24 August 2011
A couples weeks into my internship at PPF, construction started right outside the office, causing dust to fly into the office along with constant noise from the machines. Realizing that it would be difficult to work in those conditions for a few weeks, I decided to find a new place to work for that time. As I have tried out Coworking Rochester before, I figured I would try and find the nearest coworking space to my apartment. Miraculously, it turned out that New Work City was within a ten minute walking distance from my apartment.
The first day at NWC (New Work City) was free to try out. When I came in and tried the place, I found the space to be incredibly welcoming. Within that first day, I had become more productive than I had the entire week before. As I was new and it was a Friday, I was invited to hang out with the regulars at a nearby pizza place. It felt great hanging out with a large group or programmers and designers for the first time since I moved to NYC. Just within that first night I was given recommendations to see the Mermaid Parade the next day and meet up with several of them there. It turns out that Peter, one of the leaders of NWC had grown up in Rochester near where I lived which led to some ‘small world’ stories (and a recommendation of the one place in NYC to find a Garbage Plate).
For the rest of the summer, I ended up working at NWC. I’ve made incredible friends and have actually gone and explored NYC after hanging out with many of its members.One night that I will remember for a long time was the night leading into my 21st birthday. Originally I had no plans for going out at midnight, but Tony (the Mayor of NWC) and Sara decided to make a night out of it and take me out exactly at midnight. It was the biggest highlight of the entire summer.From awesome friends that I have made at NWC to the meals and movie nights we have shared, NWC completely made my summer way better than I expected.