Dear AWW,

I’m seeing my little sister in five days. She just moved to NYC for work and for the past six weeks, she’s been adjusting to her new life and hopefully enjoying it to the fullest. When my family and I moved her in, she had asked me to come visit in October due to her worries of feeling lonely or homesick and of course, my answer was an enthusiastic yes.

So I bought my ticket two weeks later and I’ve really been looking forward to being with her again ever since. I know it hasn’t been that long since we last met and we keep in touch enough through texts, calls, and TikTok videos, but I always thought we bonded the best with our in person hangouts at home so I’m very excited to spend some one on one time together in her new city.

We haven’t really talked about what we would be doing during my visit so I imagine a lot of it will be spontaneous and last minute planning, but that just makes things fun for us. I’m hoping I get to see some of the favorite spots she’s discovered so far and find a few places that are completely brand new for her as well. We’re both really into acai too as we’re big fans of Blue Bowl and Everbowl here in San Diego so maybe we’ll find something good!

Even though we’ll be spending most of my trip together, I’ll also have free time on my own for one day while my sister goes to work. I’m not really sure of what I’d like to do yet but I figured I’d decide that while I’m there. I do know that I want to buy some Christmas presents so that’s probably where I’ll start.

Thinking about it now, I’m kind of excited to go on this mini solo date since it’ll be my first time going around NYC alone. As I’ve mentioned, the whole goal of the trip was to visit my sister and keep her company for a few days, but this will definitely be an added bonus. But regardless of how things actually go, I already know it’ll be an amazing trip that will bring us closer together, which means the world to me.

With love,

Alexis Constantino

Note from Alexis: I’m Alexis and I currently teach piano privately to kids in middle school and high school (but I’m always open to anyone of any age willing to learn, either in person or online). I also co-founded Lotus Magazine with my best friend from college where we aim to share stories and experiences of womxn in the AAPI community—you can find us on Instagram or on TikTok. Besides piano and the magazine, I love traveling, baking, reading, taking photos and videos, and spending time with loved ones.