Missing Autumn

It's getting cooler now, but the weather in Kyoto is such that it is nice and crisp in the mornings and the evenings, but boiling during the day. According to my sister, Leah, it's the same in Rome.

I have to admit, I miss autumn in New York. Call me cliche, but there is nothing more satisfying then getting out of the 17th street exit at Union Square on the N/R/W/L line and ascending right into the Farmer's Market, for one thing. For another, just walking down the avenues with a hot drink in hand or just hanging out, enjoying the weather.

The air is crisp - which means the regular icky city smells (which I barely comprehend because I am either used to it, or my nose is dead) are gone and it's just replaced with a fresh nip - along with the smells of Starbucks Apple Cider or Pumpkin Latte from the Starbucks on the corner of 17th and B'way (it was featured in an episode of SATC, when Carrie has a sorta fight with Aidan and leaves the apartment). Everyone still runs about, but there is a bit of a slowdown, especially on a bright and crisp day. So sunny in fact, that you still need sunglasses along with your scarf.

Sure, the leaves are not that great. They barely get any color and by the time they do, they fall. But I don't mind.

I have never seen a New England autumn, only in photos. I have never gone apple picking, or pumpkin picking for that matter. Call me cliche city girl, but unfortunately none of the family cars would not make it out upstate or to LI because they were quite old (but now that has changed! Parents got a new car - me yia tous*). However, if we went late enough in September to our annual Woodbury Commons pilgrimage for back-to-school shopping, then the Catskills would be aglow.

Last year, I experienced autumn in Kyoto - but in reality it was a blink-and-miss. The weather is so odd here; I was still just wearing a tshirt with a cardigan come the end of November with just a light jacket for the evenings. There was one weekend when all the leaves were out in their flaming glory and poof! They fell. I just kept on asking, "Where did autumn go?" This year, I am going to try to pay a little more attention to the weather and make my second Kyoto autumn more fulfilling.

Now that I am applying to grad school, in a way I sort of dread it for a silly but somewhat significant (to me at least) reason: if I do not get into School A (which is in NYC and my first choice) then I won't experience a fulfilling New York Autumn for a very long time.

*Me yia tous/Me yia sas - something you say in Greek when you get something new or succeeded at something, sorta like "Congrats". The former is plural and when you talk about someone, and the latter is singular and directed to the person - so if I was blogging to my parents directly instead to the world at large, I would say that instead of the former.