What I Hear Blog Assignment #2

New York City's symphony is immersed with colorful sounds. In Astoria, Queens, where I start my day, can be as different as night and day when I get to school in Manhattan. When I walk out the door, I hear the sounds of small black birds chirping in the trees. For a moment, There is a ambient sound of rubber tires rolling across the black pavement from an avenue afar. Next, a train car rattles on the tracks two blocks away from my apartment. The long eerie call, sounding like a foghorn, goes off into the distance. I just missed my train to the city. I know, because of these sounds, the next train to take is just a mere 7 minutes away.

As I walk toward the station, the sounds of the city increase. I can hear the soft chatter of people on their cell phones, talking through my headphones. I hear the sounds of car horns, metal gates flying up from the ground declaring a store is open, and the taps of shoes of people in transit. I get to the N train platform, the vibrating sounds grow closer and closer to me. The train has arrived.

The most meaningful sound to me is the rattling of the train. I live two blocks away from the NQ station and the sound of the trains passing and going have become apart of my everyday routine. The long drumming, vibrating noises are my alarm in the morning, alerts me when the next train to the city is, tells me when it has left, and lets me know when it is arriving. It is the background music of my neighboorhood. Next comes the foreground sounds like, birds chirping in the trees, the faint cry of children on their way to school, and the sound of construction digging away on an early morning project. These sounds represent my neighborhood of Astoria.

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