When I moved to New York City in December, 2007, I knew exactly one person out of a city of 8.2 million. And since that one person - Brent - worked ungodly hours and I had yet to get a job, I needed to find some friends.
But when you're not in college with dorms and classrooms full of your peers, how do you go about meeting people. I hadn't yet gotten desperate enough to walk up to a friendly looking stranger and say something along the lines of, "Hi, I'm Erika and I just moved here. Will you be my friend?" but I was missing having chill time with girlfriends.
I filled my first weeks in New York with a job search, errands, household chores, and occasionally going to the gym. Since I hate going to the gym, I would often go to attend a class, as I needed the motivation to keep moving. At first I stuck with the classes I was familiar with, such as strength training or yoga. But one day I decided I was tired of the same old, same old, and wanted to try something new, so I went to the gym in time for a new class they were offering called Nia. Nia, like yoga, is done without shoes or socks, and anything that allows me to work out without shoes on usually works for me just fine.
During our light warm-up, I was able to survey the room and realized that other than another girl who looked to be about my age, the rest of the class was made up of probably 40-somethings, and was taught by a very pregnant woman. She was able to teach the class despite being pregnant because Nia (also referred to as Non-Impact Aerobics) is a light aerobic exercise program with a premise that movement is a pathway for self-discovery and personal transformation. Had I known that, I most likely wouldn't have attended the class, as I'm not big on the whole "mind, body, spirit" stuff.
And had I known that we would be running zigzag patterns around the room pretending to catch fireflies out of the air while hooting like owls, I really would have come up with a darn good excuse to skip the gym that day. The girl my age seemed normal and sane enough to probably also think this class was ridiculous, so I found myself shooting her "What the heck are we doing?" looks throughout the class, which she didn’t hesitate to return.
After the class (thankfully) ended, I went to grab my shoes, which happened to be tossed carelessly right next to that other girl’s flip flops. As we both stepped into our shoes, I (also thankfully) decided to strike up a conversation, so I said the first thing that came to my mind: “So that was… uh… different” which made her laugh and agree, and then led to a conversation about our favorite “normal” workout classes offered at the gym.
Janine was an easy person to talk to – extremely friendly with a smile of perfectly aligned teeth, a genuine laugh, a light blanket of freckles over her nose, and pale blue eyes that were gorgeous on their own, but especially stunning when juxtaposed with her long brown hair. To be blunt, she was not only adorable, but also warm and friendly.
I had wanted to try out the Rebounding class that the gym offered – where everyone gets their own trampoline for the workout – as well as make friends, so I thought I’d try to do both at the same time, even though complete friend rejection was a very real possibility – one that I experienced first-hand my very first day at a new high school.
So I tentatively mentioned that I wanted to try the Rebounding class, and tried to sound casual when I asked Janine if she wanted to try it out with me. To my relief, she said she’d love to try it out with me so we planned on meeting there for the class a few days later, and exchanged phone numbers.
After we found that we loved Rebounding class, we planned to meet for the class regularly, and always had a chance to chat before and after class where we got to know each other. Gradually, that led to hanging out after the gym and then hanging out without the gym at all (worst workout buddies ever!) and I now consider Janine to be one of my dearest friends. She’s not only adorable and friendly, but is 100 percent genuine, caring, and truly one of the best people I’ve ever known.
And we always have a good story to tell when people ask us how we know each other. “From the gym” never seems to quite cut it, so we take turns telling the story about how our shared discomfort for a bizarre class began what I consider to be a cherished friendship.
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