I am in my third week in one of the greatest cities in the world and so far, New York has been all I imagined and more. More people, more heady smells, more buildings, more lights – just more. I haven’t seen many of the tourist sites in the city yet as I’ve been trying to get my balance at work and understand how The New York Times machine works. But I have taken long walks around Manhattan, enjoyed Nigerian music at a flash mob staged at Times Square and seen an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

At the Met

Getting to know people at the Times has been my focus. I am very touched by the way I’ve been welcomed by my team, the climate desk, and really by everyone at the paper. It’s a huge workplace, with over a thousand people stomping around its floors, but people really do see you even if you’re only spending a few months. It’s a terrific morale booster for me.

Welcome note on my desk at NYT

It’s perhaps why I was able to land two articles in a week. There’s one about melting glaciers and the other is about climate activists in African countries.

A quick playback to Boston (because I don’t have much to say about New York just yet): The week I moved to New York I wrapped up my time at MIT with a presentation of a short documentary I produced and directed. Where Powers Live takes a look at followers of the indigenous Yoruba religion worshippers in Nigeria and the discrimination they often face. I also spoke briefly about my work covering the Boko Haram conflict in Nigeria and the situation of African migrants heading to the US and Canada through Mexico. 

It was a full house with really engaging discussions. The MIT CIS team did a really good job putting it all together. I loved randomly seeing myself on fliers around campus weeks before the event.

In New York, I will be visiting Lady Liberty, Central Park, Staten Island and the many many touristy sites in the city. I look forward to my trips and to learning more from the terrific journalists at the New York Times.

View from The New York times