I moved into my little room on the third story of a house in Flatbush. My landlord, Jenny, is Chinese American, and teaches physics at a local high school. She welcomed me into her home with plenty of advice about the city. That’s one important thing I’ve learnt about New Yorkers so far: they love to tell new folks about the city. I’ve heard a million different opinions on where to eat, where to do laundry, how to ‘properly’ ride the subway– even how to distinguish tourists from locals. It’s all a bit difficult to navigate, but I’m trying to use my best judgement and figure out the Big Apple for myself.
I live in an Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood right on the edge of the primarily Pakistani streets of Midwood. It’s interesting being Indian American in this cultural mecca; I look like I belong, but I feel rather out of place. There are so many new behavioral rules here that it seems like a foreign country. However, I welcome the change. Life in the village of Swarthmore was getting a bit tedious.
