NYC

Back when I first decided to take the job in Alaska, my fellow interns joked that I would run into a bear, get lost in a snowstorm and be chased by wolves. Some, congratulating me, couldn't entirely mask a doubtful note in their voice; others said it outright: "Why would you want to go there?"

Eighteen months later, some of my Alaskan friends were similarly puzzled. "New York City?" they said when I told them I hoped to attend Columbia University's graduate journalism program. "Why would you want to go there? It's dangerous."