Avantika Vandanapu Instagram – happy national best friend day to my friends, family, & the people i love most ❤️
the last time i posted a seasonal recap like this, i was headed to serbia. and wouldn’t you have it, this video comes at a juncture in my life where i am now headed to somewhere else unexplored. and though there is something about setting off to a new city that incites a sentiment and desire in me to reminisce on the memories my home has given me thus far, i would argue that this video is a little different. this video documents a fraction of my best memories in my past year of living in new york – and it was a long time coming.
those who know me well know me to be someone who has moved around a lot in my life – and someone who doesn’t ever quite fall in love with a city to the point where leaving it feels like ripping away one’s lifeline. home, for me, has always been about the people who surround me rather than the city itself. but at the risk of sounding like a cliche, new york, i may have fallen in love with you a bit!
this video is a love letter to this city, because of the wonderful people it’s brought into my life (and some of my beautiful friends i have grown to miss more and more because of their absence here), the experiences it’s allowed me to have, and the growth it has bestowed upon me.
and who is to say that in five years my fate won’t be likened to one that a young hopeful adult who moves to new york is often warned about? that of someone caught in an inescapable rut trying to make ends meet because they once fell trap to the city’s notorious magnetism and now can never bring themselves to leave.
and though that could eventually turn out to be the case, in no capacity do i think i will ever be lacking or “poor” in people and friends and community and love. and so this video goes out as an ode to my friends, my family, and the “lights that never go out” :). thank you for being in my life, and thank you for being the reason(s) that such a daunting city blossomed into a landscape of opportunities for me. | Posted on 09/Jun/2024 07:12:54
