by Katherine SantanaIt was a warm sunny day in the month of November when my best friend and I decided to go to Staten Island in hopes of finding Fresh Kills Landfill as extra credit for a group paper. We were excited, as neither one of us had ever been to Staten Island before, so we took it as an opportunity for an adventure. Little did we realize, we were about to experience a very different culture and feel in New York City: namely the borough of Staten Island. My best friend and I, grew up knowing only the Bronx. A place where, we were exposed to all of its diversity and richness, but at the same time struggling with the living conditions and violence in the area. We rode the D train to Wall St. walked around a bit and finally arrived at the x17 bus station where we waited and rode the bus to Staten Island. Immediately upon arriving on Staten Island, the differences between there and the Bronx were at once obvious and significant. First, there were the homes. On Staten Island, the homes were big and beautiful. These homes, I noticed, were more of a colonial style, mansion like houses with warm neutral colors. We even saw rowhomes, while similar in style to those in the Bronx, they seemed to be more well put together. The stores in the area looked polished, with tons of space. The streets were clean, as there was not a single piece of trash in sight and a silence consumed the area, almost as if no living beings actually lived there. The area felt desolate as very few people roamed the streets. There were beautiful pathways that would make anyone excited. These pathways were covered in fall leaves as were the streets of Staten Island. I found myself thinking about how different this was from the Bronx in the Bronx, I am used to seeing large apartment buildings lining streets and trash on the ground. I am used to seeing crowds of people, buses and trains in every corner. And bodegas and supermarkets are everywhere no matter where I walk in the Bronx. Staten Island, however, is different. In the area of Staten Island where I was, there were no bodegas in the corner of each street nor were there any buses in sight other than the ones going from Manhattan to Staten Island and vice versa. The people there mainly drove cars to get around, whether it be to a store or to work. This reminded me of Albany as the look and feel are very similar. In the Bronx, most people take the bus or the train to get around. If we want to go to the store, or to work, we either walk or take public transportation. It is normal to hear your next door neighbor blasting bachata or the new music craze of the year in the Bronx, but there was no music to hear in Staten Island. There were no people to see. In fact, there were no signs of life. At least of the kind of life I was used to. It felt so strange to me and made me want to learn more. For many people, it’s hard to walk along the streets in the Bronx, because they fear that they will get robbed or hurt. A person can’t have a nice night stroll without worrying if something will happen to them. This problem doesn’t necessarily occur as frequently in Staten Island, it is so calm and quiet that one can walk about freely without feeling worry. When I walked out of the bus and walked around the area, it felt so serene and relaxed. I thought to myself, how could there be such a difference between two boroughs? I looked around more closely and realized one huge factor in this difference was the population. The Bronx has a huge diverse population, many different cultures intermingle. Staten Island however, has a large White population and there is very little diversity. During my walk, I came across only two Latinos and one Black person and I felt uncomfortable realizing that people knew that my best friend and I didn’t belong to the area. They knew based off of our race, not so much ethnicity. I stuck out more however, in terms of appearance than my best friend as I am darker skinned than she is. We felt pierced by stares, by people that seemed to interrogate us with their eyes asking: What are you doing here? To a certain extent I felt slightly envious of the people there, I thought to myself wouldn’t it be nice if I lived in such a calm area in a beautiful home with my family. Yet here I am, living in a broken down apartment with no heat, no hot water, a broken elevator and a broken front gate. I longed to live in a beautiful home, where hot water and heat is accessible. Where I could roam around freely without cowering in fear and live stress free with my family. As soon as my best friend and I got tired, we walked to a nearby target and explored the store as well as the other stores that were in the area. They seemed to be more organized and clean compared to stores in the Bronx. Every single item was organized, the atmosphere was very calm and inviting. The people were very polite and more willing to help than those in the Bronx. Now, not every single store in the Bronx is unorganized or dirty, but most are. Often times I see items thrown around and it takes employees a lifetime to get it organized. I have encountered extremely long lines because there weren’t enough people at the register. However, this was not the case in Staten Island. Everything was so different that I even didn’t know what to do at certain times. The culture between these two boroughs were very different despite two parts of the same city and not being too far apart from each other. I found it to be an amazing experience and hope to go back again soon to see more. In the end, my best friend and I never found Fresh Kills Landfill, however, we earned the experience of a lifetime. To physically experience these differences I believe is an eye opener to a different way of living and a different culture. It made me appreciate more the different styles of living and the uniqueness and impacts of each one.
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