As a tourist, I focused on seeing monuments and the city as a whole- how big it is, how unique it is to any other city in this country. As we floated around the city, it was intriguing to see how every neighborhood has a distinct personality, especially with architecture. Seeing the city as a tourist has more of an excitement factor, but you don’t really feel a part of the system; it’s just something that you look at and experience for a little while and eventually you have to go back to your reality. Whereas, looking at the city from the water as a citizen, it made me see why I live here, why I love being in New York (most of the time). So, I looked at things differently than normal or things that mean something to me. For example, the underside of the Brooklyn Bridge, or my that tall, skinny, glass building in the LES- it’s my favorite, or my apartment in Brooklyn- I love you. The shift in views is not what you’re seeing or how you’re seeing it, but that you become a part of it again. Your life is here. You are adding to the city; unfortunately, the litter, water pollution, and traffic, too. Personally, the ride as a citizen was much more enjoyable to me because what the speakers were talking about was much more relatable to me and I saw the city’s details that make you love it so much rather than the big things that make it famous.
