There's something so peaceful about being completely surrounded by chaos. Surrounded but separate. Being in a big city, full of unfamiliar faces and hurried happenings, realizing you're a part of it all and yet retaining a solid sense of your individuality. Anonymity. It's like being alone in nature, but almost better. In nature, you feel like the world has stopped. In the metropolis, you feel like you've stopped, and the world keeps going. It's a different--and more accurate--perspective. Taking time to observe all the people rushing past to different destinations, wondering what their story is, you feel so human.
Lost
Getting lost in the streets of a city. It's either frightening or invigorating--and entirely up to you. Armed with nothing but your wits, you walk aimlessly, stumbling upon hidden treasures that somehow feel uniquely your own in a way that no tourist site ever can. Getting acquainted with the parts of the city that tourists don't penetrate. Discovering the city residents know. Getting on the metro or the bus, and alighting at a random destination, prepared to be inspired by whatever you encounter.
Owning It
Confidence is key to making the city yours. You just fake it til you make it, ditching the sweater around your waist, the aloha shirt, the camera around your neck, and the perplexed look alternating with goofy tourist smiles. You put your "metro face" on, as I call it, and cultivate that look of supreme boredom and indifference while secretly gobbling down every detail of your environment. To the extent that you emanate the aura of a resident, you receive the treatment only a resident gets.
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