Couch Surfing NYE at Times Square
2013
This definitely stands out as one of
the most memorable times in my life. My
first NYE in Times Square…that’s right…I’m a Native New Yorker and never
experienced this once in a lifetime (once because after standing hours in the
cold with no bathroom, you generally WILL not do it again) event. I created a meetup via couchsurfing thinking
5 or 6 ppl might join myself and my 2 couch surfing guests but it ended up
being well over 25 people who showed up.
Thankfully I had painted (way too much time on my hands and coffee in my
system) an orange Couch Surfing flag the night before and that was our beacon
of hope in a crowd of millions. I asked
everyone to say their name, where they were from and their New Years
wishes. During this process I pulled in
some strangers who looked lonesome and like they wanted to be a part of the
fun. We called them our “orphans” and
they ended up sticking with us the entire night.
We ended up spending the first 5
hours circling Times Square as the INCREDIBLY smart and diligent NYPD officers
either sent people in the wrong direction, right out said “I have no idea” or
simply stared at us wide-eyed and dazed when we asked where we should go after
other officers closed off streets and told us to “move it”. We finally ended up on W48th and Broadway
with a great view of the ball and the big screens. From that point on the night was filled with
silly group activities. We created 1) a
new dance called the penguin shuffle (mostly just to stay warm) 2) the penguin
hug (mostly just to stay warm and cop a feel) and 3) The London Fish song….(don’t
ask). We found a guy who was delivering
pizza to the crowd and bought two huge pies that were devoured in seconds…while
the song “Animal” played in the background….lol
After the ball dropped, we all went a
little crazy. We could not believe that
our 12 hour wait was over. I can
honestly say that waiting for this felt more strenuous than the marathon I ran
a few months ago… The relief of seeing
the New Year in and the connection we had made with a host of strangers…truly
made this a once in a lifetime moment. I
asked the group to hug after the ball dropped.
As we hugged and got in all the love vibes, the song “A wonderful World”
played and no one let go but we began to sing together. People passing by began taping us, taking
pictures and one guy even broke into our circle and started to break dance!!! Lol
Hilarious! Before we could break the
love circle the song “Somewhere over the Rainbow” played and so we saw this
song through as well….really an amazing moment for humanity. One of our members (and my buddy for most of
the night) from Denmark had a birthday and so we sang happy birthday to
him. Then totally spur of the moment a
group of our French members sang it in French, then the Colombians and
Hondurans sang it in Spanish, then the Danish sang it in their language, then
the Turkish sang it in theirs, and the Indians as well…truly a spectacular
moment as well. As we left Times Square
with our CS flag raised so we didn’t get lost in the crowds, we made our way to
a Mexican bar for an afterparty. A bunch
of our 20 remaining members came up to me and let me know how thankful they
were for me putting this together and our “orphans” told me numerous times they
were happy to have been pulled into this love fest. I did not expect this to be such a huge
undertaking or mean so much to everyone, but am glad it worked out this way…
I have to say….definitely a night to
remember, forever and for always… <3
