New York City. The city that dreams are made of.  Home of Vogue, Donald Trump, the “Empire State of Mind”, and the biggest hole ever left in our country’s heart. And mine for the next 4 months.

Be sure to check back next week for the latest installment!

But before we get to the big apple, let’s backtrack a little with an awkward introduction. My name is Will Defebaugh, and I’m SHEI’s Creative Director. I’ve recently moved to NYC for the summer to do a fashion internship with GQ Magazine, and as I can’t stand a summer away from SHEI, I’ve decided to keep in touch with this little weekly column.

So, now that that’s out of the way, where were we again? Ah, yes. New York. There’s no place on earth quite like it. Eight million people crammed together on a 33 square mile island, all sharing the same overpriced food and smoggy air. But in my two weeks here, there’s one interesting thing I’ve noticed above all else (and it’s not the guy I saw peeing off the side of the metro while it was moving): everybody’s looking for something. Whether it’s love, fame, a career, a rent controlled apartment, or just a place a guy can go to pee in motion—everyone is searching for something.

The trouble with the city that has everything is, well, just that: it has everything. It’s possibly the most overwhelming place in the world. So in the city that has it all, where eating Chinese food means picking between the thirty “best Chinese restaurants in town”, and there’s an entire district just devoted to clothing, how do you find exactly what you’re looking for?

Well in my case, I was looking for just about anything my first week to help me adjust (but mostly a subway map). I was experiencing complete and utter culture shock. With eleven-hour workdays in the same high-rise building as Anna Wintour, the best food I had ever eaten in every direction and enough clothes to give me a heart attack, I couldn’t decide on anything. Especially the clothes—in my first seven days here I must have bought and returned an entire closet full (I’m sorry, Topman).

But eventually things got easier. The bizarre loneliness that comes with living in a city so big eventually subsided (about the time when Janelle Grai, SHEI’s Executive Director and my good friend/roommate arrived). I developed a routine for work in the mornings (get up at 7, eat breakfast in Bryant Park) along with a solid base of favorite shops and restaurants.

As for the other things I’m looking for? Well, you’ll have to stay tuned to find out.

-Will Defebaugh, Creative Director