In New York City there are undoubtedly a lot of places to go to for the beauty, serenity and the energized business that is the city. New York City has always been a place that has many descriptions depending on where you go in the city. However, there isn’t a lot of people who get to experience these wonderful places on their commutes to work or school. There isn’t much time in our daily lives to appreciate the surroundings that we are in due to our constant day to day worries and schedules that take over our lives despite our dreams about living carefree.

One day on my own commute to school, I took the long way. One way for me to get to school is to walk down five blocks away from my house to the B41 bus that is always crowded, or if it isn’t crowded all the seats are taken up by older people. Thankfully, this time I was able to get a seat by the window so I can look out at the passing neighborhoods. As a person who is always musically in-tuned, I usually start off my mornings with lo-fi hip hop beat instrumentals and soft R&B, driving down Flatbush isnt anything new to me but with my own music in my ears I take notice of a lot of different things I would have ignored before. When I get off at Atlantic Ave, I begin weaving my way through the insane amount of people that are somehow awake and loud at ten in the morning. Walking through crowds in the morning is absolutely not my cup of tea as I am a very fast paced walker while the rest of the people are very slow, its even more troublesome as there are people who walk faster than you only to slow down in front of you once they passed. Walking through City Point on DeKalb always makes my mornings a little bit better as I get to breathe easy in the open but loud space and look at all my favorite shopping stores like Century21 or Forever21. When I get to Jay Street, its always crowded no matter what time of day it is, even more-so than Atlantic Ave. I can say that on this walk, I know that I like the business energy of the area because it makes me appreciate the quiet even more.

In New York City, it’s not uncommon to run into upset commuters. Whether you’re on a train or walking up a busy street, New Yorkers are always counting the minutes. Time is money. That is why New Yorkers have adopted the “fast walk” in an effort to be as efficient as possible. Growing up in New York City I’ve practically had efficiency engraved into my mind since the moment I was able to walk. That is why the routes to school that I have outlined emphasize time efficiency. New York was not built for efficiency, but New Yorkers have found ways to maximize their efforts. Just like many New Yorkers before me, I have found three ways to get from school to home, to make the best use of my time.

The first route is by far the fastest way for me to get home. When I am in a rush to get home for dinner, homework, or family I always take this route. The route begins by leaving through the NAMM building exit. Out of all the exits in City Tech, this is the most accessible, and closest to the Jay Street Metrotech station. Once you exit, you make a hard right onto Jay Street. First, you cross the street to the supreme court. Wait at the corner of the Supreme court to cross the street on your left. This street light is the only bottleneck because you must wait for the light to change. Then, you make a right until you reach the A, C, and F entrance to the Jay Street Metrotech Station. The only aesthetically pleasing thing you’d see is the “Balanced Cylinders” statue. Most of the time you are walking under scaffolding. This route is all about timing. Sometimes you’re lucky and are able to catch the light at the corner of Tech street, sometimes you have to wait. The route is also the most physically straining, because weaving through people and running is exhausting.

The second route is for when I want to get food on my way home. The corner of Adams Street and Fulton Mall is home to many fast food restaurants. If I’m going to be home alone, I tend to get food before I get on my train ride home. I usually get Panera bread, or food from the Thursday Street Market (they have wonderful italian sausage sandwiches). I first exit the building by walking down the Atrium stairs to arrive at the Adams street exit. Then I exit the building and make a sharp left. I walk past the all girls engineering high school, and the marriott hotel. There are many food places past the hotel, so this is where I begin thinking about what I want to eat. Usually I am craving a certain food, but sometimes I am just hungry and begin to wonder around. This route does not maximize my time. When I am hungry, there is no time, there is just food. After obtaining food from any such establishment, I begin my journey home. I could end up in any place after getting food, so from there, it is really a gamble on how long it takes me to get to the Jay Street Metrotech station.

The route that i take to City Tech daily would be the 2 or 5 train From Brooklyn College to Borough Hall. The route that i chose for this  experience would be taking the 2 Train to Nevins Street and then walk to City Tech. The Bus would be an interesting route but I most likely would barely make it to class on time due to the traffic… Of course this detour will be a little time consuming but in my opinion it is worth it. As you walk out of the Nevins Street train station there really isn’t anything to see really, but as soon as you walk down Fulton Street things start to look a little bit better in my opinion. I chose this route personally because I need something loud in the morning time to wake me up. Usually when i get to class I still feel half asleep, I feel like this detour would actually brighten up my day a little bit. Personally I really don’t like going into the Jay St entrance of the school because there is always to much people and the elevators are always packed. I prefer the Brooklyn Bridge Blvd entrance, so I would walk down Fulton Street until you get to there. As you walk down you have Columbus Park to your Left and the Empire State Building Straight ahead. If it is not cloudy outside you can actually see it perfectly. This route is perfect for someone who needs a lot of noise to wake them up in the morning and does like a little bit of Beauty outside. Usually I take the 5 train all the way to Borough Hall and that takes about 30-40 Minutes depending on the Train Traffic. For This route I leave the house about 20 Minutes earlier which isn’t that bad at all. This route isn’t much longer than my usually route. Personally I would never take this route during this time of year since it is freezing cold outside, but this route would be perfect in the spring and summer time.

My detour that I choose to get off is the Nevins stop on the 5  train its about a 10 to 15 minute  walk to city tech why I choose the route is not because its peaceful but because its a beautiful route to me. As I get off the train at Nevins and walk up towards the Fulton mall passing by Juniors restaurant the smell from their always makes me want to but some cheese cake or sit down for some good food. As I walk down towards Fulton Mall I walk pass all of the retail stores . their are so many people during this time which I cant say I wonder why because its always a lot of people during the day time shopping and hustling for their buses and trains. Well its around 11:00 as I walk it still so many people everywhere its the holiday season and people are shopping going from one store to the next  but what I enjoy the most is not the people its the retail shops and their decorations in the window,I always want to stop and take a picture because they decorations are so pretty for the holidays along the Fulton mall is full of decorations for the holidays not only in the retail windows but along the trees and the outside decorations. tourists taking picture of all the nice things they see in the window and outside Santa clause jingling his bell  lets you know its that time of the year its holiday season and my most favorite time of the year .I love this time of the year even though along this route comes with a lot of people hassling by you running fro their train or their buses, people going to and from stores with all their bags but I like seeing it though it does  not bother me at all. The more I get to see the holiday decorations  along the windows is what’s beautiful to me. This walk I would say is like a 10 to 12 minute walk  to city tech my usual walk is along the way of maybe 5 to 7 minutes from Borough hall station. I choose the detour of getting off at Nevins because not of the quickness but because its beautiful during the holiday seasons and I love seeing the holiday decorations .My normal route is not so beautiful with all the court buildings and restaurants and the hotels and schools I would not say its very interesting but its the quickest way of getting to city tech. Maybe if I walk through the park, maybe even then it still is not pretty their my detour of Nevins and walk through enjoying all the decorations I still think the Nevins detour is better than my fasts route to City tech.

what if you could choose between the fastest route and the most beautiful one. Well if I could choose I rather take the most beautiful route even though the fastest route is more quicker. On my detour I would choose to get of  my train at the stop of Nevins instead of my normal stop. The stop of Nevins is like about a 10 to 12 minute walk up to city tech college along the route is beautiful to me because you have the different retail shops and the different restaurants. even though its so many people I like the smell of the different foods and the decorations for the holidays. Along that route its so many people hustling to get to their trains and buses where as me I just walk along site seeing looking at the decorations for  the holidays. during the holidays is when I would like to take the detour and just walk I would take this detour during the time where their is not so many people, but when is that its the Fulton mall its always full of people shopping and sightseeing. that’s why I enjoy my detour of getting of the train at that stop just so I can see the all the people and the retail shops and the smell of the food and the holiday decorations which always draws me in to do a little shopping along with the people .

The routes I take to get to city tech are the Q27 (Bus), 7 train, and F train. One route which is the 7 train is important to me because when I am walking to the 7 train, I’m in Flushing Main St. In order to get to Flushing Main St from Bayside which is my area, you can take different routes which are only buses. The buses are Q27, Q17, and Q16. The Q27 is better for me because it takes me 5 minutes to walk to my bus stop. The Q27 comes often and it’s really crowded. After getting off the last stop on the Q27, you’ll have to walk East till you see a walking sign and the block ends there. After that, you’ll have to walk west to the 7 train stop. There are a lot of restaurants and hobbies like shopping malls around. I usually eat breakfast when I’m going to the 7 train because the commute is very long for me. There are two different 7 trains which are the express and the local. I take the express because I’m at the 7 stop really early around 6 AM. The express train takes a shorter time than the local train however it’s still a long way. In Flushing Main St is very busy and it looks like another NYC. It looks like another NYC to me because it’s always busy here even in the mornings and there are a lot of things to do there. While taking the 7 train, there is a mets willings point stop and it’s the mets stadium. The mets stadium is a great view because whenever there are games, I would see a lot of people in the train to go see the mets play and it’s very crowded. I never went to the mets stadium or never got off mets willings point but it is interesting.